txhxavy  of  Che  Cheolojical  Seminary 

PRINCETON    .    NEW  JERSEY 
PRESENTED  BY 

Rev.  G.W.  Musgrave,  DD.,LLD. 


BS  2410  .S2513  1853   cTl    ^ 
Schaff,  Philip,  1819-1893, 
History  of  the  apostolic    \ 
church 


A-^-^ 


NOTICES  OF  THE  GERMAN  EDITION 

OF  DR.  SCHAFFS  HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH. 

From  the  "  Biblical  Repertory  and  Princeton  Review.'''' 
The  book  is  eminently  scholarlike  and  learned,  full  of  matter,  not  of  crude  materials 
crammed  together  for  the  nonce  by  labor-saving  tricks,  but  of  various  and  well-disested 
knowledge,  the  result  of  systematic  training  and  long  continued  study.  The  more  critical 
and  technical  portion  of  this  matter  overflows  into  the  notes,  but  with  so  perspicuous  a 
condensation  as  make  both  reference  and  perusal  eas)\  Besides  the  evid^-nce  of  solid 
learning  which  the  book  contains,  it  bears  the  impress  of  an  original  and  vigorous  mind, 
not  only  in  the  clear  and  lively  mode  of  representation,  but  also  in  the  large  and  eleva- 
ted views  presented,  the  superiority  to  mere  empirical  minuteness,  and  the  constant  evi- 
dence afforded,  that  the  author's  eye  commands,  and  is  accustomed  to  command,  the 
whole  field  at  a  glance,  as  well  as  to  survey  more  closely  its  minuter  subdivisions. 
This  power  of  attending  bolh  to  great  and  small  in  due  proportion,  throws  over  the  de- 
tails a  pleasing  air  of  philosophical  reflection,  rendered  still  more  attractive  by  a  tinge 
of  poetry,  too  faint  to  vitiate  the  manly  prose  of  history  but  strong  enough  to  satisfy  that 
craving  of  imaginative  beauty  which  appears  to  be  demanded  by  the  taste  of  the  day, 
even  in  historical  composition.  We  do  not  pretend  to  be  judges  of  German  style,  but 
we  have  always  regarded  Dr.  SchafT  as  a  writer  equally  remarkable  for  clearnes.s, 
strength  and  elegance.  We  know  not  whether  it  is  praise  or  dispraise  to  describe  his 
German  as  unusually  English.  In  point  of  style,  and  indeed  of  literary  execution 
generally,  there  is  no  (  hurch  history  in  German  known  to  us,  excepting  that  of  Hase, 
that  deserves  to  be  compared  with  that  before  us.  The  religious  tone  and  spirit  of  the 
work  are  such  as  to  leave  no  doubt  on  the  reader's  mind  respecting  the  sincere  belief  and 
piety  of  the  author.  Its  practical  tendency  is  uniformly  good.  Its  influence  will  be  felt,  we 
trust,  in  Germany  itself,  for  which  cause  we  are  glad  to  see  it  in  its  German  dress,  as 
well  as  on  accoimt  of  its  rhetorical  attractions,  v.  hich  could  hardly  be  preserved  in  a 
translation.  This  experimental  volume,  were  its  faults  and  errors  far  more  grave 
and  numerous  than  we  think  they  are,  would  still  place  its  author  in  the  highest 
rank  of  living  or  contemporary  C' hurch  historians. 

From  the   '•Ribliothcca   Sacra  and  American  Bibl.  Repository  ^^  for  Oct.  1852,  and  for 

Jan.  1853. 

Professor  Philip  SchafFof  Mercersburg  has  published,  in  German,  the  first  vol.  of  a 
"  History  of  the  Christian  Chjrch  from  its  establishnaent  to  the  present  time."  The 
first  vol.  extends  from  A.D.  30  to  A.D.  100 — from  the  Pentecost  to  the  death  of  John. 
It  is  designed  primarily  for  the  use  of  the  American  public.  It  is  dedicated  to  the 
memory  of  Dr.  Neander,  "  the  father  of  modern  Church  History."  "The  work  bears  upon 
it."  says  a  competent  judge,  "the  marks  of  true  learning,  and  independent,  vigorous 
thought  from  the  first  page  to  the  last.  It  is  a  model  of  historical  order  and  clearness." 
Of  Dr.  SchafF's  ability  for  the  great  work  which  he  has  undertaken,  the  readers 
of  the  ''  Bibliotheca  Sacra"  have  good  proof  in  the  articles  from  his  pen,  which  have 
been  inserted  in  our  pages. 

In  regard  to  the  Apostolic  Chnrch  we  altogether  prefer  the  excellent  voiume  of  Prof 
Schaff.  recently  published,  to  Neau'ler's  work  on  the  same  period  ;  and  we  cannot  but 
recommend  to  Prof  Torrey  to  translate  that  as  the  introductory  volume  to  his  Nean- 
der.    The  work  would  then  be  complete  as  far  as  it  goes. 

From  the  "  Methodist  Quarterly  Review.'^ 
We  have  now  before  us  the  first  volume  of  a  truly  scientific  work  on  the  subject, 
produced  on  our  own  soil,  but  by  a  German  scholar  and  in  the  German  language,  viz., 
'■  Geschichte  "  etc.  This  work  is  meant  to  be  a  comprehensive  and  complete  Church 
History  exhibited  in  a  free  Christian  spirit,  entirely  apart  from  sectarian  interests  and 
views,  not,  to  be  sure,  apart  from  directly  Christian  and  ecclesiastical  interests,  but 
from  anything  \ike partisan  aims.  It  will  also,  if  completed  in  the  spirit  of  the  present 
volume,  have  this  great  advantage  over  the  richest  works  of  the  kind  in  Europe,  that  the 
author  combines  the  painstaking  accuracj'  and  scientific  insight  of  the  German,  with  the 
practical  religious  life  of  the  American  mind. 


JS  NOTICES. 

From  the  ^^Evangelical  Review J^ 

The  publication  of  this  work  is  pronounced  by  a  cotemporary  "something  of  an 
event."  We  feel  prepared  to  sav  more,  and  to  designate  it  as  very  much  of  an  event; 
an  event  which  will  reflect  lasting  credit  on  the  author,  and  exert  a  beneficial  influ- 
ence on  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  predict  for  this  work  great  success,  not  onlj' 
in  this  coiuitry,  which  may  in  some  degree  claim  it,  but  in  Europe,  not  excluding  the 
Fatherland  of  its  author.  Dr.  Schaff  presents  to  us  discussions  on  the  numerous  and 
momentous  subjects,  of  which  the  outline  has  been  given,  marked  by  great  ability, 
sound  judgment,  elevated  piety,  extensive  research,  and  genuine  Catholicism.  We 
think  that  our  common  Christianity,  in  the  various  Evangelical  forms  in  which  it  is 
found,  will  bring  no  charge  of  heresy,  utter  no  complaint,  and  manifest  no  disappoint- 
ment. It  strikes  us.  that  it  would  be  exceedingly  diflicult  to  write  a  book  of  this  kind, 
we  mean  an  honest  book,  as  we  are  satisfied  this  is,  that  would  embrace  so  much  that 
all  Christians  regard  as  true,  and  at  the  same  time  so  little  from  which  there  might  be 
dissent.  From  the  first  page  to  the  last  we  adrnire  the  soun<lness.  we  may  say  ortho- 
doxy of  the  writer.  The  literary  execution  of  this  work  is  admirable.  The  style, 
whilst  perfectly  idiomatic,  is  remarkably  clear  ;  abounding  in  beauties,  it  is  manly  and 
chaste.  Free  from  the  mysticism  which  has  so  frequently  been  charged  upon  German 
authorship,  and  sometimes,  we  think,  with  much  reason,  it  unfolds  in  perspicuous 
phrase  the  clear  conceptions  of  the  author.  It  is  in  a  high  degree  to  be  desired,  that 
there  should  be  no  delay  in  rendering  into  English  this  important  publication.  Well 
suited  to  the  wants  of  the  English  and  the  American  church,  it  would  doubtless  meet  with 
a  rapid  sale,  and,  unless  it  should  in  its  subsequent  parts  become  too  extensive,  be 
adopted  generally,  if  not  universally,  in  our  Theological  Seminaries  as  a  text-book. 

From  the  Mercersburg  Review. 

The  appearance  of  this  work  deserves  to  be  considered  certainly  something  of  an 
event.  It  is  the  first  volume  of  what  proposes  to  be  a  full  history  of  the  Christian  Church 
from  its  origin  down  to  the  present  time,  replete  with  German  learning  and  written 
in  the  best  and  purest  German  style,  worthy  in  this  respect  to  compare  with  the  first 
productions  of  like  character  in  Germany,  itself,  and  sure  to  be  received  with  respect 
among  leading  scholars  in  that  land  of  literature  and  science ;  and  yet  it  is  in  full  an 
American  work,  brought  out  in  a  retired  American  village,  where  it  was  necessary 
even  to  create  the  press  that  was  required  for  its  publication,  and  designed  primarily  foi 
the  use  of  the  public  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Its  real  substantial  worth,  how- 
ever, lies,  of  course,  in  its  contents ;  and  we  have  no  doubt  that  the  estimate  put  upon 
it  in  this  view  by  all  competent  judges,  will  be  favorable  in  the  highest  degree.  It  is 
truly  an  independent  and  original  work,  the  fruit  of  active  personal  study,  a  genuine  cre- 
ation of  art,  having  its  own  form  and  spirit  from  beginning  to  end.  Whatever  it  may 
owe  to  others,  all  has  evidently  been  reproduced  in  the  way  of  living  thought,  and 
appears  under  a  character  of  fresh  and  glowing  interest  springing  in  this  way  directly 
from  the  life  of  the  subject  itself  The  author  has  his  own  theory  and  scheme,  his  own 
method,  his  own  order  and  proportion,  and  his  own  style.  In  all  this  too,  so  far  as  he 
has  yet  gone,  we  consider  him  eminently  successful.  His  work  is  at  once  thoroughly 
learned  and  strikingly  plain  and  populain 

From  the  Edinburgh  Revieivfor  January  1853. 
Prof.  Schaff's  Church  History,  of  which  the  first  volume  was  last  year  published, 
promises   to  be  one  of  the  best  compendiums  extant  of  Church  history.     Its  spirit  is 
thoroughly  Christian,  its  arrangement  clear,  its  style  lively  and  attractive;  and  it  con- 
tains notices  of  the  most  recent  German  and  other  opinions  on  every  question  as  it  arises. 

From  Dr.  Bitnson's  "  Hippolytus.'^ 
Finally  T  wish  to  call  the  attention  of  my  English  and  German  readers  to  the  History 
of  the  Christian  Church  CSIercersburg,  1851)  by  the  Rev.  Philip  Schaff,  Prof  of 
Divinity  at  .M.  Col.,  Pa.  This  is  the  first  learned  theological  work,  in  German,  com- 
posed in  the  United  States,  and  undoubtedly  the  best  published  on  the  subject  in  that 
country.  I  hail  the  work  in  both  respects  as  the  harbinger  of  a  great  and  glorious 
future.  It  is  worthy  of  a  German  scholar,  of  a  disciple  of  Neander,  (to  whom  the  work 
is  dedicated),  ol  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  of  a  believing  and  free  Christian  and 
Protestant;  it  stands  on  German  ground,  but  is  not  the  less  original  for  that. 


NOW  READY.     THE    SECOND    EDITION. 
A  COMPLETE   ANALYSIS    OF   THE    HOLY   BIBLE, 

Containing  the  whole  of  the  Old  and  New  Testannents,  collected  and  arranged  sys- 
tennatically  in  Thirty  Books  (based  on  the  work  of  the  learned  Talbot) ,  together  with 
an  Introduction,  setting  forth  the  character  of  the  work  and  the  immense  facility  this 
method  affords  for  understanding  the  word  of  God.  Also,  three  different  Tables  of 
Contents  prefixed,  and  a  General  Index  subjoined,  so  elaborated,  and  arranged  in  alpha- 
betical order,  as  to  direct  at  once  to  any  subject  required.  By  Rev.  Nathaniel  West, 
D.  D.,  1  vol.  royal  8vo,  about  1,100  pages-     Price  $5. 

The  great  superiority  of  this  work  will  be  readily  seen,  when  it  is  borne  in  mind 
that  it  embraces  the  Old  and  New  Testament  entire,  so  arranged  in  the  order  of  books, 
chapters  and  sections,  that  with  the  help  of  the  Tables  of  Contents,  which  are  very  full, 
and  of  the  Final  Alphabetical  Index,  which  is  still  more  minute,  the  reader  can  at  once, 
and  in  a  very  brief  space  of  time  ascertain  "whatthe  Wordof  Godsaysin  reference  to  any 
subject  of  Faith  or  Practice."  This  Analysis  must,  therefore,  to  a  great  extent  super- 
sede the  use  of  a  Concordance.  The  subject  once  chosen,  there  is  nothing  to  do  but  open 
the  Analysis  on  the  part  required,  and  all  the  Bible  says  on  each  topic  of  that  subject 
is  there,  and  every  topic  is  in  the  true  succession  of  order  and  connection,  following  each 
other  to  the  end  of  that  subject,  and  all  in  full  text.  This  obviates  the  perplexity  of 
turning  to  the  Concordance,  and  then  to  the  Bible  so  frequently,  in  order  to  secure  cor- 
rectness, and  prevent  mistakes  in  making  the  reference  necessary.  No  other  work 
but  a  complete  Analysis  of  the  Bible  can  do  this,  as  it  respects  every  subject  taught  in 
the  Book  of  God,  and  hitherto  no  such  Analysis  has  appeared  in  this  country. 

A  single  glance  at  the  Table  of  Contents  and  Index,  exhibits  at  once  the  great  value 
and  availability  of  the  work.  In  the  arrangement,  besides  the  Alphabetical  Index, 
there  are  Thirty  Books — two  hundred  and  eighty-five  chapters,  and  altogether  four 
thousand  one  hundred  and  forty-four  sections,  and  the  whole  so  complete  as  to  render 
every  portion  of  the  work — and  thus  of  the  whole  Bible — perfectly  at  the  command  of 
the  inquirer. 

In  the  publication  of  a  work  of  such  magnitude,  involving  so  much  labor  and  ex- 
pense, and  the  value  of  which  must  ^epend  wholly  upon  the  manner  of  its  execution, 
the  Publisher  was  unwilling  to  embark  until  he  had  received  from  the  highest  sources 
testimonials  as  to  its  character,  etc. 

Circulars  containing  testimonials  from  the  following  clergymen,  can  be  had  on 
application. 

Rev.  Gardiner  Spring.  D.D.,  Rev.  A.  T.  McGill,  D.D., 

Rev.  Jno.  M.  Krebs,  D  D  ,  Rev.  E.  P.  Swift.  D.D., 

Rev.  R.  S.  Dickinson,  D.D.,  Rev.  Wm.  M.  Paxton, 

Rev.  Joseph  McElroy,  D.D.,  Rev.  0.  H.  Miller, 

Rev.  N.  Murray,  D.D.,  Rev.  Wm.  M.  Engles.  D.D., 

Rev.  James  M.  Macdonald,  Rev.  Jos.  H.  Jones,  D.D., 

Rev.  James  W.  Alexander,  D.D.,  Rev.  Wm.  Neil,  D.D., 

Rev.  W.  W.  Phillips,  D.D.,  Rev.  G.  W.  Musgrave,D.D., 

Rev  David  Elliott,  D.D.,  Rev.  David  M'Kinney,  D.D., 

Rev.  M.  W.  Jacobus,  D-D.,  Rev.  J^ewis  Cheeseman, 

Rev.  H.  A.  Boardman,  D.D.,  Rev.  Wm.  E.  Schenck, 

Rev.  J.  N.  McLeon,  D.D.,  Rev.  Francis  D.  Ladd, 

Rev.  John  Knox,  D.D.,  Rev.  Daniel  Gaston, 

Rev.  C.  C.  Van  Arsdale,  D.D.,  Rev.  John  Leyburn,  D.D., 

Rev.  George  W.  Bethune,  D.D.  Rev.  C.  C.  Jones,  D.D., 

Rev.  Thomas  De  Witt,  DD.,  Rev.  Daniel  M'Kinley,  D.D., 

Rev.  A.  W.  M'Clure,  D.D.,  Rev.  C.  Van  Rensselaer,  D.D. 

Rev.  N.  J.  Marselus,  D.D., 

From  the  commendatory  notices  given  by  the  above  clergymen  the 
following  extracts  have  been  selected.  The  Rev.  David  Elliott,  D.D. 
LL.D.,  of  Western  Theological  Seminary,  in  an  extended  notice,  says  : 

"  Having  examined  the  'Analysis  of  the  Old  and  N'ew  Testaments,'  proposed  to  be 
published  by  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  West,  I  feel  great  freedom  in  recommending  it  to 
the  patronage  of  the  Christian  public  as  a  work  of  no  common  merit.  Its  comprehen- 
sive plan,  embracing  the  whole  Bible  ;  its  admirable  arrangement,  reducing  the  whole 
to  its  elementary  principles;  its  exact  and  scientific  adjustment  of  topics,  assigning  to 
each  its  proper  position  ;  its  lucid  exhibition  of  God's  unadulterated  truth,  connecting 


■i  NOTICES. 

its  related  parts  in  one  distinct  point  of  vision;  combine  to  render  the  Work  one  of  in- 
calculable value  to  the  careful  student  of  the  Word  of  God.  With  this  volume  in  his 
hand,  the  unlettered  Christian,  as  well  as  the  instructed  Theojoj^ian.  can  learn  at  once, 
und  in  a  very  brief  space  of  time,  what  the  Word  of  God  says  in  reference  to  any  sub- 
ject of  either  Faith  or  Practice." 

The  Rev.  M.  W.  Jacobus,  D.D.,  Western  Theological  Seminary  : 

"  It  is  a  plain,  a  sincere,  and  most  intelligent  effort  to  reduce  the  entire  teachings  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures  in  a  methodical  form,  with  no  party  or  theory  to  promote  by  the 
undertaking.  It  is  that  kind  of  help  in  Bible  study,  which  the  merchant  adopts  in  the 
Ledger;  it  posts  up  all  the  things  of  all  the  Inspired  Books,  and  all  who  deal  in  Scrip- 
ture truth,  will  find  this  volume  an  auxiliary  to  their  daily  studies.  It 'gathers  the 
fragments  that  nothing  be  lost.'  " 

The  Rev.  Alex.  T.  McGill,  D.D.  : 

''This  book  is  just  a  broad  margin  for  us,  profoundly  elaborated,  and  for  the  most 
part  judiciously  filled  ;  the  best  of  the  kind,  perhaps,  ever  published  in  any  language. 
Its  great  convenience  will  make  it  welcome.  But  the  best  benefit  it  brings  is  the  com- 
prehensive manner  in  which  it  indicates  the  meaning  of  God's  Word  at  once,  by  the 
topic  under  which  the  text  is  arranged,  and  the  collation  with  which  it  is  illuminated 
by  the  parallel  passages  fully  written  out  for  the  reader." 

The  Rev.  Wm.  Paxton  : 

"He  presents  the  Bible  as  a  complete  armory,  with  each  weapon  of  warfare  so  con- 
veniently classified,  and  so  distinctly  labelled,  that  any  one  can  enter  and  arm  himself 
at  will  for  any  conflict."  *  *  # 

The  Rev.  Gardiner  Spring,  D.D.  : 

"  I  have  no  doubt  that  his  '  Complete  Analysis  of  the  Holy  Bible'  is  the  best  thing 
of  the  kind  now  extant,  or  likely  to  be  produced." 

This  work  needs  no  commendation.  The  most  cursory  glance  as  to  its  gene^fal  struc- 
ture, ought  to  be  sufficient  to  show  any  minister  especially,  that  he  cannot  afford  to 
dispense  with  such  a  book.  It  is  nothing  less  than  the  entire  word  of  God,  classified 
into  books,  sections,  chapters,  and  so  arranged,  that  under  each  topic  may  be  found  all 
that  the  Scriptures  say  on  the  subject. — The  entire  passages  are  given  too,  so  that  he 
need  not  be  troubled  to  look  them  out,  as  where  a  concordance  is  used.  This  Book 
will  therefore  both  save  time,  and  enrich  more  thoroughly  with  the  treasures  of  the 
Bible  the  preacher's  discourses.  Sabbath  school  teachers  will  also  find  it  an  invaluable 
aid,  and,  indeed,  all  who  wish  to  have  the  Word  of  God  interpret  itself  for  their  instruc- 
tion and  edification,  will  find  it  a  great  help." — Presbyterian. 

"  It  is  published  in  a'^royal  octavo  volume,  and  on  many  accounts  claims  the  attention  of 
all  readers  of  the  Bible.  Its  plan  is  to  classify  under  distinct  heads  the  whole  Bible,  ar- 
ranging together  all  that  is  said  in  different  parts  of  the  Bible  on  a  given  subject,  and 
placing  all  in  a  strictly  alphabetical  position.  The  work  appears  to  have  faithfully 
realized  this  immense  and  invaluable  object :  so  that,  by  aid  of  its  indexes,  the  teaching 
of  the  Scriptures  and  the  whole  of  them,  on  any  of  the  subjects  it  refers  to,  can  be 
viewed  together.  To  illustrate  ; — on  the  subject  of  Christ  there  are  three  hundred  and 
ninety-three  distinct  sections,  embracing  sometimes  twenty  verses  of  Scriptures  each,  in 
all  of  which,  the  whole  of  the  teachings  and  allusions  to  Christ  are  systematized  and 
grouped  together,  and  presenting  the  lull  purpose,  history  and  consequences  of  his 
divine  mission.  It  will  be  invaluable  to  the  clergyman  or  the  Sabliath  school  teacher, 
and  full  of  interest  and  instruction  to  all  who  desire  to  master  the  contents  of  this  blessed 
volume.  The  indexes  are  exceedingly  full  and  accurate,  and  greatly  enhance  the  value 
of  the  book." — N.  Y.  Evangelist. 

"  The  work  is  truly  a  mighty  one.  The  Old  and  New  Testaments  together  contain 
nearly  twelve  hundred  chapters  and  more  than  thirty  thousand  verses ;  to  collect  to- 
gether and  arrange  methodically  all  that  is  contained  upon  any  one  subject  in  these 
various  chapters  and  verses,  was  placing  in  the  hands  of  every  inquirer  ready  means  of 
investigating  any  particular  subject.  Take,  for  instance,  the  subject  of  Miracles.  Dr. 
West  has  collected  and  arranged  all  upon  that  subject  in  twenty-seven  pages  of  the 
Analysis,  so  that  any  person  who  desires  to  see  all  that  is  said  and  related,  may  do  it 
in  a  very  short  time,  instead  of  spending  weeks  in  looking  over  twelve  hundred  chap- 
ters and  thiity  thousand  verses.  Other  subjects  might  be  mentioned,  but  this  will 
suffice  to  show  what  a  grand  desideratum  Dr.  West  has  furnished  to  the  World." — 
Pittsburgh  Gazette. 

"This  very  valuable  volume  is  a  work  of  immense  labor  and  care.  It  is  only  ne- 
cessary to  look  over  the  indexes  of  this  large  and  important  volume,  and  to  become 
possessed  of  the  plan  and  its  execution  on  any  one  subject,  to  be  convinced  that  the 
whole  work  is  of  great  merit  and  value." — N.  Y.  Independent. 


HISTORY  OF  THE   APOSTOLIC  CHUECH. 


"  Thp  'kinprdoin  of  heaven  is  like  to  a  grain  of  Tnnstarfi  seed.  •wViich  a  man  took,  and  sowed  in  his 
field :  wliifli  indeed  is  tlie  least  of  all  seeds  :  bnt  -when  it  is  grovn,  it  is  the  greatest  among  herbs,  and 
becometh  a  tree,  so  that  the  birds  of  the  air  come  and  lodge  in  the  branches  thereof" 

"The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  leaven,  ■which  a  woman  took,  and  hid  in  three  measures  of 
meal,  till  the  whole  was  leavened." — Jesus  Chkist. 


OF   THE 


APOSTOLIC    CHUECH; 


WITH   A 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION  TO  CHURCH  HISTORY. 


BY/ 
/ 

PHILIP    SCHAFF, 

PEOFESSOE   IN   THE   THEOLOGICAL   SEMINAEY,   AT   MEECEESBURG,   PA. 


TRANSLATED    BY 

EDWARD    D.    YEOMANS. 


NEW  YORK: 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER,    145    NASSAU    STREET. 

1853. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  tlie  year  1853,  by 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER, 

In  the  Clerk"s  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 
District  of  New  York. 


C.    W.    BENEDICT, 
STEREOTYPER    AND    PRINTER 

12  Spruce  Street,  N.  Y. 


PREFACE. 


To  present  from  original  sources,  in  a  faithful,  clear  and 
life-like  picture,  the  history  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  the 
God-man  and  Saviour  of  the  world  ;  to  reproduce,  with  ardent 
love  of  truth  and  with  genuine  catholicity,  her  inward  and  out- 
ward experience,  her  conflicts  and  triumphs,  her  sufferings  and 
joys,  her  thoughts,  her  words  and  her  deeds  ;  and  to  hold  up  to 
the  present  age  this  panorama  of  eighteen  centuries  as  the  most 
complete  apology  for  Christianity,  full  of  encouragemeut  and 
warning,  of  precept  and  example  : — this  is  a  task  well  worthy  of 
the  best  energies  of  a  long  life,  and  offering  in  itself  the  amplest 
reward,  but  at  the  same  time  so  vast  and  comprehensive,  that  it 
cannot  be  accomplished  to  any  satisfaction,  except  by  the  co- 
operation of  all  varieties  of  talent.  The  individual  must  feel 
sufficiently  fortunate  and  honored,  if  he  succeed  in  furnishing  a 
few  blocks  for  a  gigantic  edifice,  which,  in  the  nature  of  the 
case,  cannot  be  finished,  till  the  church  shall  have  reached  the 
goal  of  her  militant  stage.  For  science  grows  with  experience 
and  with  it  alone  becomes  complete. 

Two  years  ago  I  published  in  the  retired  village  of  Mercers- 
burg,  Pa.,  with  discouraging  prospects  and  at  my  own  risk,  the 
first  volume  of  a  General  History  of  the  Christian  Church  in  the 
German  language,  and  dedicated  it  to  the  memory  of  my  late 


IV  PREFACE. 

honored  teacher  and  friend,  Dr.  Augustus  Keandek,  (by 
his  permission  granted  to  me  with  the  kindest  wishes  for  my 
success  shortly  hefore  his  lamented  death),  as  a  token  of  my  high 
veneration  for  the  profound  and  conscientious  scholarship,  the 
liberal  and  catholic  spirit,  and  the  deep-toned,  humble  and 
childlike  piety  of  this  truly  great  and  good  man,  the  "father  of 
modern  church  history."  Although  very  limited  in  circulation,  it 
was  received  with  unexpected  favor  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic 
by  most  competent  judges  of  different  evangelical  denominations  ; 
and  I  feel  under  special  obligations  to  the  Rev.  Doctors  J.  A. 
Alexander  of  the  Presbyterian  church,  J.  W.  Nevin  of  the  Ger- 
man Eeformed,  C.  P.  Krauth  of  the  Lutheran,  J.  M'Clintock  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal,  C.  E.  Stowe  of  the  Congregational,  also 
to  Prof.  Dr.  Jul.  Miiller  of  Halle  and  Dr.  C.  Bunsen,  the  learned 
Prussian  ambassador  at  London,  for  their  very  flattering  and 
encouraging  public  notices  of  my  unpretending  book.  This 
favorable  reception,  and  the  earnest  call  expressed  from  various 
quarters,  both  publicly  and  privately,  for  an  English  translation, 
have  induced  me  to  issue  it  in  that  language,  which  alone  can 
open  to  it  a  respectable  circulation  in  this  country  and  in  Eng- 
land. 

I  have  revised  the  whole  work  with  reference  to  what  has 
appeared  in  the  same  department  since  its  publication,  and  have 
made  some  additions,  especially  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  the 
General  Introduction,  and  in  the  last  chapter  of  the  fifth  book  on 
the  heresies  of  the  Apostolic  Age.  The  translation  (including  the 
re-translation  of  those  portions  which  had  been  previously  pub- 
lished, as  separate  articles,  in  various  American  Reviews)  has 
been  executed  by  my  friend,  the  Rev.  Edward  D.  Yeomans,  a 
gentleman  of  excellent  character  and  fine  talents,  who  will  no 
doubt  make  himself  favorably  known  also  in  course  of  time 
by  original  contributions  to  our  American  theological  literature. 
Having  carefully  revised  the  translation  before  sending  it  to  the 


PREFACE.  V 

press,  I  can  vouch  for  its  faithfulness;  while  at  the  same  time 
the  style,  I  think,  will  be  found  as  free  and  easy  as  that  of  an 
original  English  work.  By  this  arrangement  the  translation 
appears  much  sooner  and  to  much  "better  advantage,  than  if  I  had 
undertaken  it  myself.  For  the  careful  reading  of  the  proof  I 
express  mj  grateful  acknowledgments  to  my  learned  friend,  the 
Rev.  John  Lillie  of  New  York. 

I  prefer,  for  several  reasons,  to  publish  this  volume  as  a  separate 
work  on  the  Apostolic  Church,  with  a  full  General  Introduction, 
which  contains  the  outlines  of  a  philosoj)hy  of  Church  History, 
and  will  supply,  I  hope,  a  defect  in  this  department  of  our  litera- 
ture. It  is  my  wish  and  intention,  however,  if  God  spares  my 
life  and  strength,  to  bring  the  history  down  to  the  present  time  ; 
and  thus,  so  far  as  lies  within  my  humble  abilities,  to  give  from 
reliable  sources,  under  the  guidance  of  our  Lord's  twin  parables 
of  the  mustard-seed  and  leaven,  a  complete,  true,  and  graphic 
account  of  the  development  of  Christ's  kingdom  on  earth,  for  the 
theoretical  and  practical  benefit  especially  of  ministers  and 
students  of  theology.  As  regards  compass,  I  propose  to  steer 
midway  between  the  synoptical  brevity  of  a  mere  compend  and 
the  voluminous  fullness  of  a  work,  which  seeks  to  exhaust  its 
subject  and  is  designed  simply  for  the  professional  scholar.  Each 
of  the  nine  periods,  according  to  the  scheme  proposed  in  the  Gen- 
eral Introduction,  §  17,  will  probably  recpire  a  moderate  volume.* 

"With  these  remarks,  I  send  this  book  forth  to  the  public,  fully 
conscious  of  its  many  imperfections,  yet  not  without  hope,  that 
under  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God  it  may  accomplish  some  good, 
so  long  as  its  time  may  last.  With  modest  claims  and  the  most 
peaceful  intentions,  polemical  and  uncompromising  only  towards 
rationalism  and  infidelity,  whether  of  German  or  English  origin,  but 

*  I  regret  that  the  large  and  valuable  work  of  Conybeare  and  Howson  :  "  TJie  Life 
and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul^  2  vols.,  London,  1853  (embellished  vs^ith  many  splendid  plates) 
did  not  reach  me  till  after  the  greater  part  of  the  manuscript  was  already  in  the  hands 
of  the  printer. 


VI  PEEFACE. 

conservative,  conciliator}',  and  respectful  towards  the  various 
forms  of  positive  Christianity,  and  reaching  the  hand  of  fellow- 
ship to  all  who  love  the  Lord  Jesus  in  sincerity  and  in  truth,  it 
sails  into  the  ocean  of  a  deeply  distracted,  yet  most  interesting 
and  hopeful  age,  where  amid  powerful  fermentations  and  keen 
birth-throes  a  new  era  of  church  history  seems  to  be  preparing. 
Whatever  the  future  may  bring,  we  know,  that  the  Church  of 
Christ  is  built  upon  a  rock,  against  which  even  the  gates  of  hell 
shall  never  prevail ;  that  she  must  go  on  conquering  and  to  con- 
quer, until  the  whole  world  shall  bow  to  the  peaceful  sceptre  of 
the  cross;  and  that  all  obstructions  and  persecutions,  all  heresies 
and  schisms,  all  wickedness  and  corruption  of  men,  will  only  tend 
at  last,  in  the  hands  of  infinite  wisdom  and  mercy,  to  bring  out 
her  glorious  attributes  of  unity,  catholicity,  and  holiness  in 
brighter  colors  and  with  more  triumphant  power.  May  the  great 
Head  of  the  Church  use  this  representation  of  her  history  as  an 
humble  instrument  to  promote  His  own  glory,  to  serve  the  cause 
of  truth,  unity  and  peace,  and  to  strengthen  the  faith  of  His 
people  in  the  divine  character,  immovable  foundation  and  ulti- 
mate triumph  of  the  kingdom  of  God  ! 

PHILIP  SCHAFF. 
Mereersburg^  Pa.^  Se^terriher^  1853. 


CONTENTS. 


PASS 

GENERAL  INTRODUCTION  TO  CHURCH  HISTORY,  1-134 

CHAPTER  I. 

HISTORY. 

§    1  Idea  of  History, 1 

g    2  Factors  of  History, 3 

§    3  Central  Position  of  Religion  in  History, 5 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE    CHURCH.  ' 

§    4  Idea  of  the  Church, 7 

I    5  Development  of  the  Church, 9 

§    6  The  Church  and  the  World, 13 

CHAPTER    III. 

CHURCH  HISTORY. 

§    7  Definition  of  Church  History, 16 

I    8  Extent  of  Church  History,             17 

?    9  Relation  to  other  Departments  of  Theology,       ....  18 

^  10  History  of  the  Spread  and  Persecution  of  the  Church,  ...  19 

§  11  Doctrine  History, 21 

§  12  History  of  Morals,  Church  Government,  and  Discipline,.                 .  23 

§  13  History  of  Worship, 25 

;§  14  Sources  of  Church  History, 26 

§  15  Auxiliary  Sciences, 30 

§  16  Method  of  Writing  Church  History, 33 

g  17  Division  of  Church  History, 36 

§  18  General  Character  of  the  Three  Ages, 38 

§  19  Character  of  the  Three  Ages  (continued), .        .                .        .  42 

§  20  Uses  of  Church  History, 46 


Vm  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


MOST    IMPORTANT    WORKS    ON    CHURCH    HISTORY.  p^gb 

^    21  Progress  of  Church  History  as  a  Science — General  View,        .  51 
I.    Old  Catholic  Chwrch  Historians. 

§  22  Patristic  Period.    Eusebius, 52 

§  23  Middle  Ages, 54 

II.   Roman  Catholic  Chtirch  Historians. 

^  24  Their  General  Position, 55 

I   25  (a)  Italian  Writers.     Baronius, 56 

^   26  (6)  French.     Bossuet 58 

§   27  (c)  German  and  English, 60 

III.  Protestant  Church  Historians. 

§   23  General  Character, 63 

§   29  (a)  Period  of  Polemic  Orthodoxy.     Flacius,     ....  63 

^   30  {b)  Period  of  Unchurchly  Pietism.     Arnold.     Milner,  ...  69 
^  31  (c)  Period    of    Latitudinarian    Supranaturalism    and    Subjective 

Pragmatism.     Mosheim.     Schroeckh.     Planck,      .         .  72 

§   32  [d)  Period  of  Vulgar  Rationalism.     Semler.     Henke.     Gieseler,  .  78 

§   33  Rationalistic  Historians  in  England.     Gibbon.     Priestley,         ,  83 

I  34  (e)  Period  of  Organic  Development  and  Evangelical  Catholicism,  .  86 

I   35  Neander  and  his  School, 95 

^   36  Baur  and  the  Tubingen  School.     Pantheistic  Rationalism  and 

Modern  Gnosticism, 108 

§  37  Marheineke.    Leo.    Rothe.     Dorner.    Thiersch.     Recapitulation,  116 

§   38  Church  Historians  in  England  and  America,     .        .      ' .        .  124 


THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECH. 

A.  D.  30-100. 
INTRODUCTION. 

The  Preparation  for  Christianity  in  the  History  of  the  World, 
AND  the  Moral  and  Religious  Condition  of  Humanity  at  the 
Time  of  its  Appearance. 

§  39  Position  of  Christianity  in  History, 137 

§   40  Heathenism  and  Judaism, 139 

Ai    PREPARATION    FOR   CHRISTIANITY   IN    HEATHENISM. 

i  1 )   Greece. 

§  41  Greek  Civilization  and  Christianity, 143 

§  42  Decline  of  the  Grecian  Mind, 147 

I  43  Platonism, 150 


CONTENTS.  IX 

(2)  Rome.  pagb 

2  44  Universal  Empire  of  Eome  and  the  Uhiversalism  of  Christianity,  155 

1  45  Internal  Condition  of  the  Eoman  Empire,    .        .     ••  ,        .        .  157 

2  46  Stoicism,          ...,..••..  160 

B.    PREPARATION   FOR   CHRISTIANITY   IN    JUDAISM. 

2  47  The  Old  Testament  Revelation, 164 

§  48  Political  Condition  of  the  Jews  at  the  Time  of  Christ,      .        .  170 

g  49  Religious  Condition  of  the  Jews  at  the  Time  of  Christ,         .        .  172 

C.    CONTACT   OV   JUDAISM  AND   HEATHENISM. 

§   50  Influence  of  Judaism  on  Heathenism, 176 

§   51  Influence  of  Heathenism  on  Judaism, 178 

§   52  Recapitulation, 182 

§  53  Apostolic  Period.    Greneral  View, 185 


FIKST    BOOK. 
FOUNDING,  SPREAD,  AND  PERSECUTION  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

CHAPTER    I. 

BIRTHDAY   OF   THE   CHURCH. 

§  54  The  Pentecostal  Miracle, <        .        191 

I  55  The  Speaking  with  Tongues, 197 

§  56  Sermon  of  Peter  and  its  Results, 204 

CHAPTER    II. 

MISSION    IN   PALESTINE   AND   PREPARATION   FOR   THE    CONVERSION    OF   THE 

GENTILES. 

§  57  Growth  and  Persecution  of  the  Church  in  Jerusalem,         .        .  208 

I  58  Stephen,  the  First  Martyr, 211 

I  59  Christianity  in  Samaria.     Philip, 214 

^  60  Conversion  of  Cornelius.     Beginning  of  the  Gentile  Mission,    ,     .  217 

§  61  The  Church  in  Antioch.     Origin  of  the  Christian  Name,  .  223 

CHAPTER   III. 

THE   APOSTLE   PAUL   AND   THE   GENTILE   MISSION. 

§   62  Paul  before  his  Conversion, 226 

?   63  The  Conversion  of  Paul  (A.  D.  37), 230 

^   64  Preparation  for  Apostolic  Labor,         ......  236 

§  65  Second  Journey  to  Jerusalem,  Persecution  of  the  Church  there 

(A.D.  44), ■  239 


X  CONTENTS. 

PAOB 

§  66  First  Missionary  Tour  of  Paul  and  Barnabas  (A.  D.  45),  .  .  241 
§   67  Journey  to  the  Apostolic  Council  in  Jerusalem.    Settlement  of  the 

Dispute  between  the  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christians  (A.  D.  50),  245 

§  68  Private  Transactions  (Gal.  2  :  1  sqq.),      .....  249 

§   69  Public  Transactions  and  Decree  of  the  Council  (Acts  15).,     .        .  253 

§  70  Collision  of  Paul  with  Peter  and  Barnabas  .  .  ,  .  257 
§   71  Second  Missionary  Tour   of  Paul.     Galatia.    The   Macedonian 

Vision  (A.  D.  51), 260 

§  72  Christianity  in  Philippi  and  Thessalonica,         ....  262 

§   73  Paul  in  Athens, 267 

§   74  Paul  in  Corinth, 273 

§   75  Epistles  to  the  Thessalonians  (A.  D.  53), 275 

I   76  Third  Missionary  Tour.    Paul  in  Ephesus  (A.  D.  54-57),         .  276 

§   77   Epistles  to  the  Galatians  and  Corinthians, 282 

§   78  Parties  in  the  Corinthian  Church  (A.  D.  56  and  57),        .         .  285 

^   79  New  Visit  to  Greece.   Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  (A.D.  57),  292 

§   80  The  Roman  Church  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans  (A.  D.  58),  294 

§  81  Fifth  and  Last  Journey  to  Jerusalem  (A.  D.  58),  .        .        .  300 

g  82  Arrest  of  Paul  (A.  D.  58), 304 

§  83  Paul  before  the  Sanhedrim, 310 

§  84  Paul  in  Caesarea  before  Felix,  Festus,  and  Agrippa  (A.  D.  58-60),  313 

§   85  Paul  in  Rome  (A.D.  61-63), 317 

g   86  Epistles  written  during  the  Imprisonment  in  Rome  (A.  D.  61-63),  321 

§  87  Hypothesis  of  a  second  Imprisonment  of  Paul  in  Rome,        .        .  328 

§  88  Martyrdom  of  Paul.     Neronian  Persecution  (A.  D.  64),  .  343 

CHAPTER  lY. 

LABORS  OF  THE  OTHER  APOSTLES  TILL  THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  JERUSALEM. 

I  89  Character  of  Peter, 348 

I  90  Position  of  Peter  in  Church  History,        ...  .  350 

§  91  Later  Labors  of  Peter.     His  First  Epistle, 355 

I   92  Second  Epistle  of  Peter, 360 

§   93  Peter  in  Rome, .362 

I  94  Martyrdom  of  Peter.     (Note  on  the  Claims  of  the  Papacy),  .  372 

^  95  James  the  Just, ...  377 

§   96  Epistle  of  James, 382 

§  97  Traditions  respecting  the  other  Apostles,  ....  385 

§   98  Destruction  of  Jerusalem  (A.D.  70), 390 

CHAPTER    V. 

LIFE   AND   LABORS   OF  JOHN. 

§  99  Birth  and  Education  of  John, 395 

§  100  His  Apostolic  Labors, .        .398 


CONTENTS.  XI 

PA.GX 

101  The  Domitian  Persecution,   and    the  Banishment  of  John  to 

Patmos, 400 

102  John's  Return  to  Ephesus  and  Death, 404 

103  Character  of  John.     Comparison  of  him  with  Peter  and  Paul,  407 

104  Writings  of  John, 4il 

105  The  Gospel  of  John, 413 

106  The  Epistles  of  John, 416 

107  The  Apocalypse,     .         . 418 

108  Condition  of  the  Church  in  Asia  Minor  at  the  Close  of  the  Apos- 

tolic Period,          .        .                 427 


SECOND  BOOK. 

MORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  LIFE. 

CHAPTER  I. 

INFLUENCE   OF   CHRISTUNITT   ON   THE   MORAL   RELATIONS. 

§  109  The  New  Creation, 433 

§  110  The  Apostles,  .        .        .       " 437 

§  111  The  Family, 443 

§  112  Marriage  and  Celibacy,  448 

§  113  Christianity  and  Slavery, 454 

§  114  The  Christian  Community, 460 

§  115  Civil  and  National  Life, 463 

CHAPTER   II. 

SPIRITUAL   GIFTS. 

2   116  Nature  and  Classification  of  the  Charisms,  ....      469 

§   117  Gifts  of  Feeling,      ...  ...  .474 

g   118  Gifts  of  Knowledge,  .  480 

g  119  Gifts  of  Will, 481 

I  120  Charity,  ....      483 

CHAPTER  III. 

CHURCH    DISCIPLINE. 

§   121  Imperfections  of  the  Apostolic  Church,  ....  485 

g   122  Nature  and  Object  of  Discipline, 488 

§   123  Examples.     The  Hypocrite  Ananias  and  the  Fornicator  in  the 

Corinthian  Church, 490 


XU  CONTENTS. 


THIRD  BOOK. 

GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  CHURCH. 
CHAPTER  I. 

THE    SPIRITUAL    OFFICE    IN  GENERAL. 

PAO£ 

§  124  Origin  and  Design  of  the  Spiritual  OfBce,  ....  495 
g   125  Development  of  the  Church  Constitution  from  the  Apostolate. 

Church  and  Congregational  Officers, 498 

^  126  Election  and  Ordination  of  Officers, 500 

^   127  Support  of  the  Ministry, 503 

g   128  Relation  of  the  Officers  to  the   Congregations.     The  Universal 

Priesthood, 506 


CHAPTER   II. 

CHURCH    OFFICES. 

^  129  The  Apostolate.     (Note  on  the  Irvingites),        ....      512 

§   130  Prophets, 518 

I  131  Evangelists, 519 


CHAPTER  III 

CONGREGATIONAL    OFFICES. 

§  132  Presbyter-Bishops,         . 522 

g   133  OfiSce  of  the  Episcopal  Presbyters, 528 

I   134  Deacons, ,         .         .         .         .  532 

^   135  Deaconesses, 535 

§   136  The  Apocalyptic  Angel.    Germs  of  Primitive  Episcopacy,     .  537 


FOURTH  BOOK. 

WORSHIP. 

§   137  Import  of  the  Christian  "Worship  and  its  relation  to  the  Jewish,  545 

^   138  Sacred  Places  and  Times, 548 

^139  The  Christian  Sunday, 552 

§   140  Yearly  Festivals, 557 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

PAGE 

^   141  The  Several  Parts  of  Worship,     .......  560 

g  142  Baptism.     (Note  on  Immersion), 565 

§  143  Infant  Baptism, 571 

^   144  The  Lord's  Supper, 581 

§  145  Other  Sacred  Usages, 583 


FIFTH    BOOK 

DOCTRINE    AND    THEOLOGY. 
CHAPTER    I. 

THE    APOSTOLIC    IJTERATURE    AND   THEOLOGY    IN    GENERAL. 

§  146  Rise  of  the  New  Testament  Literature, 589 

g  147  Historical  Books.     The  Gospels, 591 

§  148  The  same  continued.     John  and  the  Synoptical  Evangelists,     .  594 

^  149  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 600 

§  150  Didactic  Books, 601 

^  151  The  Prophetic  Book  of  the  Revelation  (comp.  5  101  and  107),     .  603 

g  152  Organism  of  the  Apostolic  Literature, 607 

g  153  Language  and  Style  of  the  New  Testament 607 

CHAPTER  II. 

DIFFERENT    TYPES    OF   THE    APOSTOLIC    DOCTRINE. 

§   154  Origin  and  Unity  of  the  Apostles' Doctrine,      ....  614 

§  155  Diversity  of  the  Apostles'  Doctrine, 616 

^   156  Jewish  Christianity  and  Gentile  Christianity,  and  their  Higher 

Unity, 618 

§   157  (1)  The  Jewish  Christian  Type  of  Doctrine, 624 

^   158  (a)  Legal  Jewish   Christianity,  or  the  System  of  James  (comp.' 

§  95  and  96), 625 

^   159  James  and  Paul, 627 

g   160  (6)  Prophetical  Jewish   Christianity,  or  the  System  of  Peter 

(comp.  §  89-94), 629 

?   ifil  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Jude, 632 

^  162   (2)  The  Gentile-Christian  Type  of  Doctrine  in  Paul  (comp. 

§  62-88), ,         ...  634 

§  163  The  Writings  of  Luke  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,         .        .  640 
g   164  (3)  The  Ideal  Type  of  Doctrine  in  John  (comp.  §  99-108,  148 

and  151),        ....  ....  644 


XIV  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  III. 

HERETICAL   TENDENCIES. 

rASE 

5   165  Idea  and  Import  of  Heresy,  .        .        .        -        .        .        .        .  649 

5   166  Classification  and  General  Characteristics  of  the  Heresies,        .  652 

5   167  Judaistic  Heresies.    Pharisaic  or  Legalistic  Judaism,  .         .        .  654 
5   168  Essenic  or  Gnostic  Judaism.    Errorists  of  Colossians  and  the 

Pastoral  Epistles,    .         .        , 657 

5   169  Heathen  Gnosticism  and  Antinomianism, 664 

5   170  Conclusion.     Typical  Import  of  the  Apostolic  Church,     .        .  674 

Cheonological  Table, 679 

Alphabetical  Index, 681 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION 


TO 


CHURCH   HISTORY. 


GENERAL  INTRODUCTION  TO  CHURCH  HISTORY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

HISTORY. 


§  1.  Idea  of  History. 

The  object  of  this  General  Introduction  is,  to  obtain  a  clear  view  of 
the  nature  and  purpose  of  Church  History,  and  thus  to  gain  the  proper 
position  for  the  contemplation  of  its  details.  A  perfect  understanding 
of  it  can  be  attained,  indeed,  only  at  the  close  of  the  historical  course  ; 
for  the  best  definition  of  any  science  is  the  thing  itself.  But  some  pre- 
liminary explanation  is  indispensable,  to  give  us,  at  least,  a  general 
idea  of  church  history,  and  to  serve  as  a  directory  for  the  study  of  the 
whole  and  its  parts.  Our  best  method  will  be,  to  resolve  the  compound 
conception  into  its  two  constituents,  and  to  inquire  into  the  nature,  first 
of  history,  secondly  of  the  church,  thirdly  of  church  history ;  with  a 
fourth  chapter  on  the  progress  of  Church  History  as  a  science.  Thus 
the  introduction  will  be,  at  the  same  time,  a  sort  of  philosophy  of  church 
history. 

By  history  in  the  objective  sense  we  understand  the  sum  of  what  has 
happened,  or,  more  precisely,  of  all  that  pertains  to  the  outward  or 
inward  life  of  humanity,  and  enters  essentially  into  its  social,  political, 
intellectual,  moral,  and  religious  progress  and  development.  It  compre- 
hends the  thoughts,  words,  and  deeds,  and  the  prosperous  and  adverse 
events,  which  constitute  the  past,  and  which  have  produced  the  existing 
state  of  civilized  society.  Hence  barbarians  have  no  history  of  their 
own,  and  figure  in  that  of  the  world  merely  as  rude  material,  or  as  blind 
forces  operating,  as  it  were,  from  without. 

History  in  the  subjective  sense  is  the  science  of  events,  or  the  appre- 
hension and  representation  in  language  of  what  has  thus  taken  place  in 
1 


2  §  1.       IDEA   OF   HISTOKY.  [genER. 

the  course  of  time.  Its  value  depends  altogether  on  its  faithfulness  as  a 
copy  of  the  objective  history  ;  and  requires  that  the  historian  surrender 
himself  wholly  to  his  object — be  it  the  history  of  the  world  at  large,  or 
any  portion  of  it — reproduce  it  in  a  living  way  in  his  own  mind,  and  thus 
become  a  conscientious  organ,  a  faithful  mirror  of  the  past,  making  the 
representation  exactly  answerable  to  the  actual  occurrence.* 

History  in  the  objective  sense,  with  which  we  are  here  mainly 
concerned,  is  either  secular  or  sacred.  The  former  comprehends  the  nat- 
ural life  of  humanity,  and  those  actions  and  events,  which  relate 
primarily  to  temporal  existence  in  its  external  and  internal  aspect,  under 
the  general  guidance  of  divine  providence.  The  latter  has  to  do  with 
the  special  revelation  of  the  triune  God  for  the  salvation  of  men,  with 
the  process  of  redemption,  and  the  fortunes  of  regenerate  humanity. 
Here  again  we  must  distinguish  sacred  history  in  the  proper  and  narrow 
sense  of  the  term,  that  is,  the  history  of  the  revelation  of  God  as 
deposited  in  an  authoritative  and  infallible  form  in  the  books  of  the  Old 
and  New  Testaments,  from  church  history.  The  latter  is  the  continua- 
tion of  the  former,  though  in  perpetual  contact  with  secular  history,  and 
more  or  less  disturbed  by  it. 

The  general  relation,  then,  between  secular  or  profane,  and  sacred 
history  (including  church  history),  is  substantially  the  same  as  that 
between  nature  and  grace,  reason  and  revelation,  time  and  eternity. 
The  former  constitutes  the  natural  basis  and  preparation  for  the  latter. 
The  "Father  draweth  to  the  Son"  (John  6  :  44).  All  history  before 
Christ  prepared  the  way  for  the  incarnation  ;  all  histoiy  since  Christ 
must  ultimately,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  serve  to  glorify  his  name 
and  extend  his  everlasting  kingdom.  Sacred  history,  on  the  other  hand, 
exerts  a  regenerating  and  sanctifymg  influence  upon  secular,  or,  as  it  is 
frequently  called,  the  world's  history.  It  is  the  leaven,  which  is  gradu- 
ally to  leaven  the  whole  lump  (Matt.  13  :  33).  Both  departments, 
however,  are  in  continual  conflict.  The  world,  as  far  as  it  is  under  the 
influence  of  sin  and  error,  still  hates  and  persecutes  the  church,  as  it 
hated  and  persecuted  Christ  and  his  Apostles.  But  the  final  issue  of  the 
conflict,  according  to  the  infallible  word  of  prophecy,  will  be  the  com- 
plete triumph  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  over  the  dominions  and  powers 
of  this  world,  so  that  he  shall  reign  King  of  nations,  as  he  now  reigns 

'  The  English  word  history  refers  primarily  to  this  subjective  meaning ;  being  de- 
rived through  the  Latin  from  the  Greek  luropia,  (from  the  verb  laTopiio),  signifying  first 
research,  then  what  is  known  by  research,  then  science  generally,  and  in  particular  the 
science  of  events,  or  history  proper.  The  corresponding  German  word,  Geschichte, 
comes  from  "  geschehen,"  to  happen,  to  occur,  and  thus  expresses  primarily  the  objec- 
tive sense- 


INTROD.]  I  2.      THE   FACTOKS    OF   HISTOKY.  3 

King  of  saints.  A  representation  of  all  history,  both  sacred  and  secu- 
lar, making  the  fact  of  the  incarnation  the  centre  and  turning  point  of 
the  whole,  would  be  Universal  History  in  the  widest  sense.  It  is  evident, 
that,  as  the  life  of  the  human  race  is  a  unit,  and  as,  therefore  the  differ- 
ent departments  of  history  have  an  intimate  relation,  no  one  branch  can 
be  fully  understood,  or  satisfactorily  presented,  without  reference  to  the 
whole. 

For  history,  under  any  aspect,  is  not,  as  is  frequently  supposed  even 
by  a  certain  class  of  so-called  historians,  a  mere  aggregate  of  names, 
dates,  and  deeds,  more  or  less  accidental,  without  fixed  plan  or  sure  pur- 
pose. It  is  a  living  organism,  whose  parts  have  an  inward,  vital  connec- 
tion, each  requiring  and  completing  the  rest.  All  nations  form  but  one 
family,  having  one  origin  and  one  destiny  ;  and  all  periods  are  but  the 
several  stages  of  its  life,  which,  though  constantly  changing  its  form,  is 
always  substantially  one  and  the  same.  History,  moreover,  while  it  in- 
volves, indeed,  the  freedom  and  accountability  of  man,  is  yet,  as  already 
intimated,  even  in  its  secular  departments,  under  the  guidance  of  divine 
providence  ;  it  proceeds  on  an  eternal,  unchangeable  plan  of  infinite  wis- 
dom, and  tends,  therefore,  as  by  an  irresistible  necessity,  to  a  definite 
end.  This  end  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  creation  at  large,  the  glorify- 
ing of  God,  the  Creator,  Redeemer,  and  Sanctifierof  the  world,  through 
the  free  worship  of  his  intelligent  creatures,  who,  at  the  same  time,  in 
this  worship  attain  their  highest  happiness. 

§  2.    The  Factors  of  History. 

History  is  thus  to  be  viewed  as  always  the  product  of  two  factors  or 
agencies.  The  first  and  highest  factor  is  God  himself,  in  whom  we  "  live 
and  move  and  have  our  being,"  who  turns  the  hearts  of  men  "  as  the 
rivers  of  water,"  who  worketh  in  the  good  "both  to  will  and  to  do,"  and 
ruleth  the  wrath  of  the  wicked  to  his  own  praise,  yea,  maketh  Satan 
himself  tributary  to  his  will.  In  this  view  history  may  be  styled  a  self- 
evolution  of  God  in  lime — ^in  distinction  from  nature,  which  is  a  revelation 
of  the  Creator  in  space — a  continuous  exhibition  of  his  omnipotence  and 
wisdom,  and  more  particularly  of  his  moral  attributes,  justice,  holiness, 
patience,  long-suffering,  love,  and  mercy.  A  history,  which  leaves  this 
out  of  sight,  and  makes  God  an  idle  spectator  of  the  actions  and  for- 
tunes of  men,  is  deistic,  rafionalistic,  and  ultimately  atheistic,  and  thus  in 
reality  without  spirit,  without  life,  without  interest,  without  consolation. 
Such  a  history  must  be  at  best  a  cold  statue,  without  beaming  eye  or 
beating  heart. 

God  works  in  history,  however,  not,  as  in  nature,  through  blind  laws 
but  through  living  persons,  whom  he  has  created  after  his  own  image, 


4  §  i.      THE    FACTOES   OF   HISTOET.  [gener. 

and  endowed  with  reason  and  will.  By  these  endowments  he  has  assign- 
ed to  men  a  certain  sphere  of  conscious,  free  activity,  for  which  he  holds 
them  responsible  ;  intending  not  to  force  them  to  his  worship,  but  to  form 
them  to  a  moral  communion,  the  fellowship  of  love,  with  himself. 
Thus  men  form  a  relative,  secondary  factor  of  history,  receiving  the 
reward  of  their  words  and  deeds,  whether  they  be  good  or  evil.  To 
deny  such  subjective  causality,  and  make  men  mere  passive  channels  or 
machines  of  the  divine  activity,  is  to  go  to  the  opposite  extreme  of  pan- 
theism and  fatalism,  abolishing  of  course  all  human  accountability,  nay, 
in  the  end,  all  distinction  between  good  and  evil,  virtue  and  vice. 

These  two  causes,  the  divine  and  the  human,  the  objective  and  the  sub- 
jective, the  absolute  and  the  relative,  are  to  be  conceived,  not  in  a  mere 
abstract,  mechanical  way,  as  operating  collaterally  or  independently,  but 
as  working  zii  and  through  one  another.  With  our  present  knowledge, 
which,  though  ever  on  the  advance,  must  still  be  imperfect  till  we  shall 
"see  face  to  face"  (1  Cor.  13  :  9-12),  we  may  not  be  able  to  draw  the 
line  clearly  between  the  finite  and  the  infinite  causes  ;  yet  the  general 
recognition  of  both  is  the  first  condition  of  any  just  conception  of  history. 
And  it  is  this,  that  makes  history  a  lofty,  unbroken  anthem  of  praise  to 
divine  wisdom  and  love  ;  ati  humbling  mirror  of  human  weakness  and 
guilt  ;  and  in  either  view  the  richest  repository  of  instruction,  encou- 
ragement, and  edification.  As  the  biography  of  humanity,  which  unfolds 
its  relations  to  itself,  to  nature,  and  to  God,  it  must  of  course  embrace 
all  that  deserves  to  be  known,  all  that  is  beautiful,  great,  noble,  and 
glorious  in  the  course  of  the  world's  life.  In  it  are  treasured  all  the 
outward  and  inward  experiences  of  our  race,  all  its  thoughts,  feelings, 
views,  wishes,  endeavors,  and  achievements,  all  its  sorrows  and  all  its 
joys.  Divine  revelation  itself  belongs  to  history.  It  forms  the  very 
marrow  of  its  life,  the  golden  thread,  which  runs  through  all  its  leaves. 
Thus,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  there  can  be  no  study  more  comprehen- 
sive, more  instructive,  and  more  entertaining,  than  the  study  of  history 
in  the  wide  sense.  Of  the  two  wonders,  which  filled  the  mind  of  the 
philosopher  Kant,  according  to  his  own  confession,  with  ever-growing 
reverence  and  delight,  "the  starry  heavens  above  us"  and  "the  moral  law 
within  us"  the  latter  is  certainly  the  greater.  And  the  study  of  history, 
or  of  the  progressive  unfolding  of  this  moral  law,  and  of  all  the  intel- 
lectual powers  of  man,  is  as  far  above  the  study  of  the  natural  sciences 
in  importance  and  interest,  as  the  immortal  mind  is  above  matter,  its 
perishing  abode  ;  as  man  formed  in  the  image  of  God  is  superior  to 
nature,  his  servant. 

This  co-operation  of  two  factors  holds  good  in  scadar  or  profane  his- 
tory, as  well  as  in  sacred;  but  with  a  twofold  difference.     In  the  first 


INTKOD.]    §  3.       CENTEAL   POSITION   OF   RELIGION  IN   HISTORY.  5 

the  human  agency  is  most  prominent ;  in  the  second  the  divine  takes  the 
lead,  and  makes  its  presence  felt  at  every  step.  Then  again  both  the 
factors  appear  under  different  characters.  There  God  acts  as  Creator, 
Preserver,  and  Ruler  of  the  world,  and  man,  in  his  natural,  fallen  state  ; 
here  God  manifests  himself  as  the  Saviour  and  Sanctiiier  of  the  world, 
and  man  comes  into  view  as  an  object  of  redeeming  love,  and  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  kingdom  of  grace.  Secular  history  is  the  theatre  of  Elohim, 
or  God  under  his  general  character,  as  the  Father  of  Gentiles  as  well  as 
Jews.  Sacred  history  and  its  continuation,  church  history,  is  the  sanc- 
tuary of  Jehovah,  the  God  of  the  covenant,  the  Lord  of  a  chosen 
people. 

§,  3.   The.  Central  Position  of  Religion  in  History. 

Universal  history,  like  the  life  of  humanity  itself,  comes  before  us,  of 
course,  in  various  departments  ;  which,  however,  are  all  more  or  less  con- 
nected, and  form  each  the  complement  of  the  rest.  There  is  a  history 
of  government,  of  trade,  of  social  life,  of  the  different  sciences  and 
arts,  of  morality,  and  of  religion.  Of  these,  the  last  is  plainly  the 
deepest,  most  central,  and  most  interesting.  For  religion,  or  the  relation 
of  man  to  God;  the  principle,  which  ennobles  man's  earthly  existence  ; 
the  bond,  which  binds  him  to  the  fountain  of  all  life  and  peace,  to  the 
invisible  world  of  spirits,  and  to  a  blissful  eternity,  is  the  most  sacred 
element  of  his  nature,  the  source  of  his  loftiest  thoughts,  his  mightiest 
deeds,  his  sweetest  and  purest  enjoyments.  It  is  his  sabbath,  his  glory, 
his  crown,  in  the  consciousness  of  all  nations.  It  is  the  region  of  eter- 
nal truth  and  rest,  where,  as  it  is  expressed  by  a  profound  German  phi- 
losopher, all  mysteries  of  the  world  are  solved,  all  contradictions  of  the 
spirit  reconciled,  all  painful  feelings  hushed.  It  is  an  ether,  in  which 
all  sorrow,  all  care  is  lost,  either  in  the  present  feeling  of  devotion,  or  in 
a  hope,  which  transforms  the  darkest  clouds  of  earthly  tribulation  into 
the  radiance  of  heavenly  wisdom  and  mercy.  It  cannot  be  expected  that 
every  man  should  be  a  scholar  or  an  artist,  a  statesman  or  a  warrior ; 
but  every  one  must  be  moral  and  pious,  or  his  life  will  end  in  a  failure. 
It  is  only  by  piety,  without  which  there  can  be  no  pure  morality,  that 
man  fulfills  the  end  of  his  being,  and  actually  shows  himself  the  image  of 
God.  Without  it  he  can  neither  be  truly  happy  in  time  nor  blessed  in 
eternity ;  and,  unless  he  secure  the  righteousness  of  the  kingdom  of  hea- 
ven, it  were  better  for  him,  if  he  had  never  been  born.  Keligion,  com- 
munion with  God,  is  the  morning,  noon,  and  evening  of  history  ;  the 
paradise,  from  which  it  starts  ;  the  haven  of  peace,  into  Avhich,  after  a 
course  of  many  thousand  years  on  the  storm-lashed  ocean  of  time,  it  shall 
at  last  be  conducted,  to  rest  forever  from  its  labors,  where  God  shall  be 


6  §  3.      CENTRAL   POSITION   OF   RELIGION   IN   HISTOKT.       [genek. 

"all  in  all."     Even  the  other  departments  of  history  become  most  lumi- 
nous and  attractive  only  in  the  celestial  light  of  religion. 

All  this,  however,  is  properly  applicable  only  to  Christianity,  the  abso- 
lutely true  and  perfect  religion,  which  is  destined  to  absorb  all  others. 
As  the  world  of  nature  looks  to  man,  its  head  and  crown,  its  prophet 
and  king  ;  so  man  is  originally  made  for  Christ,  and  his  heart  is  restless 
until  it  rests  in  Ilira.     /e5?ts  Christ,  the  Godman,  the  Saviour  of  the 
world,  has  brought  humanity  to  its  perfection  in  himself,  reconciled  it  to 
God,  and  raised  it  to  a  permanent  vital  union  with  Him.     Take  Christ 
away, — and  the  human  race  is  without  a  ruling  head,  without  a  beating 
heart,  without  an  animating  soul,  without  a  certain  end,- — an  inexplicable 
enigma.     He,  the  great  founder  of  Christianity,  is  the  vital  principle  and 
the  guide,  the  centre  and  turning  point,  and  at  the  same  time  the  key, 
of  all  history,  as  well  as  of  every  individual  human  life.     His  entrance 
into  the  world  forms  the  boundary  between  the  old  and  the  new.     From 
Him,  the  Light  and  the  Life  of  the  world,  light  and  life  flow  l3ackward 
into  the  night  of  Paganism  and  the  twilight  of  Judaism,  and  forward  in  the 
channel  of  his  church  through  all  after  ages.     Even  in  ancient  history, 
what  is  most  remarkable  and  significant  is  the  preparation  for  Christianity 
by  the  divine  revelation  in  Israel,  and  by  the  longings  of  the  benighted 
heathen.     As  to  all  later  history,  Christianity  is  the  very  pulse  of  its  life  ; 
its  heart's  blood,  its  central  stream.     This  is  most  clearly  visible  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  when  all  science  and  art,  all  social  culture,  and  the  greatest 
political  and  national  movements  received  their  impulse  from  the  church, 
and  were  guided  and  ruled  by  her  spirit,   however  imperfect  the  form 
may  have  been,  under  which  Christianity  then  existed.     But  the  history 
of  the  last  three  centuries  also,  in  aJl  its  branches,  rests  throughout  upon 
the  great  religious  movements  of  the  sixteenth  century  ;  and  in  the  pro- 
cess of  its  development  we  ourselves  are  still  involved.     From  this  we 
may  readily  see  the  comprehensive  import  of  church  history. 


INTROD.]  §  4:.       IDEA   OF    THE    CHTJEOF. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    CHURCH. 

§  4.  Idea  of  the  Church. 

Christianity,  whicli,  as  the  absolute  religion^  holds  this  central,  ruling 
position  in  history,  and  on  which  depends  the  salvation  of  the  human 
race,  exists  not  merely  as  something  subjective  in  single  pious  individu- 
als, but  also  as  an  objective,  organized,  visible  society,  as  a  kingdom  of 
Christ  on  earth,  or  as  a  church}  The  church  is  in  part  a  pedagogic 
institution  to  train  men  for  heaven,  and  as  such  destined  to  pass  away  in 
its  present  form  when  the  salvation  shall  be  completed  ;  in  part  the 
everlasting  communion  of  the  redeemed,  both  on  earth  and  in  heaven. 
In  the  first  view,  as  a  visible  organization,  it  embraces  all,  who  are  bap- 
tized, whether  in  the  Greek,  or  Roman,  or  Protestant  communion.  It 
contains,  therefore,  many  hypocrites  and  unbelievers,  who  will  never  be 
entirely  separated  from  it  until  the  end  of  the  world.  Hence  our  Lord 
compares  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  Matt.  13.,  to  a  field,  where  wheat  and 
tares  grow  together  until  the  harvest ;  and  to  a  net,  which  "  gathers  of 

'  The  word  church,  like  the  Scotch  kirk,  the  German  kirche,  the  Swedish  kyrka,  the 
Danish  kyrke,  and  like  terms  in  the  Sclavonic  languages,  must  be  derived,  through  the 
Gothic,  from  the  Greek  KvpiaKov,  (i.  e.  belonging  to  the  Lord,)  sc.  dcj^a,  or  KvpiaKTJ,  so. 
dKia,  Dominica,  as  Basilica  from  fiaailevc,  Regia  from  rex.  It  may  signify  the  mate- 
rial house  of  God,  or  the  local  congregation,  or,  in  the  complex  sense — which  is  the 
original  one  (Matt.  16:  18) ,  and  in  which  it  is  used  in  the  text — the  organic  unity  of 
all  believers;  but  it  always  involves  etymologically  the  close  relation  of  the  church  to 
the  Lord  as  its  head,  by  whom  it  is  ruled,  and  to  whom  it  is  consecrated.  Some  derive 
the  word,  with  less  probability,  from  the  old  German  kueren,  kiesen,  to  elect,  to  call. 
Then  it  would  nearly  correspond  to  the  Greek  term,  kKKlrjata,  (the  Hebrew  ^pp) ,  an 
assembly  or  congregation,  legally  called  or  summoned,  used  in  the  N.  T.  mostly  in  a 
religious  sense,  to  denote  (1)  the  whole  body  of  believers,  (Matt.  16:  18.  1  Cor.  10  : 
32.  Gall:  13.  Eph.  1  :  22.  3:10,  5:23,24,27,29,32.  Phil.  3 :  6.  lTira.3: 
15.  etc.) ;  (2)  a  part  of  this  whole,  a  particular  congregation,  as  that  at  Jerusalem,  or  at 
Antioch,  or  at  Rome,  (1  Cor.  11:18.  14  :  19, 33,  ev  Traaaif  ralg  eKK'Arjaiaig  tuv  ayiuv. 
Philem.  5  :  2,  etc.).  In  both  cases,  it  involves  the  idea  of  a  divine  call  and  election  to 
the  service  of  the  Lord,  and  to  eternd  life. 


8  §  4.      IDEA   OF   THE   CHTJECH.  [geNEB. 

every  kind."  The  true  essence  of  the  church,  however,  the  eternal  com- 
munion of  saints,  consists  only  of  the  regenerate  and  converted,  who  are 
united  by  a  living  faith  with  Christ  the  head,  and,  through  him,  with 
one  another. 

Though  the  church  is  thus  a  society  of  men,  yet  it  is  by  no  means  on 
that  account  a  production  of  men,  called  into  existence  by  their  own 
invention  and  will,  like  free-masonry,  for  instance,  temperance  societies, 
and  the  various  political  and  literary  associations.  It  is  founded  by  God 
himself  through  Christ,  through  his  incarnation,  his  life,  his  sufferings, 
death  and  resurrection,  and  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  for  his 
own  glory  and  the  redemption  of  the  world.  For  this  very  reason,  the 
gates  of  hell  itself  can  never  prevail  against  it.  It  is  the  ark  of 
Christianity,  out  of  which  there  is  no  salvation  ;  the  channel  of  the  con- 
tmuous  revelation  of  the  triune  God  and  the  powers  of  eternal  life. 

St.  Paul  commonly  calls  the  church  the  hody  of  Christ,  and  believers 
the  members  of  this  body.'  As  a  body  in  general,  the  church  is  an 
organic  union  of  many  members,  which  have,  indeed,  different  gifts  and 
callings,  yet  are  pervaded  by  the  same  life-blood,  ruled  by  the  same 
head,  animated  by  the  same  soul,  all  working  together  towards  the  same 
end.  This  is  set  forth  in  a  masterly  and  incomparable  manner,  particu- 
larly in  the  twelfth  and  fourteenth  chapters  of  the  first  epistle  to  the 
Corinthians.  As  the  body  of  Christ,  the  church  is  the  dwelling-place  of 
Christ,  in  which  he  exerts  all  the  powers  of  his  theanthropic  life,  and 
also  the  organ,  through  which  he  acts  upon  the  world  as  Redeemer  ;  as 
the  soul  manifests  its  activity  only  through  the  body,  in  which  it  dwells. 
The  Lord,  therefore,  through  the  Holy  Ghost,  is  present  in  the  church, 
in  all  its  ordinances  and  means  of  grace,  especially  in  the  word  and  the 
sacraments  ;  present,  indeed,  in  a  mystical,  invisible,  incomprehensible 
way,  but  none  the  less  really,  efficiently,  and  manifestly  present,  in  his 
complete  theanthropic  person.  "  Where  two  or  three  are  gathered 
together  in  my  name,  there  am  //' — not  merely  my  spirit,  or  my  word, 
or  my  influence,  but  my  person— "in  the  midst  of  them"  (Matt.  18: 
20).  "Lo,  /  am  with  you" — the  representatives  of  the  whole  body  of 
saints — "  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world"  (Matt.  28  :  20). 
Hence  Paul  calls  the  church  "  the  fulness  of  Him,  that  filleth  all  in  all" 
(Eph.  1  :  23). 

We  may  justly  say,  therefore,  that  the  church  is  the  continuation  of 
the  life  and  work  of  Christ  upon  earth,  though  never,  indeed,  so  far  as 
men  in  their  present  state  are  concerned,  without  a  mixture  of  sin  and 
error.     In  the  church,  the  Lord  is  perpetually  born  anew  in  the  hearts 

'Rom.  12:5.  1  Cor.  6:15.  10:17.  12:20,27.  Eph.  1  :  23.  4:12.  5:23, 
30.     Col.  1 :  24,  etc. 


INTROD.]  I  5.       DETELOPMENT    OF   THE   CHTJECH.  9 

of  believers  through  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  reveals  Christ  to  us,  and 
appropriates  his  work  and  merits  to  the  individual  soul.  In  the  church 
the  Lord  speaks  words  of  truth  and  consolation  to  fallen  man.  In  and 
through  her  he  heals  the  sick,  raises  the  dead,  distributes  the  heavenly 
manna,  gives  himself,  as  spiritual  food,  to  the  hungry  soul.  In  her  are 
repeated  his  sufferings  and  death  ;  and  in  her,  too,  are  continually  cele- 
brated anew  his  resurrection  and  ascension,  and  the  outpouring  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  In  her  militant  state,  like  her  Head  in  the  days  of  his 
humiliation,  she  bears  the  form  of  a  servant.  She  is  hated,  despised, 
and  mocked  by  the  ungodly  world.  But  from  this  lowly  form  beams 
forth  a  divine  radiance,  "the  glory  as  of  the  only-begotten  of  the  Father, 
full  of  grace  and  truth."  In  her  womb  must  we  be  born  again  of  incor- 
ruptible seed  ;  from  her  breast  must  we  be  nourished  unto  spiritual  life. 
For  she  is  the  Lamb's  bride,  the  dwelhng  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  temple 
of  the  living  God,  "  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth."  Those  ancient 
maxims  :  Qui  ecdesiam  non  hahet  matrem,  Deum  non  halet  pairem  ;  and 
Extra  ecdesiam  nulla  salus,  though  perverted  by  the  church  of  Rome, 
and  applied  in  a  carnal  and  contracted  sense  to  herself  as  the  church,  are 
yet  perfectly  correct,  when  we  refer  them  not  simply  to  a  particular 
denomination  but  to  the  holy  catholic  church,  the  mystical  body  of 
Christ,  the  spiritual  Jerusalem,  "which  is  the  mother  of  us  all"  (Gal. 
4  :  26).  For  since  Christ,  as  Redeemer,  is  to  be  found  neither  in  Hea- 
thenism, nor  in  Judaism,  nor  in  Islamism,  but  only  in  the  church,  the 
fundamental  proposition  :  "Out  of  Christ  no  salvation,"  necessarily 
includes  the  other  :  "  No  salvation  out  of  the  church."  This,  of  course, 
does  not  imply,  that  mere  external  connection  with  it  is  of  itself  suSicient 
for  salvation,  but  simply,  that  salvation  is  not  divinely  guaranteed  out  of 
the  Christian  church.  There  are  thousands  of  church  members,  who  are 
not  vitally  united  to  Christ,  and  who  will,  therefore,  be  finally  lost  ;  but 
there  are  no  real  Christians  any  where,  who  are  not,  at  the  same  time, 
members  of  Christ's  mystical  body,  and  as  such  connected  with  some 
branch  of  his  visible  kingdom  on  earth.  Church-membership  is  not  the 
•prindph  of  salvation — which  is  Christ  alone — but  the  necessary  condition 
of  it  ;  because  it  is  the  divinely-appointed  means  of  bringing  the  man 
into  contact  with  Christ  and  all  his  benefits. 

§  5.    The  Development  of  the  Church. 

The  church  is  not  to  be  viewed  as  a  thing  at  once  finished  and  perfect, 
but  as  a  historical  fact,  as  a  human  society,  subject  to  the  laws  of 
history,  to  genesis,  growth,  development.  Only  the  dead  is  done  and 
stagnant.  All  created  life,  even  the  vegetable,  and  especially  animal 
and  human  life,  though   always  in  substance  the  same,  is   essentially 


10  §  5.      DEVELOPMENT   OF   THE   CHURCH.  [gener. 

motion,  process,  constant  change,  unceasing  transition  from  the  lower  to 
the  higher.  Every  member  of  the  body,  every  faculty  of  the  soul  exists 
at  first  merely  potentially  or  virtually,  and  attains  its  full  proportions 
only  by  degrees  ;  just  as  the  tree  grows  from  the  germ,  unfolding  first 
the  root  and  trunk,  then  the  branches,  leaves,  blossoms,  and  fruit.  The 
same  law  holds  in  the  case  of  the  new  man  in  Christ.  The  believer  is  at 
first  a  child,  a  babe  in  Christ,  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,  and  rises 
gradually,  by  the  faithful  use  of  the  means  of  grace,  unto  perfect  man- 
hood in  Christ,  the  author  and  finisher  of  our  faith,  until  this  spiritual 
life  reaches  its  perfection  in  the  resurrection  of  the  body  unto  life  ever- 
lasting. As  the  church  is  the  organic  whole  of  individual  believers,  it 
must  likewise  be  conceived  as  subject  to  the  same  law  of  development, 
or,  to  use  the  expressive  figure  of  the  Saviour,  as  a  grain  of  mustard- 
seed,  which  grows  at  last  to  a  mighty  tree,  overshadowing  the  world. 
The  church,  therefore,  like  every  individual  Christian,  and,  indeed,  like 
Christ  himself  in  his  human  nature,*  must  be  viewed,  under  her  histori- 
cal form,  as  having  her  infancy,  her  childhood,  her  youth,  and  her 
mature  age. 

To  avoid  misunderstanding,  however,  we  must  here  make  an  important 
distinction.  The  church,  in  its  idea,  or  viewed  objectively  in  Christ,  in 
whom  dwelleth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,  who  is  the  same 
yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever,  is  from  the  first  complete  and  unchange- 
able. So  also  the  revealed  word  of  Christ  is  eternal  truth  and  the  abso- 
lute rule  of  faith  and  practice,  which  the  Christian  world  can  never 
transcend.  The  doctrine  of  an  improvement  on  Biblical  Christianity,  of 
an  advance  on  the  part  of  men  beyond  revelation,  or  beyond  Christ 
himself,  is  entirely  rationalistic  and  unchristian.  Such  a  pretended 
improvement  were  but  a  deterioration,  a  return  to  the  old  Judaism  or 
Paganism. 

But  from  this  idea  of  the  church  in  the  divine  mind,  and  in  the  person 
of  Christ,  we  must  distinguish  its  actual  manifestation  on  earth  ;  from 
the  objective  revelation  itself  we  must  discriminate  the  subjective  appre- 
fievsion  and  appropriation  of  it  in  the  mind  of  humaiiity  at  a  given  time. 
This  last  is  progressive.  Humanity  at  large  can  no  more  possess  itself  at 
once  of  the  fulness  of  the  divine  life  in  Christ,  than  the  individual  Chris- 
tian can  in  a  moment  become  a  perfect  saint.  This  complete  appropria- 
tion of  life  is  accomplished  only  by  a  gradual  process,  involving  much 
trouble  and  toil.    The  church  on  earth  advances  from  one  degree  of 

'  Comp.  Luke  2:  52;  "  And  Jesus  mcreasccf  in  wisdom  and  stature,  and  in  favor 
with  God  and  man."  Heb.  5:8;"  Though  he  were  a  Son,  yet  learned  he  obedienca 
by  the  things  which  he  suffered  ;  and  being  made  perfect,  he  became  the  author  of  eter- 
nal salvation  unto  all  them  that  obey  Lim." 


INTROD.]  §  5.       DEVELOPMENT   OF   THE    CHUKCH.  11 

purity,  knowledge,  holiness,  to  another  ;  struggles  victoriously  through  the 
opposition  of  an  ungodly  world  ;  overcomes  innumerable  foes  within  and 
without  ;  surmounts  all  obstructions  ;  survives  all  diseases  ;  till  at  last, 
entirely  purged  from  sin  and  error,  and  passing,  at  the  general  resurrec- 
tion, from  her  militant  to  her  triumphant  state,  she  shall  stand  forth 
eternally  complete.  This  whole  process,  however,  is  but  the  full  actual 
unfolding  of  the  church  which  existed  potentially  at  the  outset  in 
Christ ;  a  process  by  which  the  Redeemer's  Spirit  and  life  are  complete- 
ly approi^riated  and  impressed  on  every  feature  of  humanity.  Christ  is 
thus  the  beginning,  the  middle,  and  the  end  of  the  entire  history  of  the 
church. 

The  growth  of  the  church  is  in  the  first  place  an  oiUward  extension 
over  the  earth,  till  all  nations  shall  walk  in  the  light  of  the  gospel.  It 
is  with  reference  mainly  to  this,  that  our  Lord  compares  the  kingdom  of 
God  to  a  grain  of  mustard,  which  is  the  least  of  all  seeds,  yet  grows  to 
be  a  great  tree,  in  whose  branches  the  fowls  of  heaven  lodge  (Matt. 
13  :  31,  32).  In  the  second  place,  it  consists  in  an  inward  unfolding  of 
the  idea  of  the  church,  in  doctrine,  life,  irorship,  and  government ;  the 
human  nature,  in  all  its  parts,  coming  more  and  more  to  bear  the  impress 
of  that  new  principle  of  life,  which  has  been  given  in  Christ  to  humanity, 
and  which  is  yet  to  transform  the  world  into  a  glorious  and  blessed  king- 
dom of  God.  To  this  our  Lord  refers  in  the  parable  of  the  leaven, 
"  which  a  woman  took  and  hid  in  three  measures  of  meal,  till  the  whole 
■was  leavened"  (Matt.  13  :  33).  St.  Paul,  also,  has  this  in  view  in 
numerous  passages  in  his  epistles,  where  he  speaks  of  the  growth  and 
edification  of  the  body  of  Christ,  "till  we  all  come,  in  the  unity  of  the 
faith,  and  of  the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a  perfect  man, 
unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  ihQ  fulness  of  Christ,  that  we  hence- 
forth be  no  more  children,"  &c.' 

This  development,  moreover,  is  organic.  It  is  not  an  outward,  mechan- 
ical aggregation  of  facts,  which  have  no  living  connection.  It  is  a 
process  of  life,  which  springs  from  witliin,  from  the  vital  energy  implant- 
ed in  the  church,  and  which  remains,  in  all  its  course,  identical  with 
itself,  as  man  through  all  the  stages  of  his  life  still  continues  man.  What 
is  untrue  and  imperfect  in  an  earlier  stage  is  done  away  by  that  which 
follows  ;  what  is  true  and  essential  is  preserved,  and  made  the  living 
germ  of  further  development.  The  history  of  all  Christian  nations,  and 
of  all  times,  from  the  birth  of  Christ  to  the  final  judgment,  forms  one 
connected  whole  ;  and  only  in  its  totahty  does  it  exhibit  the  entire 
fulness  of  the  new  creation. 

»  Eph.  4  :  12—16,  comp.  3  :  17—19.     Col.  2:19.     1  Pet.  2  :  2,  5.    2  Pet.  3  :  18. 


12  §  5.      DEVELOPMENT   OF   THE   CHTJECH.  [genBR. 

But  as  the  church  on  earth  is  in  perpetual  conflict  with  the  unbeliev- 
ing world,  and  as  believers  themselves  are  still  encumbered  with  sin  and 
error,  this  development  of  the  church  is  not  a  regular  and  quiet  process, 
but  a  constant  struggle.  It  goes  by  extremes,  through  all  sorts  of 
obstructions  and  diseases,  through  iimumerable  heresies  and  schisms. 
But  in  the  hand  of  Him,  who  can  bring  good  even  out  of  evil,  the^ 
distractions  themselves  must  ultimately  serve  the  cause  of  truth  and 
piety. 

History  properly  allows  no  pause.  Single  lateral  streams  of  it, 
indeed,  may  dry  up  ;  small  sects,  for  instance,  which  have  fulfilled  their 
mission,  or  even  large  divisions  of  the  church,  which  once  played  a 
highly  important  part,  but  have  wilfully  set  themselves  against  all  histor- 
ical progress,  may  become  stagnant,  and  congeal  into  dead  formalism  ; 
as  is  the  case  with  most  of  the  Oriental  churches.  But  the  main  stream 
of  church  history  moves  uninterruptedly  onward,  and  must  finally  reach 
its  divinely  appointed  end.     Ecclesia  non  potest  deficere. 

But  together  with  the  wheat,  according  to  the  parable  already  quoted, 
the  tares,  also,  ripen  for  the  harvest  of  the  judgment.  Accompanying 
the  development  of  the  good,  of  truth,  of  Christianity,  there  is  also  a 
development  of  the  evil,  of  falsehood,  of  Antichristianity .  Together 
with  the  mystery  of  godliness,  there  works  also  a  mystery  of  iniquity. 
And  the  two  processes  are  often  in  so  close  contact,  that  it  requires  the 
keenest  eye  to  discriminate  rightly  between  light  and  shade,  between  the 
work  of  God  and  the  work  of  Satan,  who,  we  know,  often  transforms 
himself  into  an  angel  of  light.  Judas  was  among  the  apostles,  and 
Antichrist  sits  in  the  temple  of  God  (2  Thess.  2  :  4).  The  hand  of 
justice,  indeed,  rules  even  here,  turning  wicked  thoughts  and  deeds  to 
shame,  and  punishing  the  enemies  of  God  ;  but  in  the  present  world  this 
retribution  is  only  partially  administered.  The  famous  sentence  of 
Schiller,  "  Die  "Weltgeschichte  ist  das  Weltgericht,"  must,  accordingly, 
be  so  far  corrected  :  "  The  history  of  the  world  is  a  judgment  of  the 
world,"  distributing  blessing  and  curse  ;  but  not  the  final  judgment,  at 
which  alone  the  curse  and  blessing  will  be  complete.  If  Gothe,  in  his 
conversations  with  Eckermann,  says  of  nature  ;  "  There  is  in  nature 
something  approachable  and  something  unapproachable  ;  many  things 
can  be  only  to  a  certain  extent  understood,  and  nature  always  retains 
something  mysterious,  which  human  faculties  are  insufficient  to  fathom  ;" 
the  same  may  be  said,  still  more  aptly,  of  history.  Here,  too,  we 
encounter  many  mysteries,  which  eternity  alone  will  fully  solve.  Here, 
too,  we  find  everywhere  the  working  of  a  revealed  and  a  hidden  God, 
who  can  be  approached  only  by  a  mind  reverently  pious  and  deeply 
humble.    '  All  is  calculated  to  stimulate  man,  who,  even  on  the  heights 


INTROD.]  §  6.       THE    CHUECH   AND   THE   WOKLD.  13 

of  science,  must  "  eat  his  bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  face,"  to  renewed 
investigation,  to  greater  faith.  As  prophecy  can  be  perfectly  under- 
stood only  in  the  light  of  its  fulfillment  ;  the  Old  Testament,  only  by  the 
New  ;  so  the  history  of  the  church  can  be  perfectly  comprehended,  only 
when  it  shall  have  laid  open  all  the  fulness  and  variety  of  its  contents, 
and  shall  have  reached  its  goal.  As  the  Jewish  economy  was  a  proph- 
ecy and  type  of  the  Christian  dispensation,  so  the  history  of  the  church 
militant  is  but  a  prophecy  and  a  type  of  the  triumphant  kingdom  of 
God  ;  and  eternity  alone  will  furnish  a  complete  commentary  on  the 
developments  of  time.^ 

§  6.    The  Church  and  the  World. 

The  church,  like  Christianity  itself,  of  which  it  is  the  vehicle,  is  a  super- 
natural principle,  a  new  creation  of  God  through  Christ,  far  transcend- 
ing all  that  human  intelligence  and  will  can  of  themselves  produce.  As 
such,  she  appears  at  first  in  direct  hostility  to  the  world,  which  lieth  in 
wickedness  ;  and  so  far,  the  history  of  the  church  and  that  of  the 
world,  (here  taken  in  the  sense  of  profane  history),  are  in  mutual  con- 
flict. But  since  Christianity  is  ordained  for  men,  and  is  intended  to 
raise  them  to  their  proper  perfection,  this  opposition  cannot  be  directed 
against  nature  as  such,  as  it  has  come  from  God  himself,  and  constitutes 
the  true  essence  of  man,  but  only  against  the  corruption  of  nature, 
against  sin  and  error  ;  and  it  must  cease  in  proportion  as  these  ungodly 
elements  are  overcome.  Christianity  aims  not  to  annihilate  human 
nature,  but  to  redeem  and  sanctify  it.  It  can  truly  say  :  Nihil  humani 
a  me  alienum  puto.  Revelation  is  intended  not  to  destroy  reason,  but 
to  elevate  it,  and  fill  it  with  the  light  of  divine  truth.  The  church  must 
finally  subdue  the  whole  world,  not  with  an  arm  of  flesh,  but  with  the 
weapons  of  faith  and  love,  the  Spirit  and  the  Word,  and  lay  it  as  a 
trophy  at  the  feet  of  the  crucified  Redeemer.  Thus  the  supernatural 
becomes  natural.  It  becomes  more  and  more  at  home  on  earth  and  in 
humanity.  In  this  view,  also,  the  Word  becomes  flesh  and  dwells 
among  us,  so  that  we  can  see,  feel,  taste,  and  enjoy  his  glory. 

Nor  is  it  merely  a  single  department  of  the  world's  life,  which  the 
kingdom  of  God  proposes  thus  to  pervade  and  control,  but  the  world  as 
a  whole.  Christianity  is  absolutely  catholic  or  universal  in  its  character  ; 
it  is  designed  for  all  nations,  for  all  times,  and  for  all  spheres  of  human 

*  A.  more  extended  exposition  of  the  idea  of  development,  which  properly  coincides 
with  the  idea  of  history  itself,,  and  is  indispensable  to  the  treatment  of  history  with 
any  living  spirit,  has  been  attempted  in  our  small  work  :  Wkat  is  Church  History  ?  A 
Vindication  of  the  idea  of  Historical  Development.  Philadelphia  :  Lippincott  &  Co., 
1846.     See  especially  p.  SO,  sqq. 


14:  §  6.      THE   CnUKCH   AND    THE    WOKLD.  [gexer. 

existence.  The  church  is  humanity  itself,  regenerate,  and  on  the 
way  to  perfection.  The  whole  creation  groans  after  redemption,  and 
after  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God.  No  moral  order  of 
the  world  can  ever  become  complete,  without  being  permeated  through- 
out by  the  life  of  the  Godman.  Nay,  even  the  body,  and  the  system  of 
nature,  in  which  it  belongs,  are  to  come  under  the  all-pervading  and 
transforming  power  of  the  Gospel.  The  process  of  the  new  creation  is 
to  close  with  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  and  the  manifestation  of  new 
heavens  and  a  new  earth,  vrherein  dwelleth  righteousness.  Hence  our 
Lord  compares  the  kingdom  of  God  to  leaven,  which  is  destined  to  per- 
vade the  whole  lump,  the  entire  human  nature,  spirit,  soul,  and  body 
(Matt.  13  :  33). 

The  several  spheres  of  the  world,  in  its  good  sense,'  or  the  essential 
forms,  ordained  by  God  himself,  for  the  proper  unfolding  of  the  human 
life,  are  particularly  the  family,  the  state,  science,  art,  and  morality.^ 
On  all  these  Christianity,  in  her  course,  exerts  a  purifying  and  sanctify- 
ing influence,  making  them  tributary  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  his  kingdom,  till  God  shall  be  all  in  all. 

It  recognizes  the  family,  that  seminary  of  the  state  and  the  church, 
as  a  divine  institution,  but  raises  it  to  a  higher  level  than  it  ever  occu- 
pied before.  It  makes  monogamy  a  law,  places  the  relative  duties  of 
husband  and  wife,  parents  and  children,  master  and  servant  on  their 
highest  religious  ground,  and  consecrates  the  whole  institution  by  show- 
ing its  reference  to  the  sacred  union  of  Christ  with  his  church.  It  is  in 
the  history  of  Christianity,  therefore,  and  particularly  among  the  Ger- 
manic nations,  that  we  behold  marriage  in  its  happiest  forms,  and  meet 
with  the  most  beautiful  exhibitions  of  domestic  life. 

So  also  the  state  is  regarded  by  Christianity  as  a  divine  institution  for 
maintaining  order  in  human  society,  for  encouraging  good  and  punishing 
evil,  and  for  promoting  generally  the  public  v,^eal.  But  the  magistrate 
himself  is  made  dependent  on  the  absolute  sovereignty  of  God  and 
responsible  to  him,  and  subjects  are  taught  to  obey  "  in  the  Lord." 
Thus   arbitrary  despotism  is  counteracted  ;   obedience  is  shorn  of  its 

'  It  is  well  known  that  the  term  "  world'''  has  various  senses  both  in  the  Bible  and 
in  common  parlance-  It  may  signify  :  (1)  the  universe — e.g.  "  God  created  the  world" 
—  \;2)  humanity  and  the  human  life  as  a  whole — e.  g.  "  God  so  loved  the  world,"  &c. 
"  Christ,  the  Saviour  of  the  world  " —  (3)  the  unconverted  part  of  humanity,  the  whole 
mass  of  human  sin  and  error,  the  kingdom  of  evil — e.  g.  "  the  world  lieth  in  wicked- 
ness," "  Satan,  the  prince  of  this  world"  &c.  A  similar  variety  of  meanings  attaches 
to  the  word  nature. 

*  We  take  this  term  here  in  the  popular  sense.  In  a  wider  view  the  life  of  the 
family,  and  of  the  state  itself,  nay,  all  scientific  and  artistic  activity,  falls  into  the  sphere 
of  ethies.  and  has  either  a  moral  or  an  immoral  character  and  tendency. 


INTKOD.]  §  6.      THE   CHUKCH   ANT)   THE   WOULD.  15 

slavisli  cliaracter  ;  cruel  and  hurtful  institutions  are  gradually  abolished, 
and  wise  and  wholesome  laws  are  introduced.  History,  in  this  view,  is 
to  end  in  a  theocracy,  in  which  all  dominion  and  power  shall  be  given  to 
the  saints  of  the  Most  High,  all  nations  be  united  into  one  family,  and 
joyfully  yield  themselves  to  the  divine  will  as  their  only  law. 

To  science,  the  investigation  and  knowledge  of  truth,  Christianity 
owns  no  inherent  opposition,  but  imparts  a  new  impulse,  and  itself  gives 
birth  to  the  loftiest  of  all  sciences,  theology.  It  is  always  active,  how- 
ever, in  purging  science  from  error  and  egoism  ;  it  leads  her  to  the 
highest  source  of  all  wisdom  and  knowledge,  to  God  revealed  in  Christ  ; 
and  will  not  rest,  till  it  shall  have  transformed  all  the  branches  of  learn- 
ing into  theoso'pky,  and  thus  brought  them  back  to  the  ground,  from 
which  they  sprang.  What  Bacon  says  of  philosophy  is  true  of  science 
in  general  :  "  Philosophia  obiter  libata  abducit  a  Deo,  penitus  hausta 
reducit  ad  eundem." 

Art,  also,  whose  object  is  to  represent  the  idea  of  beauty,  the  church 
takes  into  her  service,  and  herself  produces  the  noblest  creations  in 
architecture,  sculpture,  painting,  music,  and  poetry.  For  Christ  is  the 
fairest  of  the  children  of  men,  the  actual  embodiment  of  the  highest  ideal 
of  the  imagination,  the  complete  harmony  of  spirit  and  nature,  of  soul 
and  body,  of  thought  and  form,  of  heaven  and  earth,  of  God  and  man  ; 
and  the  anthems  of  eternity  can  never  exhaust  his  praise.  The  scope  of 
history  in  this  department  is  to  spiritualize  all  art  in  worship,  or  divine 
service. 

Lastly,  Christianity  transforms  the  whole  moral  life  of  individuals,  and 
of  nations  ;  breathes  into  morality  its  true  life,  love  to  God  ;  and  ceases 
not  till  all  sin  is  banished  from  the  earth,  and  holiness,  which  is  essential 
to  the  idea  of  the  church,  is  fully  realized  in  the  life  of  redeemed 
humanity.  God  is  the  fountain  of  all  law,  truth,  beauty,  and  virtue  ; 
and  as  all  created  things  proceed  from  him,  so  all  must  return  to  him  at 
last  through  Christ.  Christ  is  "  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life,"  by 
whom  all  must  come  to  the  Father  ;  the  prophet,  the  priest,  and  the 
king  of  the  world. 


16  §  7.        DEriNITION   OF    CHURCH   HISTORY.  f GENEB. 


CHAPTER  III. 

CHURCH  HISTORY. 

§.  t.    General  Definition. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  define  chxirdi  hhtory.  It  is  simply  the  pro- 
gressive execution  of  the  scheme  of  the  divine  kingdom  in  the  actual 
life  of  humanity  ;  the  outward  and  inward  development  of  Christianity  ; 
the  extension  of  the  church  over  the  whole  earth,  and  the  infusion  of  the 
spirit  of  Christ  iiito  all  the  spheres  of  human  existence,  the  family,  the 
state,  science,  art,  and  morality,  making  them  all  organs  and  expressions 
of  this  spirit,  for  the  glory  of  God,  and  for  the  elevation  of  man  to  his 
proper  perfection  and  happiness.  It  is  the  sum  of  all  the  utterances  and 
deeds,  experiences  and  fortunes,  all  the  sufferings,  the  conflicts,  and  the 
victories  of  Christianity,  as  well  as  of  all  the  divine  manifestations  in 
and  through  it. 

As  we  have  distinguished  two  factors,  a  divine  and  a  human,  in  general 
history  ;  so  we  must  view  church  history  as  the  joint  product  of  Christ 
and  of  his  people,  or  regenerate  humanity.  On  the  part  of  Christ, 
it  may  be  called  the  evolution  of  his  own  life  in  the  world,  a  perpetual 
repetition,  or  unbroken  continuation,  as  it  were,  of  his  incarnation,  his 
words  and  deeds,  his  death,  and  his  resurrection,  in  the  hearts  of  indivi- 
duals and  of  nations.  On  the  part  of  men,  church  history  is  the  exter- 
nal and  internal  unfolding  of  the  life  of  believers  collectively,  who  live 
and  move  and  have  their  being  in  Christ.  But  as  these  are  not  perfect 
saints  this  side  of  the  grave,  as  they  still  remain  more  or  less  under  the 
influence  of  sin  and  error,  and  as,  moreover,  the  church  militant  is  asso- 
ciated with  the  ungodly  world,  which  intrudes  into  it  in  manifold  ways, 
there  appear,  of  course,  in  church  history  all  kinds  of  sinful  passions, 
perversions  and  caricatures  of  divine  truth,  heresies  and  schisms.  We 
find  all  these  in  fact  even  in  the  age  of  the  New  Testament.  For  in 
proportion  as  the  kingdom  of  light  asserts  itself,  the  kingdom  of  dark- 
ness also  rouses  to  greater  activity,  and  whets  its  weapons  on  Christianity 
itself.    Judas  not  only  stood  in  the  sacred  circle  of  the  apostles,  but 


INTEOD.]  §  8.      EXTENT   OF   CHUECH   HISTORY.  lY 

wanders,  like  Ahasuerus,  through  the  ecclesiastical  sanctuary  of  all  cen- 
turies. It  is  in  opposition  to  the  highest  manifestations  of  the  Spirit  of 
God,  that  the  most  dangerous  and  hateful  forms  of  human  and  diabolical 
perversion  arise. 

But,  in  the  first  place,  church  history  shows  that  this  opposition,  and  that 
all  errors  and  divisions,  even  though  they  may  have  a  long  and  almost 
universal  prevalence,  must,  in  the  end,  serve  only  to  awaken  the  church 
to  her  real  work,  to  call  forth  her  deepest  energies,  to  furnish  the  occa- 
sion for  higher  developments,  and  thus  to  glorify  the  name  of  God  and 
his  Son  Jesus  Christ.  All  tribulation,  too,  and  persecutions  are  for  the 
church,  what  they  are  for  the  individual  Christian,  only  a  powerful  refin- 
ing fire,  in  which  she  is  to  be  gradually  purged  from  all  her  dross  ;  till 
at  last,  adorned  as  a  bride  at  the  side  of  her  heavenly  spouse,  upon  the 
renovated  earth,  she  shall  celebrate  the  resurrection  morning  as  her  last 
and  most  glorious  pentecost. 

In  the  next  place,  however,  this  dark  side  of  church  history  is  only, 
as  it  were,  its  earthly  and  temporary  outwork.  Its  inmost  and  perma- 
nent substance,  its  heart's  blood,  is  the  divine  love  and  wisdom  itself,  of 
which  it  is  the  manifestation.  Church  history  first  of  all  presents  to  us 
Christ,  as  he  moves  through  all  time,  living  and  working  in  his  people, 
cleansing  them  from  all  foreign  elements,  and  conquering  the  world  and 
Satan.  It  is  the  repository  of  the  manifold  attestations  and  seals  of  his 
Holy  Spirit  in  that  bright  cloud  of  witnesses,  who  have  denied  them- 
selves even  unto  death  ;  who  have  battled  faithfully  against  all  ungodli- 
ness within  and  without  ;  who  have  preached  the  gospel  of  peace  to 
every  creature  ;  who  have  bathed  in  the  depths  of  the  divine  life  and 
everlasting  truth,  and  have  brought  forth  and  unfolded  the  treasures  of 
revelation  for  the  instruction,  edification,  and  comfort  of  their  contem- 
poraries and  posterity ;  who,  with  many  tears  and  prayers,  willingly 
bearing  their  master's  cross,  but  also  rejoicing  in  faith  and  hope,  and 
triumphing  over  death  and  the  grave,  have  passed  into  the  upper  sanc- 
tuary, to  rest  forever  from  their  labors. 

§.  8.  Extent  of  Church  History. 
The  beginning  of  church  history  is  properly  the  incarnation  of  the 
Son  of  God,  the  entrance  of  the  new  principle  of  light  and  life  into 
humanity.  The  life  of  Jesus  Christ  forms  the  unchangeable  theanthropic 
foundation  of  the  whole  structure.  Hence  Gieseler,  Niedner,  and  other 
historians  embrace  a  short  sketch  of  this  in  their  systems,  while  Neander 
has  devoted  to  it  a  separate  work.  But  since  the  church,  as  an  organic 
union  of  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  comes  into  view  first  on  the  day  of  Pen- 
tecost, we  may  take  this  point  as  the  beginning  ;  and  this  is  preferable^ 
2 


18  §  9.      RELATION   TO    OTHER  DEPARTMENTS.  [gener. 

because  tne  mass  of  matter  to  be  handled  is  so  great  that  there  could  be 
no  room  to  do  full  justice  to  so  difficult  and  momentous  a  subject  as  the 
life  of  Christ.  At  all  events,  however,  the  history  of  the  apostolic  age 
must  be  preceded  by  an  introductory  sketch  of  the  condition  of  the 
Jewish  and  heathen  world  at  the  time  when  the  church  entered  it  as  a 
new  creation  ;  for  only  thus  can  we  obtain  any  clear  conception  of  the 
comprehensive  historical  import  of  Christianity. 

The  relative  goal  of  church  history  for  any  given  time  is  the  then 
existing  present,  or  rather  the  epoch,  which  lies  nearest  the  historian  ; 
since  what  is  passing  before  his  eyes,  and  is  not  yet  finished,  cannot  well 
be  freely  and  impartially  treated.  Its  ahsohite  goal  is  the  final  judg- 
ment. But  what  is  for  us  future,  can,  of  course,  be  only  the  object  of 
prophetic  representation,  and  is,  therefore,  out  of  the  range  of  any  sim- 
ply human  history.  The  inspired  Apocalypse  only,  the  exposition  of 
which  belongs  to  exegetical  science,  is  a  prophetic  church  history  in  grand 
symbols,  which,  like  the  Old  Testament  prophecies,  can  never  be  fully 
understood,  until  all  are  fulfilled. 

§.  9.  Relation  of  Church  History  to  the  other  Departments  of  Theology. 
For  us,  then,  church  history  embraces  a  period  of  eighteen  centuries. 
This  shows  at  once,  that,  of  all  branches  of  theology,  it  is  by  far  the 
most  copious  and  extensive.  It  is  preceded  by  exegesis ;  that  is,  the  ex- 
position of  the  canonical  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments, 
with  all  needful  introductory  and  auxiliary  sciences,  as  sacred  philology, 
biblical  archasology,  hermeneutics,  criticism,  &c.  The  Bible  being  the 
storehouse  of  divine  revelation,  and  the  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  prac- 
tice for  the  church,  this  exegetical  department  may  be  styled  fundamental 
theology.  Much  exegetical  matter,  however,  enters  into  history,  espe- 
cially in  the  patristic  age,  and  in  that  of  the  Reformation,  to  show  how 
the  Bible  has  been  understood  and  expounded  at  different  times,  and  by 
different  theologians  ;  and  thus  exegesis  itself  has  its  history.  Where 
exegesis  stops,  church  history  begins  ;  the  two  coming  in  contact,  how- 
ever, in  the  apostolic  age.  For  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  the  New 
Testament  Epistles  are  source  and  object  for  both  sciences,  only  under 
different  modes  of  treatment.  The  exegetical  theologian  may  be  com- 
pared to  a  miner,  who  brings  to  light  the  gold  of  scriptural  truth  ;  the 
historian  of  the  apostolic  church  is  the  artist,  who  works  the  gold,  and 
gives  it  shape.  Then,  following  historical  theology  in  natural  order,  is 
speculative,^  or   as  it  is  usually  termed,  systematic    divinity    (including 

'  We  use  this  term  here  in  a  wider  sense  than  "  phiFosophical."  There  are  two 
kinds  of  speculation,  a.  philosophical  and  a  theological,  which  will  at  last  coincide,  indeed, 
in  the    absolute  knowledge  beyond  the  grave,  but  which  start  from  diiferent  points,  and 


INTROD.]  g  10.       HISTOKT   OF   MISSIONS.  19 

apologetic,  polemic,  dogmatic,  and  moral  theology).  The  province  of 
this  is,  to  explain  and  vindicate  scientifically  the  Christian  faith  and 
practice  in  their  present  posture.  The  whole  organism  of  the  science  of 
religion  is  completed  in  ^practical  theology,  which,  resting  on  exegetical, 
historical,  and  systematic  divinity,  gives  directions  for  the  advancement 
of  the  Christian  faith  and  life  in  the  people  of  God  by  means  of  preach- 
ing (homiletics),  religious  instruction  (catechetics),  the  administration 
of  divine  service  (liturgies),  and  church-government  (theory  of  eccle- 
siastical law  and  discipline). 

Exegesis,  therefore,  has  to  do  with  the  regulative  charter,  with  which 
the  revelation  begins  ;  church  history,  with  the  continuation  and  appre- 
hension of  the  revelation  in  time  past ;  speculative  theology,  with  the 
present  scientific  posture  of  the  church  ;  and  practical  theology  looks 
to  the  future.  But  since  the  present  and  future  are  always  becoming 
past,  speculative  and  practical  theology  are  continually  falling  into  the 
province  of  church  history,  which,  in  this  view  again,  appears  as  the 
most  comprehensive  department  of  theology. 

§.  10.   Single  Branches  of  Church  History.     History  of  Missions. 

Since  the  Christian  religion,  on  account  of  its  universal  character,  per- 
vades and  regenerates  all  the  spheres  of  human  life  (§.  6),  church  his- 
tory falls  into  as  many  corresponding  branches,  any  one  of  which  may  be 
treated  separately,  and,  in  fact,  will  furnish  study  for  a  lifetime.  To 
do  anything  like  justice  to  the  whole,  requires,  of  course,  the  co-opera- 
tion of  innumerable  learned  minds  ;  and  even  when  a  work  of  history 
rests  upon  the  shoulders  of  many  centuries  of  labor,  it  is  after  all  but  an 
imperfect  fragment  as  compared  with  the  objective  history  itself. 

1.  The  first  branch  of  church  history,  and  the  one,  too,  which  is 
usually  first  treated,  is  the  history  of  missions,  or  the  spread  of  Chris- 
tianity among  unconverted  nations.  By  some  nations  the  Christian  reli- 
gion is  embraced  ;  by  others,  rejected  ;  and  again,  different  nations  have 
very  different  degrees  of  religious  susceptibility.  The  missionary  work, 
which  the  Lord  himself,  before  his  departure,  solemnly  committed  to  his 
church,  must  continue  so  long  as  there  are  heathen,  Jews,  or  Turks,  or  a 

pursue  different  methods.  The  philosophical  speculation  proceeds  from  the  self-con- 
sciousness  (cogito.  ergo  sum),  and  follows  simply  the  laws  of  logical  thought;  the 
theological  begins  with  the  religious  sense,  or  the  consciousness  of  God,  and  seeks  to 
understand  God,  man,  and  the  world,  not  only  in  accordance  with  reason,  but  by  the 
help  of  revelation,  and  in  agreement  with  it.  The  measure  of  the  first  is  consistency 
of  thought;  the  rule  of  the  second,  harmony  with  lbe  word  of  God.  Although  the 
■wisdom  of  the  world  must  be  lost  at  la.«t  in  the  wisdom  of  God,  or  theosophy,  and 
reason  ultimately  fiiid  its  true  home  in  revpUition  ;  yet,  for  the  present  stage  of  our 
knowledge,  both  stand  in  a  relative  oppo.'^ition.  and  ought  not  to  be  confounded. 


20  §   10.       HISTOKT    OF   MLSSIONS.  [gENER. 

single  soul  on  cartli,  to  wlioui  the  sounc]  of  the  goqiel  Los  cot  come.  It 
is  not  carried  on,  liowever,  at  all  times  with  the  same  zeal  and  success. 
The  conversion  of  the  heathen  meets  us  on  the  grandest  and  most  effec- 
tive scale  in  the  first  and  second  centuries  ;  then  on  the  threshold  of  the 
Middle  Ages  in  the  Christianizing  of  the  Germanic  nations  ;  and  lastly 
in  our  own  time,  when  Asia,  Africa,  and  Australia  are  covered  with  a 
network  of  Protestant  and  Roman  Catholic  missionary  stations. 

But  the  church  is  often  so  much  occupied  with  her  internal  affairs  and 
conflicts,  with  her  own  purification,  or  self-defense,  that  she  almost  for- 
gets the  poor  heathen  ;  as,  for  instance,  in  the  age  of  the  Reformation, 
and  in  the  Protestant  church  of  the  seventeenth  century.  At  such 
times,  however,  a  home  missionary  activity,  directed  towards  the  waste  or 
lifeless  portions  of  the  church  itself,  commonly  takes  the  place  of  the 
foreign  operations.  Under  the  head  of  such  internal  or  home  missiona- 
ry work  may  be  reckoned  the  course  of  the  Reformation  through  the 
Roman  Catholic  countries  of  Europe  in  the  sixteenth  century  ;  the 
labors  of  the  Evangelical  Society  in  France  in  favor  of  Protestantism  ; 
the  operations  of  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  and  of  other 
associations  for  providing  the  Western  States  of  North  America  with 
evangelical  ministers  and  the  means  of  grace  ;  and  properly  also  the 
Protestant  missions  among  the  Abyssinians  and  other  Oriental  churches.' 

2.  A  direct  counterpart  to  the  history  of  missions  is  the  history  of  the 
compression  of  the  church  by  persecution  from  hostile  powers,  as  from  the 
Roman  empire  in  the  first  three  centuries,  and  from  Mohammedanism  in 
the  seventh  and  eighth.  As  the  Lord  predicted  the  growth  of  his  king- 
dom (Matt.  13  :  31,  sq.),  so  also  he  foretold  its  persecution."  But 
what  appears,  in  one  aspect,  as  a  compression,  is,  in  a  higher  view,  a 
purifying  and  strengthening  process,  and  promotes,  in  the  end,  even  the 
outward  extension  of  the  church.  Under  the  Roman  emperors  "  the 
blood  of  the  martyrs  was  the  seed  of  the  church." 

Here,  again,  we  may  distinguish  between  outward  persecution  by  un- 
christian powers,  and  an  inward  persecution  of  one  part  of  the  church  by 
another.  An  instance  of  the  latter  we  find  in  the  suppression  of  the 
Reformation  in  Spain,  Italy,  Austria,  and  other  regions,  by  the  Roman 

'■  Sometimes  the  phrase  "  interior  or  home  missions"  has  been  taken  in  a  still  wider 
sense,  particularly  of  late,  so  as  to  embrace  all  self-denying  exertions  of  the  church, 
and  of  religious  associations  for  allaying  or  removing  Ihe  spiritual  and  temporal  evils, 
which  have  crept  into  the  church  mainly  in  consequence  of  modern  infidelity  and  in- 
differentism,  and  from  various  other  causes.  But  an  account  of  such  benevolent  opera- 
tions, societies,  and  institutions,  as  sisters  of  charity,  deaconesses,  hospitals,  orphan 
houses,  asylums  for  the  insane,  the  blind,  &c.,  belongs  not  so  much  to  the  history  of 
missions,  as  to  the  history  of  Christian  life  and  practical  piety. 

-  John  15  :  20.     Matt.  5  :  10,  12  ;  10  :  23 ;  23  :  34.    Comp.  2  Tim.  3:12. 


INTBOD.]  §  11.       HISTORY    OF   DOCTEINES.  21 

Catholic  Inquisition  and  the  machinations  of  Jesuitism.     Protestantism, 
too,  has  its  martyrs,  particularly  in  France,  Holland,  and  England. 

But  when  once  Christianity  has  established  itself  in  a  nation,  it  com- 
mences the  more  tedious  work  of  uprooting  all  the  remains  of  heathen- 
ism, and  re-casting  thought  and  life,  manners  and  customs,  in  the  mold 
of  the  gospel.  The  church  must  take  root,  attain  a  vigorous  growth, 
and  bring  forth  its  proper  flowers  and  fruits.  This  leads  us  to  other 
branches  of  church  history,  far  more  difficult  of  treatment,  than  the  two 
now  mentioned. 

§  11.  History  of  Doctrines. 

3.  Christianity  aims  not  to  suppress  the  desire  for  knowledge  arid 
science,  implanted  by  the  Creator  in  the  human  mind,  but  rather  favors 
it  by  giving  it  the  right  direction  towards  the  fountain  of  all  truth. 
Faith  itself  incites  to  knowledge.  It  is  always  yearning  after  a  clearer 
view  of  its  object.  It  feels  the  attainment  of  a  still  deeper  apprehen- 
sion of  God,  his  word,  and  his  relation  to  men,  to  be  a  sacred  duty  and 
a  lofty  satisfaction.  To  this  is  added,  as  an  impulse  from  without,  the 
opposition  of  secular  science  and  learning  ;  and  still  further,  the  perver- 
sions of  Christian  doctrine  by  lieretical  sects.  As  the  church  must  be 
always  ready  to  give  an  account  of  her  faith  to  every  man,  these  attacks 
force  her  to  inquiry  and  self-vindication.  Thus,  under  the  impulse,  on 
the  one  hand,  of  faith  from  within,  on  the  other,  of  assaults  from  with- 
out, arises  theology,  or  the  science  of  the  Christian  religion  ;  which  iirst 
appears  in  the  apologetic  and  polemic  form,  in  opposition  to  pagan 
philosophy  and  Gnostic  error.  Theology  is  the  conception  of  the  faith 
of  the  church,  as  it  lies  in  her  more  highly  cultivated  minds  ;  and  theolo- 
gians are  her  leading  intelligences,  the  eyes  and  ears,  so  to  speak,  of 
the  body  of  Christ.  It  is  in  the  most  active  and  fruitful  times  of  the 
church,  that  we  find  divinity  most  flourishing  ;  as  in  the  time  of  the 
Fathers,  in  the  best  period  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  in  the  period  of  the 
Reformation  ;  while  the  decline  of  theology  is  commonly  attended  with 
a  relapse  into  ignorance  and  superstition,  and  with  a  general  religious 
torpor. 

The  mo&'t  prominent  part  of  the  history  of  theology  is  doctrine  history, 
the  history  of  the  dogmas  or  doctrines  of  Christianity.'     It  constitutes 

■  There  is  no  term  in  English,  which  exactly  corresponds  to  "Dogoiengeschichte." 
Dogmatic  History^  as  it  is  generally  called,  would  properly  denote  a  history  of  dogmatic 
theology,  or  of  the  scientific  treatment  of  doctrines,  thus  referring  more  to  the  form 
than  to  the  contents.  The  phrase,  "  History  of  Christian  doctrine,"  or  the  term  "Doc- 
trine history,"  founded  on  the  analogy  of  "  Church  history,"  will,  perhaps,  express  it 
best. 


22  §  !!•     HISTORY  or  docteines.  [gener. 

the  most  intellectual,  and,  in  many  respects,  the  most  important  branch 
of  all  church  history,  and  has,  therefore,  of  late  been  honored  in  Ger- 
many with  a  number  of  separate  works  by  Miinscker,  Engelhardt,  Baum- 
garten-Crusius,  Hagenhach,  Baur,  and  others.  Besides  this,  German 
scholars  have  devoted  extended  and,  in  some  instances,  very  valuable 
monographs  to  the  history  of  the  most  important  doctrines  ;  as  those  of 
Baur  and  Meier  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  and  the  incarnation,  that 
of  Baur  on  the  doctrine  of  the  atonement,  of  Dornier  on  the  person  of 
Christ,  of  Ebrard  on  the  Lord's  supper,  &c.'  The  New  Testament,  the 
living  germ  of  all  theology,  contains  the  whole  collection  of  saving 
doctrines  ;  not,  however,  in  a  scientific  form,  but  in  their  original,  living, 
popular  and  practical  character.  Only  Paul,  who  had  a  learned  educa- 
tion and  a  mind  of  the  most  dialectic  cast,  approaches,  in  his  epistles, 
especially  the  epistle  to  the  Romans,  the  logical  and  systematic  method. 
A  Dogma  is  simply  a  Biblical  doctrine,  brought,  by  means  of  reflection, 
into  a  scientific  form,  and  laid  down  as  a  fixed  article  of  religion.  It 
becomes  symbolic,  when  it  is  adopted  by  the  whole  church,  or  by  a 
branch  of  the  church,  as  expressing  its  view,  true  or  false,  of  what  the 
Scriptures  teach,  and  is  formally  sanctioned  as  an  authoritative  doctrinal 
rule.  Hence  dogmas  and  dogmatic  theology,  in  the  strict  sense,  exist 
only  from  the  time  when  the  church  awoke  to  the  scientific  apprehension 
and  defense  of  her  faith,  as  she  did  particularly  under  the  influence  of 
the  early  heresies  and  perversions  of  Christian  doctrine.  The  dogma,  of 
course,  has  its  development,  and  is  subject  to  change  with  the  spirit  and 
culture  of  the  age  ;  whereas  the  Biblical  truth  in  itself  continues  always 
the  same,  though  ever  fresh  and  ever  new.  Each  period  of  church  his- 
tory is  called  to  unfold  and  place  in  clear  light  a  particular  aspect  of  the 
doctrine,  to  counteract  a  corresponding  error  ;  till  the  whole  circle  of 
Christian  truth  shall  have  been  traversed  in  its  natural  order.  Thus  the 
Nicene  period  was  called  to  assert  particularly  the  doctrine  of  the 
divinity  of  Christ  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity, 
against  the  Arians  and  Semiarians  ;  and  the  Augustinian  period,  to 
vindicate  the  doctrine  of  human  sinfulness  and  divine  grace  against  the 
Pelagians.  The  doctrinal  task  of  the  Reformation  lay  in  the  field  of 
soteriology.  The  work  of  that  period  was  to  set  forth  the  doctrine  of 
the  inward  appropriation  of  salvation,  especially  the  doctrine  of  justifi- 
cation by  faith,  in  opposition  to  the  Roman  idea  of  a  legal  righteous- 
ness. In  our  times  the  doctrine  concerning  the  church  seems  to  be  more 
and  more  challenging  the  attention  of  theologians.  And  finally,  escha- 
tology,  or  the  doctrine  of  the  Last  Things,  will  have  its  turn.     But 

^  There  is  also  an  extended,  philosophical,  instructive  and  suggestive  Introduction  to 
Doctrine  History,  by  Theodore  Kliefolh,  1839. 


INTROD.]    g  12.       HISTOKY    OF   MOEALITY,    GOVERNMENT,    ETC.  23 

since  all  the  doctrines  of  Cliristianity  form  a  connected  wliole,  no  one  of 
them,  of  course,  can  be  treated  without  some  reference  to  all  the  rest. 

As  theology  in  general  is  connected  with  the  secular  sciences  ; 
exegesis,  with  classical  and  oriental  philology  ;  church  history,  with 
profane  ;  Christian  morality,  with  philosophical  ethics  ;  homiletics,  with 
rhetoric,  &c.  ;  so  doctrine  history  stands  in  special  relation  to  the 
history  of  philosophy  ;  and  dogmatic  theology,  though  it  ought  never  to 
compromise  its  own  dignity  and  mdependence,  must  always  be  more  or 
less  under  the  influence  of  philosophy.  The  theological  views  of  the 
Greek  Fathers  were  modified  to  a  considerable  extent  by  Platonism  ; 
those  of  the  medieval  schoolmen,  by  the  logic  and  dialectics  of  Aris- 
totle ;  those  of  later  times  by  the  systems  of  Des  Cartes,  Spinoza, 
Bacon,  Locke,  Leibnitz,  Kant,  Fries,  Fichte,  Schelling,  and  Hegel. 
Few  scientific  divmes  can  absolutely  emancipate  themselves  from  the 
influence  of  the  philosophy  and  public  opinion  of  their  age  ;  and  when 
they  do,  they  have  commonly  their  own  philosophy,  which  is  the  less 
valuable  in  proportion  as  it  is  subjective,  arbitrary,  and  out  of  the  line 
of  history  and  of  the  wants  of  the  age.  The  history  of  philosophy  and 
doctrine  history  move  forward  side  by  side,  alternately  repelling  and 
attracting  one  another  ;  till  at  last  the  natural  reason  shall  come  into 
perfect  harmony  with  revelation,  and  the  wisdom  of  the  world  be  lost  in 
the  wisdom  of  God. 

§  12.  History  of  Morality,  Government,  and  Discipline. 

4.  The  next  branch  of  our  science  is  the  history  of  Christian  practice, 
or  of  religious  life  and  morality.  This  very  important  and  most  practi- 
cal part  has  been  thus  far  but  too  much  neglected.  JVeander,  who 
throws  it  into  one  section  with  the  history  of  worship,  has  bestowed  upon 
it  more  than  the  usual  attention  ;  and  it  is  this  especially,  which  gives 
his  celebrated  work  its  peculiarly  spiritual  and  edifying  character.  The 
doctrine  of  Christianity  requires  a  corresponding  holy  walk.  Faith  must 
work  by  love.  Since  the  Christian  religion  is  wholly  of  a  moral  nature, 
having  always  in  view  the  glory  of  God  and  the  sanctification  of  the 
whole  man,  all  church  history  is,  indeed,  in  a  wide  sense,  a  history  of 
morality.  The  formation  of  dogmas,  theology,  church  government,  and 
worship,  are  all  moral  acts.  But  we  here  use  the  term  in  a  narrower 
sense,  to  denote  what  is  directly  practical.  To  this  branch  of  church 
history,  then,  belongs  the  description  of  the  peculiar  vktues  and  vices, 
the  good  and  evil  works,  the  characteristic  manners  and  customs  of  lead- 
ing individuals  in  the  church,  and  of  whole  nations  and  ages.  It  falls  to 
this  branch  to  describe  the  influence  of  Christianity  upon  marriage,  the 
family,  the  female  sex,  on  slavery  and  other  social  evils.     In  this  division 


24  §  12.      HISTORY   OF   MOKALITTj  GOVERNMENT,  ETC.       [gener. 

a  large  space  is  occupied  with  the  history  of  monachism,  especially  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  when  the  institution  split  into  many  orders,  each  of  which 
presents  a  more  or  less  peculiar  tj'pe  of  morality,  and  is  liable,  also,  to 
corresponding  dangers  and  temptations. 

5.  Again,  the  church  must  have  a  form  of  government,  and  exercise 
discipline  on  her  disobedient  members.  Hence  arises  the  history  of 
church  pdlity  and  church  discipline.  These  two  subjects  have  been  com- 
monly thrown  together  in  one  section  ;  but  they  may  as  well  be  treated 
separately,  or  (as  seems  to  us  most  natural),  the  latter  in  connection 
with  the  history  of  religious  life.  The  constitution  of  the  church,  like 
its  doctrine,  has  an  unchangeable  substance  and  a  changeable  form. 
The  former  is  the  spiritual  office,  established  by  Christ  himself,  to  which 
belongs  the  power  of  binding  and  loosing  in  the  name  of  the  Lord. 
The  latter  varies  with  the  necessities  of  the  time,  and  with  the  particular 
circumstances.  At  first  we  find  the  apostolic  constitution,  where  the 
apostles  are  the  infallible  teachers  and  leaders  of  the  church.  In  the 
second  century  the  episcopal  system  appears,  which  grows  naturally  into 
the  metropolitan  and  patriarchal  forms.  The  Eastern  churches  stop 
with  the  latter  ;  while  the  Latin  church  in  the  Middle  Ages  concen- 
trates all  the  patriarchal  power  in  the  Roman  bishop,  and  developes  the 
papal  system.  This  degenerates  at  last  into  an  intolerable  spiritual  des- 
potism, when  the  Reformation  produces  new  forms  of  church  constitu- 
tion, corresponding  better  with  the  free  spirit  of  Protestantism,  and  with 
the  idea  of  universal  priesthood  ;  in  particular,  the  Presbyterian  form  of 
government,  with  lay  representation. 

Discipline  is  at  one  time  strict  ;  at  another,  lax  ;  according  to  the 
prevailing  spirit  of  the  church,  and  the  nature  of  her  relation  to  the 
temporal  power. 

It  is  chiefly  in  the  sphere  of  government  and  discipline,  that  the 
church  comes  into  connection  with  the  state  ;  and  this  relation  of  church 
and  state,  also,  appears  under  very  different  forms,  and  has  its  peculiar 
history.  The  state,  for  example,  may  take  a  hostile  attitude  towards  the 
church,  and  oppress  her  with  persecutions,  as  did  the  heathen  power  in 
the  first  three  centuries,  before  the  conversion  of  the  emperor  Constan- 
tine.  Or  the  church,  as  a  hierarchy,  may  rule  the  state,  as  did  the 
Western  church  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  as  she  does  to  this  day,  where 
the  papacy  is  in  full  power.  Or  the  Christian  state,  as  an  imperial 
papacy,  may  rule  the  church,  on  the  false  principle  :  ctijus  rcgio  ejus 
rdigio ;  as  in  the  case  even  of  the  Byzantine  emperors,  who  interfered 
very  much  with  the  external,  and  also  with  the  internal  aflairs  of  tlie 
Greek  church  ;  and  again,  in  a  numljcr  of  Protestant  establishments 
since  the    sixteenth   century.     Or,  finally,    state    and   church   may    be 


INTROD.]  §  13.      HISTORY   OF   WOESHIP.  25 

mutually  independent,  and  leave  each  other  undisturbed  ;  this  order 
prevails  in  the  IJnited  States,  and  seems  to  be  latterly  introducing  itself 
also  into  some  parts  of  Europe,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Free  Church  of 
Scotland. 

§  13.  History  of   Worship. 

6.  Finally,  we  have  to  notice  the  history  of  divine  service,  or  worship. 
The  essential  elements  of  it,  as  appointed  by  Christ  himself,  are  the 
preaching  of  the  word  and  the  administration  of  the  sacraments.  And 
here  again,  the  manner  of  preaching,  of  giving  religious  instruction,  of 
administermg  the  sacraments,  has  its  history.  In  addition  to  this,  the 
church  appoints  sacred  places  and  sacred  times  ;  produces  prayers,  litur- 
gies, hymns,  chorals,  and  all  sorts  of  significant  symbolical  forms  and 
actions  ;  enters  into  alliance  with  the  fine  arts,  especially  architecture, 
painting,  music,  and  poetry,  and  makes  them  tributary  to  the  purposes 
of  worship.  The  service  may  abound  with  these  artistic  forms,  and 
indeed  be  overladen  with  them  ;  as  in  the  Greek  and  Roman  church, 
which  seeks  to  work  upon  the  imagination  and  the  feelings  by  imposing 
symbols,  by  outward  show  and  pomp,  especially  in  the  service  of  the 
mass.  Or  it  may  be  simple  and  sober,  making  all  of  the  pulpit  and 
nothing  of  the  altar  ;  as  in  the  Puritan  churches.  Then  again,  each 
single  branch  of  worship  has  its  peculiar  history.  There  is  a  history  of 
the  pulpit,  of  catechetical  instruction,  of  liturgies,  of  church  architec- 
ture, of  religious  sculpture  and  painting,  of  sacred  poetry  and  music,  &c. 
Here,  too,  much  still  remains  to  be  done,  especially  in  the  department  of 
Christian  art.  Hase  is  properly  the  only  one  among  the  wi-iters  of 
general  church  history,  who  has  given  it  a  place  in  his  system  ;  and  even 
with  him,  the  small  compass  of  the  manual  confines  the  treatment  to 
short,  though  spirited  sketches. 

The  history  of  church  government  and  the  history  of  worship  are  often 
combined,  under  the  name  of  Christian  archceology,  which  is  usually 
limited  to  the  first  six  centuries,  as  the  period  of  the  origin  and  develop- 
ment of  ecclesiastical  forms  and  laws.  The  most  important  works  on 
this  subject  are  Bingham'' s  Antiquities  of  the  Christian  Church,  of  whicn 
there  is  also  a  Latin  translation  ;  and  the  later  Archaeologies  of  Augus- 
ti  (complete  in  twelve  volmnes,  abridged  in  three),  Rheinwald,  Bohmer, 
and  Siegel. 

From  all  this,  we  may  readily  see  the  copiousness  and  variety  of 
church  history,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the  difficulty  of  mastering  its 
immense  material. 

In  the  detailed  treatment,  however,  we  cannot  strictly  carry  out  this 
six-fold  division  without  becoming  pedantic,  and  interrupting  tiio  natural 


26  §  14.       SOUECES   OF   CHURCH   HISTOET.  [geneB 

order  of  things.  In  the  period  of  tlie  Reformation,  for  example,  the 
different  departments,  especially  the  course  of  outward  events  and  the 
development  of  doctrine,  are  so  interwoven  that  a  strict  distribution 
of  the  matter  among  the  several  heads  would  do  violence  to  the  history, 
and  would  rather  hinder,  than  assist,  a  clear  view.  Nor  will  it  do  to 
follow  always  the  same  order.  In  each  period,  that  department  should 
be  placed  first,  which  is  found  to  be  really  most  prominent.  The  devel- 
opment of  doctrine,  for  instance,  froin  the  seventh  century  to  the  tenth, 
is  almost  at  a  stand  ;  and  hence  this  subject  must  occupy  but  a  subordi- 
nate place  in  the  history  of  that  period.  In  some  periods  it  is  desirable 
to  add  new  heads  ;  as,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  for  the  history  of  the 
papacy,  the  monastic  orders,  and  the  crusades.  The  peculiar  disposition 
and  views  of  the  historian,  however,  and  his  particular  object,  also,  have, 
of  course,  great  influence  on  the  plan  and  treatment  of  the  material  in 
the  different  periods. 

§  14.   Sources  of  Church  History. 

Whatever  furnishes  information,  more  or  less  accurate,  respecting  the 
outward  and  inward  acts  and  fortunes  of  the  church,  may  be  reckoned 
among  the  sources  of  her  history.  The  credibility  of  this  information 
must  be  determined  by  criticism  on  external  and  internal  grounds.  We 
may  make  a  general  division  of  these  sources  into  immediate  and  mediate. 

A.  The  IMMEDIATE  or  DIRECT  SOURCES,  being  the  pure,  original  utteran- 
ces of  the  history  itself,  are  the  most  important.  They  may  be  divided 
into  : 

a.   Written.     Here  belong 

1.  Official  reports  and  docibments.  Of  special  importance  among 
these  are  the  acts  of  councils.^  Then  the  official  letters  of  bishops,  partic- 
ularly the  hulls  of  the  popes?  These  decrees  and  bulls  refer  to  all 
departments  of  church  history,  but  especially  to  doctrine  and  govern- 
ment. Then  again,  for  particular  branches,  there  are  special  documen- 
tary sources.  In  doctrine  history,  for  example,  we  have,  first  of  all,  the 
confessions  of  faith,  which  set  forth  the  church  doctrine  in  an  authorita- 
tive form.^     In  the  department  of  Christian  life,  we  have  the  various 

'  Of  these  there  are  several  collections  ;  the  best,  by  Mansi ;  Sacrorum  conciliorum 
nova  et  amplissima  coUectio.  Florent.  et  Venet.  1759,  sqq.,  in  thirty-one  folio  volumes. 
(Forthe  history  of  our  American  churches,  the  transactions  of  synods  are,  likewise, 
the  most  authentic  immediate  source) . 

'  Of  these,  also,  there  are  various  collections;  one  of  special  note  by  Cocqudines: 
Bullarum  amplissima  coUectio.  Rom.  1739,  28  t.  fol.,  and  Magni  bullarii  continualio 
(1758-1830),  collegit  Andr.  Advocatus  Barbieri.     Rom.  1835,  sq. 

'  A  collection  of  the  older  symbols  is  given  by  C.  W.  F.  Walch,  in  his  Bibliotheca 
symbolica  vetus,  Lemgo,  1770  ;  and  more  recently  by  J.  Hahn  :  Bibliothek  der  Sym- 


IN  TROD.]  §  1-i-       SOUKCES    OF    CIIUKCH   HISTOKY.  27 

monastic  rules ;'  in  that  of  worship,  the  liturgies  ;'  in  that  of  govern- 
ment, the  civil  laws  of  the  Byzantine,  Frank,  and  German  princes 
relating  to  the  church.' 

2.  Inscriptions;  particularly  upon  tombs.  These  frequently  throw 
light  upon  the  birth  and  death,  the  deeds  and  fortunes  of  distinguished 
men,  and  are  exponents  of  the  spirit  of  their  age.  They  are  not  so 
valuable,  however,  for  church  history,  as  for  some  parts  of  profane.* 

3.  The  private  writings  of  "personal  actors  in  the  history.  The  works 
of  apologists  and  church  fathers,  for  instance,  are  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance for  the  history  of  the  ancient  church  ;  the  correspondence  of  popes 
and  princes,  of  bishops  and  monks,  the  works  of  the  school-men  and 
mystics,  for  the  history  of  the  Middle  Ages  ;  the  writings  of  the 
Reformers  and  their  Roman  adversaries,  for  the  history  of  the  Reforma- 
tion. These  records  give  us  the  liveliest  image  of  their  authors  and  their 
age.  Here,  however,  we  must  first  weigh,  in  the  scales  of  a  careful  and 
thorough  criticism,  the  genuineness  of  the  wiitings  in  question,  so  as  not 
to  be  misled  by  a  false  representation.  This  is  especially  necessary  in 
the  written  monuments  of  the  second  and  third  centuries,  when  a  multi- 
tude of  apocryphal  writings  were  fabricated.  These  fraudulent  produc- 
tions are  characteristic,  indeed  ;  not,  however,  of  the  pretended  authors, 
but  only  of  the  heretical  tendencies,  out  of  which,  for  the  most  part, 
they  sprang.     Then  again  we  must  have  correct  and  complete  editions.* 

bole  und  Glaubensregin  der  apostol.  kath.  Kirche.  Breslau,  1842.  The  Confessions  of 
the  Lutheran  church  are  found  complete  in  the  editions  of  /.  G.  Walch,  Rechenberg,  and 
Hase ;  those  of  the  Reformed  church  in  the  CoUectio  Confessionum,  &c ,  by  Niemeyer. 
[>eipzig,  1840,  and  in  "  Bekenntnisschriften  derevang.  reform.  Kirche,"  with  Introduc- 
tion and  notes,  by  E.  G.  A.  Bockcl.   Leipzig,  1847. 

*  L.  Holstenius :  Codex  regularum  monasticarum,  Rom.  1661,  3t.,  enlarged  by 
Brockie,  1759,  6t. 

^  Comp.  Assemani :  Codex  liturgicus  ecclesiae  universae.  Rom.  1749,  13t. — R.enan- 
dot :  Liturgiarum  orientalium  coUectio.  Par  1716,  2t. — Muratori:  Liturgia  rom.  vetus. 
Venet.  1748,  2t. 

*  The  laws  of  the  Roman  emperors  may  be  found  in  the  Codex  Theodosianus  and 
Cod.  Justinianeus ;  those  of  the  Frank  kings,  in  Baluzii  CoUectio  capitularium  regum 
Francorum  Par.  1677  ;  those  of  the  German  emperors,  in  Heiminsfeldii  CoHectio  con- 
stitutionum  imperialium.     Frcf.  1713. 

*  Among  the  collections  of  such  inscriptions  are,  Ciampim  Vetera  Monumenta.  Ro.-n. 
1747.  3t.  fol. ,  Jacutii  Christ,  antiquitatum  specimina.  Rom  17.5i,  4t. ;  F.  Miinter^s 
Sinnbilder  und  Kunstvorstellungen  der  alten  Christen-    Altona,  ]825. 

^  Of  all  the  important  church  fathers  good  editions  have  been  published,  especially  in 
the  seventeenth  century  and  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth.  (See  Walck's  Bibliothe- 
ca  patristica) .  We  have,  also,  valuable  collections  of  patristic  literature-  as  for  in- 
stance, Maxima  bibliotheca  veterum  patrum,  etc.  Lugd.  1677,  28t.  fol.-  Gallandi: 
Bibliotheca  vett,  patrum  antiquorumque  scriptorum  ecclesicist.,  postrem^  Lugdunensi 
locupletior.  Venet.  1765 — 88,  14t.  fol. ;  znA  Migne  :  Patrologiae  cursus  completus  sive 


28  §  14.       SOtTRCES   OF   CHtmCH   HISTORY.  [gENBE. 

b.  Unwritten.  These  consist  of  works  of  art  ;  particularly  church 
edifices  and  religious  paintings.  The  Gothic  domes  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
for  instance,  embody  the  gigantic  spirit  of  that  period.  They  are  expo- 
nents of  the  prevailing  conception  of  Christianity,  and  of  the  church  ; 
and,  on  this  account,  are  of  the  greatest  moment  for  the  historian. 

B.  The  MEDIATE  or  indirect  sources  are  : 

a.  First  of  all,  the  accounts  and  representations  of  historians.  These 
give  us,  not  the  history  itself  in  its  original  form,  as  the  immediate 
sources  present  it,  but  the  view  of  it  as  apprehended  by  particular  indi- 
viduals, in  the  form  of  compilation  and  commentary.  Among  these 
productions,  those,  of  course,  take  the  first  rank,  which  come  from  eye 
and  ear  witnesses,  whether  friends  or  foes.  Such  are  almost  the  same 
as  immediate  sources  (a.  3).  Their  value  depends  on  the  credibility  and 
capacity  of  their  authors.  Thus  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  by  Luke, 
even  aside  from  its  canonical  character,  is  of  great  importance  for  the 
history  of  the  apostolic  age  ;  the  reports  of  the  churches  of  Smyrna  and 
Lyons,  for  the  history  of  the  early  persecutions  ;  the  historical  works  of 
Eusebius,  for  the  age  of  Constantine  ;  the  annals  and  chronicles  of  the 
monks,  for  the  Middle  Ages  ;  Spalatin's  Annales  Reformationis,  the 
biographies  of  Luther  by  Melancthon  and  Mathesius,  Sleidan's  Commen- 
tarii,  Beza's  History  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  France,  &c.,  «fec.,  for 
the  Reformation. 

Historians,  who  have  lived  after  the  occurrence  of  events  they  relate, 
may  be  considered  sources,  when  they  have  drawn  upon  reliable  docu- 
ments, monuments,  and  the  reports  of  eye-witnesses,  which  have  since 
been  either  entirely  lost,  like  several  of  the  writings  used  by  Eusebius, 
or  placed  beyond  our  reach,  as  is  partially  the  case  with  the  treasures  of 
the  Vatican  library.  Important  documents  of  this  kind  are  the  biogra- 
phies of  prominent  individuals  in  the  church.  Such  biographies,  espe- 
cially of  the  saints  and  martyrs,  we  have  in  great  numbers.' 

b.  Finally,  we  may  place  among  the  mediate  sources,  though  in  a  very 

Bibliotheca  universalis  integra,  uniformis,  commoda,  ceco.nomica,  omnium  S.  S.  patrum, 
doctorum  scriptorumque  ecclesiast.  qui  ab  aevo  apostolico  ad  usque  Innocentii  III.  tem- 
pera floruerunt,  etc.     Paris  (Siron),  1844,  sqq. 

'  The  most  important  collection  of  this  kind,  which,  however,  on  account  of  the 
fables  interwoven  with  it,  must  be  very  cautiously  used,  is  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  quot- 
quot  toto  orbe  coluntur,  edd.  Bollandus  et  alii  (Bollandistae) .  Antwerp,  1643  — 1794, 
in  fifty-three  folio  volumes.  It  is  composed  by  Jesuits,  and  arranged  according  to  the 
days  of  the  month,  reaching  to  the  6th  of  October.  The  apparatus  for  this  work  alone 
embraces  about  seven  hundred  manuscripts,  found  in  a  castle  in  the  province  of  Ant- 
werp. A  similar  work,  though  far  less  extensive,  and  better  adapted  for  popular  use, 
is  "  The  Lives  of  the  Fathers,  Martyrs,  and  other  principal  saints,  compiled  from  orig- 
inal monuments  and  other  authentic  records,  by  the  Rev.  Alban  Butler,''  of  which  sev- 
eral editions  have  been  published  in  England  and  America, 


IN.TROD.]  §    1-i.       SOUKCKS    OF   CIIURCir    HISTORY.  29 

subordinate  rank,  oral  traditions,  legends,  and  popular  srylngs,  wliicb  are 
often  characteristic  of  the  spirit  of  their  age  ;  the  saying,  for  example, 
current  throughout  the  Middle  Ages,  that  the  church,  since  her  union 
with  the  state  under  C-onstantine,  had  lost  her  virginity  ;  and  that 
which  arose  in  the  time  of  the  Hohenstaufeu  dynasty,  that  Frederic  II. 
would  return,  or  that  an  eagle  would  rise  out  of  his  ashes,  to  destroy 
the  papacy  ;  showing,  in  a  portion,  at  least,  of  the  German  people,  an 
early  opposition  to  Rome. 

For  the  professional  historian  a  critical  study  of  at  least  the  principal 
sources  is  indispensable  ;  and  this,  again,  requires  a  vast  amount  of  pre- 
liminary knowledge,  especially  an  intimate  acquaintance  ^vith  the  Greek 
and  Latin  languages,  in  which  most  of  the  direct  sources  are  written. 
For  the  general  need,  however,  and  for  practical  purposes,  such  works 
will  answer,  as  are  based  on  a  thorough  study  of  sources.  The  most 
valuable  Protestant  works  of  this  kind  are  the  church  histories  of 
Neander  and  Gieseler,  which,  however,  are  both  as  yet  unfinished. 
Neander  unites  with  the  most  extensive  reading,  especially  in  the  patristic 
literature,  the  finest  sense  of  truth  and  justice,  an  inward  sympathy  with 
all  forms  and  types  of  the  Christian  spirit  and  life,  a  great  talent  for 
apprehending  and  genetically  unfolding  the  spirit  of  leading  persons 
and  tendencies,  and  a  lovely,  childlike  disposition — qualities  which  have 
justly  gained  him  the  title,  "  father  of  modern  church  history,"  and 
which  make  us  almost  forget  the  defects  of  his  immortal  work.  One  of 
his  greatest  faults  is  the  carelessness  and  often  wearisome  dififuseness  of 
his  style.  Gieseler's  text  is  very  meagre,  and  betrays  rather  an  outward, 
spiritless,  rationalistic  conception  of  history  ;  but  his  work  is  invaluable 
for  its  copious  extracts  from  sources,  selected  with  vast  diligence  and 
skill,  which  occupy  by  far  the  largest  space,  and  enable  the  reader  to  see 
and  judge  for  himself. 

But,  besides  such  general  works,  there  are  also  many  exceedingly 
instructive  and  interesting  monographs  by  modern  German  scholars  on 
distinguished  theologians  and  their  times.  These  especially  should  be 
consulted,  on  account  of  their  minuteness  of  detail,  which,  in  many  cases, 
almost  supersedes  the  necessity  of  a  study  of  sources.  Such  monographs 
we  have,  for  instance,  on  Justin  Martyr,  Irenaeus,  Hippolytus,  TertuUian, 
Cyprian,  Origen,  Athanasius,  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  Chrysostom,  Augustine, 
Gregory  the  Great,  Anselm,  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  Hugo  of  St.  Victor, 
Gregory  VII.,  Innocent  III.,  Alexander  III.,  on  the  Forerunners  of  the 
Reformation,  on  almost  all  the  Reformers,  on  Spener,  Franke,  Zinzendorf, 
Bengel,  &c.  ;  as  also  on  the  most  important  parts  of  doctrine  history,  and 
on  single  branches  and  periods  of  the  church.  This  monographic  litera- 
ture is  continually  increasing.    German  diligence,  especially  smce  Neander 


30  §  14.      ATTXELIAilY   SCrENCES.  [gexer. 

has  led  the  way  in  this  department  also,  is  almost  every  year  adding  some 
new  and  valuable  work,  and  is  not  likely  to  rest,  till  every  nook  and  cor- 
ner of  church  history  is  explored,  and  the  entire  past  is  reproduced 
before  us. 

§.15.  Auxiliary  Sciences. 

Science,  in  its  widest  sense,  or  the  investigation  and  knowledge  of  truth, 
is,  like  truth  itself,  an  organic  whole,  having  its  origin,  its  centre,  and 
its  end  in  God.  It  is  impossible,  therefore,  absolutely  to  separate  any 
one  science  from  the  others.  All  the  sciences  are,  directly  or  indirectly, 
more  or  less  connected,  each  preparing  for,  illustrating,  completing,  and 
confirming  the  rest.  Historical  theology  in  particular,  presupposes  the 
knowledge  of  the  following  auxiliary  sciences  : 

1.  Ecclesiastical  Fhilology,  or  the  knowledge  of  those  languages,  in 
which  the  sources  of  church  history  are  written.  These  ancient  records 
are  by  no  means  all  translated  ;  and  even  though  they  were,  the  scien- 
tific and  critical  scholar  cannot  rely  upon  translations,  but  must  go  as  much 
as  possible  to  the  original.  Among  the  ecclesiastical  languages  the  most 
important  are  the  Greek  and  Latin,  in  which  a  great  majority  of  the 
documents  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  churches  have  been  composed. 
The  Latin  especially,  throughout  the  Middle  Ages,  and  even  down  to 
the  seventeenth  century,  was  the  learned  language  of  Europe,  and  is,  to 
this  day,  extensively  used  m  the  Roman  Catholic  church  for  theology, 
government,  and  worship.  The  ecclesiastical  Greek  and  Latin,  however, 
differs  somewhat  from  the  classic,  as  it  is  adapted  to  a  new  world  of 
ideas,  lying  far  beyond  the  horizon  of  the  ancient  heathen  authors. 
Hence  the  necessity  of  having  special  Greek  and  Latin  dictionaries  for 
the  elucidation  of  the  older  ecclesiastical  writers.'  But  ecclesiastical 
philology,  in  a  wider  sense,  includes  also  all  the  other  oriental,  mediaeval, 
and  modern  European  languages,  whose  literature  is  more  or  less  impor- 
tant to  church  history.  Since  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century 
the  Latin  has  gradually  ceased  to  be  the  exclusive,  or  even  the  principal 
medium  of  literary  and  ecclesiastical  communication,  and  has  given  way 
to  the  living  and  popular  languages.  The  German,  French,  and  English 
are  the  languages  now  most  prominent,  and  most  generally  used  in  the 
modern  history  of  the  church  as  well  as  of  the  world. 

2.  Ecclesiastical  Gengrcqihy,  the  desci'iption  of  the  locality  or  stage, 

*  The  principal  works  of  this  kind  are,  Suicerh  Thesaurus  ecclesiasticus  e  patribus 
Graecis ;  and  Carol,  du  Frisne's  (Doimiri.  du  Cange)  Glossariun>  ad  scriptores  mediae 
et  infimae  Graecitatis,  (Lugd.  1688,  2  tonn.  fol.)  ;  also  his  Glossariunn  ad  scriptores 
mediae  et  infimae  Latinitatis  (Par.  1733-36,  6t.  fol.),  with  Carpentier's  supplement  in 
4  vols.  fol.  The  last  and  most  complete  edition  of  Du  Fresne's  Latin  Glossary  is  that 
of  Hmschel,  Paris,  1840-50.  7  vols.  4to. 


INTROD.]  §  15.       AUXILIARY   SCIENCES.  31 

on  which  church  history  moves.  The  theatre  of  history  is  not  in  the  air, 
but  on  the  firm  soil  of  this  earth  ;  and  the  peculiarities  of  the  place  or 
country  are  not  without  their  eifect  upon  the  national  character,  which, 
again,  forms  the  natural  basis  of  the  religious  complexion  of  the  people. 
Who  can  deny,  for  instance,  that  the  constitutional  peculiarities  of  the 
Greek,  Roman,  French,  German,  Dutch,  and  English  nations  reappear 
in  a  higher  form,  in  the  Greek,  Roman  Catholic,  Gallican,  Lutheran,  and 
Reformed  churches  ?  Nor  is  it  merely  accidental,  that  Catholicism  is 
still  predominant  in  Southern  countries,  where  feeling  and  imagination 
are  strongly  developed  ;  while  Protestantism  has  established  itself  most 
firmly  among  the  colder,  but  more  energetic  and  active  nations  of  the 
North. 

Ecclesiastical  geography  differs  from  political,  as  church  history  differs 
from  secular.  It  is  governed  throughout  by  the  idea  of  Christianity. 
It  describes  countries  from  an  ecclesiastical  point  of  view,  dividing  the 
Christian  portions  from  those  occupied  by  false  religions,  marking  the 
territorial  limits  of  different  confessions  and  denominations,  the  number  and 
boundaries  of  patriarchates,  dioceses,  synodical  districts,  and  charges,  and 
pointing  out  those  places,  which  are  memorable  for  distinguished  persons 
or  events  of  church  history.  The  history  of  the  primitive  church  is  con- 
fined almost  entirely  to  the  limits  of  the  old  Roman  empire,  i.  e.  to  the 
countries  lying  around  the  Mediterranean  sea.  But  as  fast  as  the  king- 
dom of  Christ  spreads,  the  field  of  ecclesiastical  geography  and  statistics 
widens  ;  and  the  modern  missionary  operations  carry  us  into  the  most 
distant  parts  of  the  world.* 

3.  Ecclesiastical  Chronology,  i.  e.  the  science  of  the  various  systems 
of  chronology  (ab  urbe  condita,  aera  Seleucidarum,  aefa  Hispanica,  aera 
Diocletiana,  aera  Dionysiana,  etc.),  and  of  determining  the  dates  of 
ecclesiastical  events." 

4.  Ecclesiastical  Diplomatics  (diplomatica,  ars  diplomatica),  i.  e.  the 
science  of  diplomas  or  documents,  teaching  the  value,  the  criticism,  and 
the  right  use  of  the  different  documentary  instruments,  such  as  bulls, 
breves,  statutes,  patents,  &c.  This  department  includes  the  special 
sciences  of  Palaeography,  the  science  of  ancient  writings  and  manu- 

*  The  best  work  in  this  department  is  the  Handbuch  der  kirklichen  Geographie  uud 
Statistik  von  den  Zeiten  der  Apostel  bis  zum  Anfang  des  16ten  Jahzhunderts,  2  vols. 
Berlin,  1S46.  by  /.  E.  Th.  Wiltsch,  in  connection  with  the  same  author's  Atlas  sacer 
sive  ecclesiasticus,  Gotha,  1843.  fol.  On  the  geography  of  Palestine  in  particular  we 
have  a  number  of  excellent  books  and  maps,  among  which  those  of  Raumer,  Ritter, 
and  Robinson  merit  special  praise. 

"  The  general  works  on  chronology,  by  Gatterer,  Meier,  Brinkmaier,  are  mentioned 
in  Giesekr^s  Ch.  Hist.  Int.  §  3.  note  7.  A  special  work  on  ecclesiastical  chronology 
is  furnished  by  Piper  :  Kirchenrechnung.   Berlin,  1841. 


32  §  15.       AIJXILIAKT   SCIENCES.  [genER. 

scripts  of  the  Bible,  church  fatliers,  &c.  ;  Sphragistics,  the  science  of 
seals  ;  Kumismatics,  of  coins  ;  Heraldics,  of  weapons.' 

5.  General  History  of  the  world.  This  is  intimately  connected,  nay, 
interwoven  with  church  history,  and  is  indispensable  to  a  clear  view  of 
it."  The  church  exists,  not  outside  of  the  world  and  humanity,  but  in 
the  midst  of  them.  At  every  step  it  comes  into  contact,  either  friendly 
or  hostile,  with  the  manners,  institutions,  deeds,  and  fortunes  of  men. 
Without  an  acquaintance  with  Judaism  and  heathenism,  and  with  the  ex- 
ternal and  internal  condition  of  humanity  at  the  time  of  Christ's  appearance 
on  earth,  we  can  form  no  adequate  estimate  of  the  position  and  impor- 
tance of  Christianity  in  the  history  of  the  world.  In  the  first  three  cen- 
turies the  church  gives  most  striking  exhibitions  of  her  moral  power  in 
her  victorious  conflict  with  the  Roman  empire,  and  with  heathen  philoso- 
phy. During  the  Middle  Ages  the  history  of  the  papacy  is  interwoven 
throughout  with  the  history  of  the  German  empire.  The  Reformation 
was  not  merely  a  religious,  but  also  a  political  and  social  convulsion,  par- 
ticularly in  France,  Holland,  England,  and  Scotland,  and  most  of  its 
champions  and  opponents  figure  in  secular  history  as  well  as  in 
ecclesiastical.  Hence  theological  and  secular  writers  are  constantly 
meeting  on  this  field,  as  may  readily  be  observed  in  any  of  the  histories 
of  England,  for  instance,  by  Hume,  Lingard,  and  Macaulay.  Even  in 
the  United  States,  whose  church  and  state  are  separate,  it  is  impossible 
to  understand  the  religious  life,  without  an  insight  into  the  national  cha- 
racter, and  the  political  and  social  condition  of  the  country. 

The  special  branches  of  church  history  correspond,  then,  more  parti- 
cularly to  special  departments  of  secular  history.     In  the  history  of  mis- 

*  The  science  of  diplomatics  was  started  by  the  Belgian  Jesuit,  Daniel  Papclroth,  one 
of  the  principal  authors  of  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  in  his  Propylaeum  antiquarium,  A.  D. 
1675.  This  called  forth  the  most  important  work  on  general  diplomatics,  by  the 
learned  French  Benedictine,  Mabilton,  De  re  diplomatica  libri  VI.,  in  quibus  quidquid 
ad  veterum  instrumentorum  antiquitatem,  materiam,  scripturam  et  stilum,  quidquid 
ad  sigilla,  monogrammata,  subscriptiones  ac  notas  chronologicas,  quidquid  inde  ad  anti- 
quariam  historicam  forensemque  disciplinam  pertinet,  explicatur  et  illustratur,  etc 
Par.  1681 ;  then  1709  ;  and  with  additions  by  others,  Naples,  17S9.  It  is  illustrated 
with  more  than  two  hundred  documents,  from  the  fifth  century  to  the  twelfth,  and  a 
gieat  number  of  excellent  impressions.  Respecting  the  later  diplomatic  works  of 
A/on//a?tcon  (Palaeographia  Graeca,  etc.),  the  Benedictines,  Tassin  and  Tonstin,  (Ma- 
billon's  commentators),  Gatterer,  Schonemann,  &c.,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  compre- 
hensive article  Diplomatik,  in  Ersch  and  Gruber's  large  Encyclopaedia,  Sec.  I.  Part 
25.  p.  441,  sqq. 

*  Universal  history,  in  its  widest  sense,  includes  church  history  as  its  most  impor- 
tant part,  representing  the  deepest  life  of  humanity  (comp.  §  3) .  Some  modern  wri- 
ters still  seem  to  have  the  childish  notion,  that  history  is  simply  an  account  of  outward 
facts  ;  kings,  dynasties,  -wars,  and  bloodshed;  as  if  the  infinitely  more  important  intel- 
lectual, moral,  and  leligious  life  of  humanity  had  no  history  at  all ! 


INTROD.]         g  16.       METHOD   OP   WRITING    CHTJKCH   HISTOKT.  33 

sions  a  knowledge  of  the  false  religions  of  the  respective  nations  will  be 
of  good  service,  to  show  their  contrast  with  Christianity.  The  history 
of  church  government  and  discipline  frequently  comes  in  contact  with  the 
history  of  politics.  The  history  of  theology  and  Christian  doctrines  and 
that  of  philosophy  and  general  literature  run  parallel,  and  exert  a  reci- 
procal influence.  The  history  of  divine  worship  is  intimately  connected 
with  the  history  of  the  fine  arts  ;  and  in  the  Middle  Ages,  when  archi- 
tecture, sculpture,  painting,  music,  and  poetry  stood  almost  exclusively 
in  the  service  of  the  church,  the  two  nearly  coincide.* 

§.  16.  Method  of  writing  Church  History. 

We  come  now  to  consider  the  way  of  arranging  and  presenting  the 
material  of  church  history. 

1.  As  to  the  external  method,  or  the  disposition  of  the  matter  ;  it  is 
best  to  combine  the  two  modes  of  dividing,  by  time,  and  by  subjects. 
The  chronological  method,  which  has  hitherto  been  in  much  favor,  has 
its  advantages,  but  is  very  external  and  mechanical,  when  carried  out  by 
itself,  especially  in  the  form  of  Annals.  It  degrades  history  to  a  mere 
chronicle,  and  interrupts  the  flow  of  events,  so  that  things,  which  should 
go  together,  are  sundered,  and  not  unfrequently  a  heterogeneous  mass  is 
crowded  into  one  section,  because  it  belongs  in  one  chronological  division. 
This  is  the  case,  to  some  extent,  even  with  the  division  into  centuries, 
adopted  by  the  celebrated  Mosheim,  and  others.  For  though  we  may 
attribute  to  each  century  a  peculiar  spu'it,  yet  the  epochs  of  history  by 
no  means  coincide  with  the  beginnings  and  ends  of ,  centuries.^  The 
apostolic  period  commences  with  the  year  30  ;  the  age  of  Constantine, 
A.  D.  311  ;  that  of  Hildebrand,  A.  D.  1049  ;  that  of  the  Reformation, 
A.  J).  1511.  The  divisions  ought  never  to  be  arbitrarily  made,  upon  a 
preconceived  scheme  ;  they  should  grow  out  of  the  history  itself.  But 
it  is  equally  inconvenient  to  arrange  rigidly  and  exclusively  by  subjects, 
distributing  the  material  under  certain  heads,  as  missions,  doctrine, 
government,  &c.,  and  following  out  each  single  head,  irrespective  of  the 
others,  from  the  beginning  to  the  present  time.  This  would  make  history 
a  number  of  independent,  parallel  lines.  It  would  afford  no  view  of  the 
inward  connection  and  mutual  influence  of  the  diff"erent  departments,  no 
complete  general  view  of  any  one  period. 

In  view  of  these  disadvantages  on  either  side,  the  best  way  will  be  so 

*  It  is  impossible  here  to  enumerate  even  the  most  important  works  on  general  his- 
tory, which  have  more  or  less  bearing  on  church  history.  See  Gieseler,  Intr.  §  3. 
note  1-6. 

^  Gothe,  also,  remarks,  in  his  Farbenlehre,  II,  169:  "To  divide  a  historical  work 
according  to  centuries,  has  its  inconveniences.     With  none  are  the  events  formally 
closed  ;  man's  life  and  activity  reach  from  one  into  the  other." 
3 


34  §  16.      METHOD   OF   WKITING    CHUECH   HISTORY.  [gexeb. 

to  coraljiue  the  two  methods,  as  to  have  the  benefit  of  both.  While  we 
follow  the  course  of  time,  we  may  make  our  division  of  it  depend  upon 
the  character  and  succession  of  events,  and  pursue  those  things,  which 
naturally  belong  together,  to  their  relative  goal,  whether  this  goal  coin- 
cide with  the  end  of  a  year  or  century,  or  not.  Thus,  by  dividing  the 
entire  history  into  periods,  which  correspond  to  the  stages  of  the  deve- 
lopment itself,  we  meet  the  chronological  demand  ;  while,  by  arranging 
the  material,  within  these  periods,  under  particular  sections  or  heads,  as 
many  as  each  period  may  need,  we  conform  to  the  order  of  things. 

2.  The  internal  method  of  the  historian  is  that  of  genetic  developjnent, 
i.  e.  the  natural  reproduction  of  the  history  itself,  or  the  representation 
of  it  exactly  as  it  has  occurred.  This  method  differs,  on  the  one 
hand,  from  simple  narration,  which  arranges  facts  and  names  in  a  mere 
outward  juxtaposition,  without  rising  to  general  views  and  a  phi- 
losophical survey  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  from  a  priori  construction, 
which  adjusts  the  history  to  a  preconceived  scheme,  and  for  the  spirit  of 
a  past  age  substitutes  that  of  the  writer  himself.'  The  historian  must 
give  himself  up  entirely  to  his  object ;  in  the  first  place,  accurately  and 
conscientiously  investigating  the  facts  ;  then  identifying  himself,  in  spirit, 
with  the  different  men  and  times,  which  have  produced  the  facts  ;  and 
then  so  presenting  the  facts,  instinct  with  their  proper  spirit  and  life, 
that  the  whole  process  of  development  shall  be  repeated  before  the  eyes 
of  the  reader,  and  the  actors  stand  forth  in  living  forms.  History  is 
neither  all  body,  nor  all  soul,  but  an  inseparable  union  of  both  ;  there- 
fore both  the  body  and  the  soul,  the  fact  and  the  idea,  in  their  mutual 
vital  relation,  must  be  recognized  and  brought  into  view.  The  older 
historians  have  done  invaluable  service  in  the  accumulation  of  material, 
but  their  works  lack  generally  the  character  of  impartial  criticism  and 
living  freedom.  Historians  of  the  modern  school  penetrate  more  to  the 
marrow  of  history,  discover  the  hidden  springs  of  its  life,  and  lay  all  open 
to  our  view.  The  two  methods  do  not  of  necessity  absolutely  exclude 
each  other,  though  they  call  for  different  kinds  of  talent  ;  but  each  com- 
pletes the  other,  and  only  by  the  intimate  union  of  the  two  can  the  entire 
fulness  of  the  history  be  presented. 

Truth  and  fidelity  are,  therefore,  the  highest  aim  of  the  historian. 
As  a  fallible  man,  he  can  never,  indeed,  perfectly  attain  it  ;  yet  he  is 
bound  to  keep  it  always  before  his  eyes.  He  must  divest  himself  of  all 
prejudice,  of  all  party  interest,  so  as  to  present  the  truth,  the  whole 
truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth.     Not,  as  some  have  unreasonably  de- 

'  Against  such  historians  the  couplet  of  the  poet  holds  good  : 
•  "  Was  sie  den  Geist  der  Zeiten  heissen, 

Das  ist  der  Herren  eigner  Geist." 


INTEOD.]  g  16.       METHOD    OF    WEITING    CHURCH    HISTORY.  35 

manded,  that  he  should  lay  aside  his  own  mental  agency,  his  character, 
nay,  even  his  religion,  and  become  a  mere  tabula  rasa.  For,  in  the  first 
place,  this  is  an  absolute  impossibility.  A  man  can  know  nothing,  with- 
out the  exercise  of  his  own  thought  and  judgment  ;  and  it  is  plain,  that 
those  very  persons,  who  make  the  greatest  boast  of  their  philosophical 
freedom  from  all  prepossession,  as  Strauss,  for  instance,  in  his  notorious 
"  Leben  Jesu,"  are  most  under  the  dominion  of  preconceived  opinions 
and  principles,  with  which  they  seek  to  master  history,  instead  of  sitting, 
as  modest  learners,  at  her  feet.  Then  again,  the  very  first  condition  of 
all  right  knowledge  is  a  pre-existing  sympathy  with  the  object  to  be 
known.  He  who  would  know  truth,  must  himself  stand  in  the  truth  ; 
only  the  philosopher  can  understand  philosophy  ;  only  the  poet,  poetry  ; 
only  the  pious  man,  religion.  So  also  the  church  historian,  to  do  justice 
to  his  subject,  must  live  and  move  in  Christianity.  And  as  Christianity 
is  the  centre  of  the  world's  life,  and  is  truth  itself,  it  throws  the  clearest 
light  on  all  other  history.  Kor  can  it  be  said,  that,  according  to  the 
same  rule,  only  a  heathen  can  understand  heathenism  ;  only  a  Jew, 
Judaism  ;  only  a  rationalist,  rationalism.  For  it  is  from  above  that  we 
survey  what  is  below,  and  not  the  reverse.  It  is  only  by  means  of  truth 
that  we  can  comprehend  error  ;  whereas  error  understands  not  even 
itself.  Verum  index  siu  et  falsi.  Paganism,  as  opposed  to  Christianity, 
is  a  false  religion  ;  and  whatever  of  truth  it  may  contain,  such  as  its 
longing  after  redemption,  is  found  complete  in  Christianity.  The  same 
is  true  of  sects  in  their  relation  to  the  Biblical  truth  in  the  church.  And 
as  to  Judaism,  it  is  but  a  direct  preparation  for  Christianity,  which  is  its 
completion  ;  and  hence  the  Christian  can  obtain  clearer  views  of  Juda- 
ism than  the  Jew,  just  as  the  man  is  able  to  understand  the  child,  while 
the  child  can  have  no  proper  apprehension  of  himself.  Hence  Augustine, 
with  perfect  propriety,  says  :  Novum  Testamentum  in  Vetere  latet, 
Vetus  in  Novo  patet. 

The  object,  then,  after  which  the  historian  must  always  strive,  though 
he  may  never,  in  this  life,  fully  attain  it,  is  truth  itself,  which  can  be 
found  only  in  Christ.  In  him  are  hid  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and 
knowledge,  and  he  is  the  soul  of  church  history.  This  truth  is,  at  the 
same  time,  inseparable  from  justice  ;  it  allows  no  partiality,  no  violation 
of  the  su2(,?n  cuique.  Such  impartiality,  however,  as  springs  from  a  self- 
denying,  tender  sensibility  to  truth,  and  from  a  spirit  of  comprehensive 
love  to  the  Lord,  and  to  all  his  followers,  of  whatever  name,  time,  or 
nation,  is  totally  difi"erent  from  that  colorless  neutrality  and  indifiTerent- 
ism,  which  treats  all  religions,  churches,  and  sects  with  equal  interest,  or 
rather  want  of  interest,  and  is,  in  reality,  a  hidden  enmity  to  the  truth 
and  moral  earnestness  of  Christianity. 


86  §  lY.      DIVISION   OF   CHTJECH   HISTOKT.  [gener. 


§.  IT.  Division  of  Church  History. 

The  development  of  the  church  has  various  stadia,  or  stages,  called  pe- 
riods. The  close  of  one  period  and  beginning  of  the  next  is  an  epoch,  literal- 
ly a  stopping  place  {ettoxv).  It  marks  the  entrance  of  a  new  principle  ; 
and  an  event  or  idea,  which  forms  an  epocli,  is  one,  which  turns  the  course 
of  history  in  a  new  direction.  Such  events  were  the  first  Christian  Pen- 
tecost ;  the  conversion  of  Paul,  the  apostle  of  the  gentiles  ;  the  des- 
truction of  Jerusalem  ;  the  union  of  church  and  state  under  Constan- 
tine  ;  the  rise  of  Gregory  VII.  ;  the  posting  of  the  ninety-five  theses  by 
Luther  ;  Calvin's  appearance  in  Geneva  ;  the  accession  of  queen  Eliza- 
beth ;  the  landing  of  the  Puiitan  pilgrims  at  Plymouth  ;  the  appearance 
of  Spener,  Zinzendorf,  Wesley  ;  the  outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution  ; 
the  year  1848  ;  &c.  A  period,  then,  is  the  circuit  {-rrepMog  )  between  two 
epochs,  or  the  time,  within  which  a  new  idea  or  view  of  the  world,  and 
a  new  series  of  events  unfold  themselves.  Among  periods  themselves, 
again,  we  may  distinguish  greater  and  smaller.  The  larger  periods  may 
be  called,  for  the  sake  of  perspicuity,  ages.  A  new  age  will  com- 
mence, where  the  church,  with  a  grand  and  momentous  revolution,  not 
only  passes  into  an  entirely  new  outward  state,  but  also  takes,  in  her 
inward  development,  a  wholly  different  direction.  Such  an  age  then  falls 
into  several  sections  or  smaller  periods,  each  of  which  presents  some  par- 
ticular aspect  of  the  general  principle,  which  rules  the  age. 

The  whole  history  of  the  church  down  to  the  present  time  may  be 
divided  into  three  ages,  and  each  age  into  three  periods  ;  as  follows  : 

FIRST  AGE. 

The  Primitivk  or  the  Graeco-Latin  (Eastern  and  Western)  Univer- 
sal Church,  from  its  foundation  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  to  Gregory  the 
Great  (A.  D.  30-590)  ;  thus  embracing  the  first  six  centuries. 

First  Period  :  The  Apostolic  church,  from  the  first  Christian  Pente- 
cost to  the  death  of  the  apostles  (A.  D.  30-100). 

Second  Period :  The  Persecuted  church  (ecclesia  pressa),  to  the  reiga 
of  Constantine  (311). 

Third  Period  :  The  established  church  of  the  Graeco-lio7nan  empire, 
and  amidst  the  barbarian  storms,  to  Gregory  the 
Great  (590). 

SECOND  AGE. 

•     The  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages,  or  the  Romano-Germanic  Catho- 
licism, from  Gregory  the  Great  to  the  Reformation  (A.  D.  590-1511). 


INTROD.] 


17.      DIVISION   OF   CHUKCH   HISTORY. 


37 


Fourth  Period :  The  commencement  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  planting 
of  the  church  among  the  Germanic  nations,  to  the 
time  of  Hildebrand  (1049). 

Fifth  Period :  The  flourishing  period  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  sum- 
mit of  the  papacy,  monachism,  scholastic  and  mystic 
theology,  to  Boniface  VIII.  (1303). 

Sixth  Period  :  The  dissolution  of  the  Middle  Ages  and  ^preparation 
for  the  Reformation,  to  151 T, 

THIRD  AGE, 

The  Modern,  or  Evangelical  Protestant  Church,  in  conflict  with  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  from  the  Reformation  to  the  present  time. 

Seventh  Period:  The  Reformation,  or  productive  Protestantism,  and 
reacting  Romanism,  (sixteenth  century). 

Eighth  Period :  Orthodox-confessional  and  scholastic  Protestantism,  in 
conflict  with  ultramontane  Jesuitism,  and  this  again 
with  semi-protestant  Jansenism,  (seventeenth  century 
and  first  part  of  the  eighteenth). 

Ninth  Period :  Subjective  and  negative  Protestantism  (Rationalism 
and  Sectarianism),  and  positive  preparation  for  a  new 
age  in  both  churches,  (from  the  middle  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  to  the  present  time). 

This  division  differs  somewhat  from  that  of  other  historians.  Neander, 
as  well  as  nearly  all  modern  writers,  commences  new  epochs,  it  is  true, 
with  Constantine,  Gregory  the  Great,  Gregory  YII.,  and  Boniface  YIII. 
But  what  forms,  with  us,  the  fourth  period,  and  the  transition  from  the 
Patristic  to  the  Middle  Age,  he  divides  into  two  periods  ;  the  first  ex- 
tending from  Gregory  the  Great  to  Charlemagne  ;  the  second,  from 
Charlemagne  to  Gregory  VII.  (1073).  These  two  sections,  however, 
are  so  much  alike  in  their  general  character,  that  such  a  division  seems 
uncalled  for.  And  besides,  it  occasions  a  great  disproportion,  in  the 
amount  of  contents,  between  these  periods  and  the  others  ;  as  appears 
in  the  fact,  that  each  of  these  two  sections  occupies  but  one  volume  (in 
the  German  edition),  while  each  of  the  other  periods,  so  far  as  the  work 
extends,  fills  two  large  volumes.  Gieseler  makes  four  periods  :  ( 1 )  from 
Christ  to  Constantine,  the  church  under  outward  pressure  ;  (2)  to  the 
beginning  of  the  image  controversy  (which,  however,  is  hardly  of  suffi- 
cient importance  to  constitute  an  epoch),  Christianity  as  the  prevailing 
religion  of  the  Roman  empire  ;  (3)  to  the  Reformation,  the  development 
of  the  papacy  ;  (4)  the  development  of  Protestantism.  These  periods 
he  subdivides  into  a  great  many  smaller  sections  ;  thus  cutting  up  the 


38  §  18.      GENERAL   CHAEACTEE   OF   THE   THEEE   AGES.     [gENER. 

whole  too  much,  and  making  it  very  difficult  to  take  a  comprehensive  sur- 
vey. His  lines  of  demarcation,  moreover,  are  sometimes  rather  arbitra- 
rily drawn.  He  dates  new  epochs,  for  instance,  at  the  time  of  Adrian 
(111),  and  Septimius  Severus  (193),  in  the  first  period;  at  the  council 
of  Chalcedon  (451),  and  the  appearance  of  Mohammed  (622),  in  the 
second  ;  at  the  pseudo-Isodorian  decretals  (858),  and  the  transfer  of  the 
papal  see  to  Avignon  (1305),  in  the  third.  Hase's  division  is  more  sim- 
ple— three  ages,  and  in  each  age  two  periods  ;  thus  :  (1)  Ancient  church 
history,  to  the  formation  of  the  holy  Roman  empire  of  the  German 
nation,  (a)  to  Constantine,  {h)  to  Charlemagne  (800)  ;  (2)  Medmval 
church  history,  to  the  Reformation,  {a)  to  Innocent  III.  (1216),  {b)  to 
the  Reformation  (1511)  ;  (3)  Modern  church  history,  («)  to  the  treaty 
of  Westphalia  (1648),  {h)  to  the  present  time.  The  last  or  sixth  period 
he  characterizes  as  a  "  struggle  between  ecclesiastical  tradition  and  reli- 
gious independence."  Very  similar  to  this  is  the  scheme  proposed,  but 
not  carried  out,  by  the  Roman  Catholic  theologian  Mbhlcr,  in  his  Intro- 
duction to  Church  History.^  He,  too,  distinguishes  three  ages,  and  in 
each  age  two  periods,  but  differs  .somewhat  in  assigning  their  limits. 
He  closes  the  first  age  with  John  of  Damascus  for  the  Greek  church, 
and  with  Boniface,  the  apostle  of  Germany,  for  the  Latin  ;  and  the 
second,  he  continues  only  to  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Constan- 
tine the  Great,  Gregory  YII.,  and  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century 
mark  his  subdivisions.  In  modern  church  history  he  would,  of  course, 
make  the  development  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church  the  basis  of  divi- 
sion ;  whereas  the  Protestant  historian  looks  upon  Protestantism  as 
representing  the  main  current  of  modern  Christianity. 

§  18.    General  Character  of  the  Three  Ages  of  Church  History. 

Our  division  can  be  justified,  in  detail,  only  by  the  history  itself.  It 
may  be  proper  here,  however,  in  some  degree,  to  verify  the  main  division 
into  three  ages  by  a  preliminary  survey  of  their  general  character. 

1.  The  Ancient  church,  from  her  foundation  to  the  close  of  the  sixth 
century,  has  her  local  theatre  in  the  countries  immediately  around  the 
Mediterranean  sea  ;  viz..  Western  Asia  (particularly  Palestine  and 
Asia  Minor),  Southern  Europe  (Greece,  Italy,  Southern  Gaul),  and 
Northern  Africa  (Egypt,  Numidia,  &c.)  Thus  was  she  planted  in  the 
very  centre  of  the  old  world  and  its  heathen  culture.  Emanating  from 
the  bosom  of  the  Jewish  nation,  Christianity,  even  in  the  days  of  the 
apostles,  incorporated  itself  into  the  Grecian  and  Roman  nationality  ; 
and  this   national   substratum   reaches   through   the   whole   first   age. 

*  Published  from  his  literary  remains  by  Ddllingcr,  in  Mohler's  Gesammelte  Schriftcn 
und  Jufs^tze,  1839.  Vol.  II,  277. 


INTEOd]       §  18.      GENEEAL   CHAHACTEK    OF   THE   THKEE   AGES.  39 

Hence  we  have  good  reason  to  style  this  the  age  of  the  Graeco-Roman, 
or,  which  is  here  the  same  thing,  the  Eastern  and  Western  Universal 
church.  For  the  Grecian  mind,  at  that  time,  ruled  not  only  in  Greece 
proper,  but  also  in  all  the  East,  and  in  Egypt  ;  nay,  in  such  cities  as 
Alexandria  and  Antioch  it  was,  in  its  later  character,  even  more  active 
and  vigorous,  and  therefore  more  important  for  church  history,  than  in 
the  mother  country.  "Western  Asia  and  Egypt,  since  the  conquest  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  had  lost  their  former  character,  and  become 
Grecian  in  language  and  culture.  Even  the  Jewish  nationality,  stiff  as 
it  was,  could  not  withstand  this  foreign  pressure  ;  as  the  writings  of 
Philo  and  Josephus  abundantly  prove.  Hence  the  oldest  Christian  lite- 
rature is  predominantly  Greek.  So,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Roman  mind 
held  sway  not  only  over  Italy,  but  over  the  whole  Western  portion  of 
the  empire. 

Christianity,  at  first,  had  to  sustain  a  mighty  conflict  with  Judaism 
and  heathenism  ;  and  with  the  latter,  too,  in  its  most  cultivated  and 
powerful  form.  Hence,  together  with  the  history  of  the  spread  of  the 
church,  an  important  i^lace  belongs  also  to  the  history  of  its  persecution, 
partly  by  the  Roman  sword,  and  partly  by  Grecian  science  and  art. 
But  in  this  conflict,  the  church,  by  her  moral  power  in  life  and  in  death, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  by  her  new  view  of  the  world  on  the  other, 
comes  off  triumphant.  She  appropriates  the  classic  language  and 
culture,  fills  them  with  Christian  contents,  and  produces  the  imposing 
literature  of  the  fathers,  which  has  had  a  fertilizing  influence  on  all 
subsequent  periods.  The  Eastern  or  Greek  chm-ch,  as  the  main  channel 
of  the  development,  occupies  the  foreground.  In  this  age  she  gives 
birth  to  her  greatest  heroes,  as  Clemens  of  Alexandria,  Origen,  Athana- 
sius,  Basil,  Gregory  of  Nazianzen,  and  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  Eusebius  and 
Chrysostom.  At  this  time  she  displays  her  highest  power,  and  unfolds 
her  fau'est  blossoms,  especially  in  the  field  of  theology  proper.  With 
great  depth  of  speculation  and  dialectic  skill,  she  establishes  the  funda- 
mental doctrines  of  the  divinity  of  Christ  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of 
the  Trinity  ;  whence  her  complacency  in  the  title  of  the  orthodox  church. 
The  Latin  church,  also,  enters  the  field,  but  moves  more  slowly  and 
steadily,  and  exhibits  a  more  practical  spirit  ;  bearing  the  impress  of 
the  old  Roman  national  character,  as  distinct  from  the  scientific  and 
artistic  turn  of  the  Greek  genius.  For  theology  and  general  culture 
she,  at  first,  depends  altogether  on  the  Greek  church  ;  but  in  govern- 
ment and  religious  life  she  pursues  a  path  of  her  own.  It  is  a  remarka- 
ble fact,  that  the  Romanized  Punic  nationality  comes  into  view  before 
the  Roman  proper.  The  I^orth-African  church,  in  the  second  period 
and   part   of  the  third,  displays  far   more   activity   than   the   Italian. 


40  §  18.       GENERAL   CnARACTER   OF   THE   THREE   AGES.      [oENEK. 

Through  Tertullian  she  lays  the  foundation  for  a  Latin  theology. 
Through  Cyprian  she  takes  a  prominent  part  in  the  development  of  the 
episcopal  hierarchy.  And  finally,  in  St.  Augustine,  she  furnishes  the 
most  pious,  profound,  and  spirited  of  all  the  fathers  ;  one  who  took  the 
lead  in  the  doctrinal  controversies  of  his  time  ;  directed  theological 
investigation  in  the  most  important  practical  questions,  in  anthropology, 
and  the  doctrines  of  sin  and  grace  ;  and,  by  his  writings,  exerted  the 
greatest  influence  upon  the  whole  Middle  Age,  and  even  upon  the  Refor- 
mation of  the  sixteenth  century. 

This  first  age  forms,  in  dogma,  polity,  and  worship,  the  foundation  for 
all  subsequent  centuries  ;  the  common  ground,  out  of  which  the  main 
branches  of  the  church  have  since  sprung.  In  this  age,  too,  the  church 
presents,  even  outwardly  and  visibly,  an  imposing  unity,  joined,  at  the 
same  time,  with  great  freedom  and  diversity  ;  and  she  commands  our 
admiration  by  her  power  to  overcome,  with  the  moral  heroism  of  martyr- 
dom and  with  the  weapons  of  the  Spirit  and  the  truth,  not  only  Judaism 
and  Paganism  without,  but  also  the  most  dangerous  errors  and  schisms, 
within. 

2.  The  church  of  the  Middle  Agc$,  though,  in  one  view,  the  product 
and  legitimate  succession  of  the  primitive  church,  is  yet,  both  externally 
and'  internally,  very  different.  In  the  first  ^lace,  the  territorial  field 
changes.  It  moves  west  and  north  into  the  heart  of  Europe,  to  Italy, 
Spain,  France,  Britain,  Germany,  Scandinavia,  Russia.  The  one  univer- 
sal church  splits  into  two  great  halves.  The  Eastern  church,  separated 
from  the  Western,  gradually  loses  her  vitality  ;  a  part  of  it  stilTening 
into  dead  formalism  ;  a  part  yielding  to  a  new  enemy  from  without, 
Mohammedanism,  before  which  also  the  North-African  church,  after 
having  first  been  conquered  by  the  Arian  "Vandals  at  the  death  of 
Augustine  (A.  D.  430),  is  forced  to  give  way.  This  loss  in  the  East, 
however,  is  amply  compensated  by  a  gain  in  the  West.  The  Latin 
church  receives  into  her  bosom  an  entirely  new  national  element,  barba- 
rian, indeed,  at  first,  but  possessed  of  most  valuable  endowments  and 
vast  native  force.  The  Germanic  hordes,  pouring  from  the  north  like  a 
flood  upon  the  rotten  empire  of  Rome,  ruthlessly  destroy  her  political 
institutions  and  literary  treasures,  but,  at  the  same  time,  found  upon  the 
ruins  a  succession  of  new  states  full  of  energy  and  promise.  The  church 
rescues  from  the  rubbish  the  Roman  language  and  the  remains  of  ancient 
culture,  together  with  her  own  literature  ;  from  Rome  as  her  centre  she 
Christianizes  and  civilizes  these  rude  tribes  ;  and  thus  brings  on  the 
Middle  Ages,  in  which  the  pope  represents  the  supreme  spiritual  power  ; 
the  German  emperor,  the  highest  temporal  ;  and  the  church  rules  all 
social  relations  and  popular  movements  of  the  West.     This  is,  therefore. 


INTROD.]        §  18.       GENERAL    CHAEACTEE   OF   THE   TEEEE   AGES.  41 

the  age  of  Romano- Germanic  Catholicism.  Here  we  meet  the  colossal 
phenomena  of  the  papacy,  in  league  or  conflict  with  the  German  impe- 
rial power  ;  the  monastic  orders,  the  scholastic  and  mystic  divinity,  the 
Gothic  architecture  and  other  arts,  vying  with  each  other  in  adorning 
the  worship  of  the  church. 

But  in  this  activity  the  church  gradually  loses  sight  of  her  apostolical 
foundation,  and  becomes,  like  Judaism  in  the  hands  of  the  Pharisees, 
encumbered  with  all  sorts  of  human  additions  and  impurities,  which  made 
"  the  word  of  God  of  none  effect"  (Mark  T  :  13).  The  papacy  becomes 
an  intellectual  and  spiritual  despotism  ;  the  school  divinity  degenerates 
into  empty  forms  and  useless  subtleties  ;  and  the  whole  religious  life 
assumes  a  legal,  Pelagian  character,  in  which  outward  good  works  are 
substituted  for  an  inward  living  faith  in  the  only  Saviour.  Against  this 
oppression  of  the  hierarchy  with  its  human  ordinances,  the  deeper  life  of 
the  church,  the  spirit  of  evangelical  freedom  reacts. 

3.  Thus,  after  due  preparation,  not  only  outside  of  the  medieval 
Catholicism,  but  still  more,  in  its  very  bosom,  comes  the  Reformation  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  which  gives  the  stream  of  church  history  an 
entirely  different  direction,  and  opens  a  new  age,  in  the  progress  of  which 
we  ourselves  have  our  place.  The  Modern  church  has  its  birthplace  in 
Germany  and  Switzerland,  where  the  Reformation  broke  out  in  two 
simultaneous  movements,  and  was  inwardly  matured.  This  gives  it,  in  a 
national  point  of  view,  a  predominantly  Germanic  character.  It  spreads, 
however,  with  rapid  triumph,  into  the  Scandinavian  North,  into  France, 
the  Netherlands,  England,  Scotland,  and  finally,  by  emigration,  into 
North  America.  And  this  latter  country,  gradually  rising  into  view 
from  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  filling  up  with  both  the 
good  and  the  evil  of  the  old  world,  particularly  of  Great  Britain  and 
Germany,  and  representing,  in  unbounded  freedom  and  endless  diversity, 
the  various  tendencies  of  Protestantism,  together  with  the  renovated  life 
of  Roman  Catholicism,  promises  to  become  even  the  main  theatre  of  the 
church  history  of  the  future. 

As,  in  the  second  age,  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches  fell  asunder  ;  so, 
in  the  beginning  of  the  third  age,  the  Latin  church  itself  divides  into  the 
Roman  and  the  Protestant,  the  latter  separating  again  into  the  Lutheran 
and  Reformed  branches.  As,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Roman  Catholic 
church  was  the  spring  of  all  great  movements,  while  the  Greek  church, 
which  now,  indeed,  seems  to  have  a  new  future  before  her  in  the  vast 
empire  of  Russia,  had  stagnated  at  an  earlier  stage  ;  so  Protestantism  is 
plainly  the  centre  of  life  for  modern  history.  The  Roman  church  her- 
self, though  numerically  the  stronger  branch,  owes  her  activity  mainly  to 
the  impulse  she  receives,  directly  or  indirectly,  from  the  Protestant. 


42  §  19.      CHAEACTEK   OF   TIIE  TIIKEE   AGES,  CONTmUED.       [gener- 

This  third  grand  division  of  the  history  may,  therefore,  be  fitly  termed, 
as  to  its  leading  characteristic,  the  age  of  the  Evangelical  Protestant 
church. 

§  19.   Character  of  the  Three  Ages,  continued. 

The  most  general  mutual  relation  and  difference  of  these  three  ages 
may  be  best  described  by  means  of  the  comprehensive  philosophical  dis- 
tinction of  objectivity  and  subjectivity. 

The  first  age  presents  the  immediate  union  of  objectivity  and  subjectiv- 
ity ;  that  is,  the  two  great  moral  principles,  on  which  the  individual 
human  life,  as  well  as  all  history,  turns,  the  authority  of  the  general  and 
the  freedom  of  the  individual,  appear  tolerably  balanced,  but  still  only  in 
their  first  stage,  without  any  clear  definition  of  their  relative  limits.  In 
the  primitive  church  we  meet  a  highly  productive  activity  and  diversity 
of  Christian  life  and  Christian  science,  and  a  multitude  of  deformities, 
also,  of  dangerous  heresies  and  divisions.  But  over  all  these  individual 
and  national  tendencies,  views,  and  characters,  the  mind  of  the  universal 
chm'ch  holds  sway,  separating  the  false  element  with  infallible  instinct, 
and,  in  ecumenical  councils,  settling  doctrines  and  promulgating  ecclesi- 
astical laws,  to  which  individual  Christians  and  nations  submit.  The 
prevailing  tendency  of  this  early  Christianity,  however,  in  doctrine,  gov- 
ernment, worship,  and  practical  piety,  is  essentially  Catholic,  and 
prepares  the  way  for  that  system,  which  reached  its  full  proportions  in 
the  Middle  Ages. 

Afterwards  these  two  principles  of  objectivity  and  subjectivity,  the 
outward  and  the  inward,  the  general  and  the  individual,  authority  and 
freedom,  appear,  each  in  turn,  in  disproportionate  prominence.  And  in 
the  nature  of  the  case,  the  principle  of  objectivity  first  prevails.  In  the 
Catholic  church  of  the  Middle  Ages  Christianity  appears  chiefly  as  law 
as  a  pedagogical  institution,  a  power  from  without,  controlling  the  whole 
life  of  nations  and  individuals.  Hence  this  may  be  termed  the  age  of 
Christian  legalism,  of  church  authority.  Personal  freedom  is  here,  to  a 
great  extent,  lost  in  slavish  subjection  to  fixed,  traditional  rules  and 
forms.  The  individual  subject  is  of  account,  only  as  the  organ  and 
medium  of  the  general  spirit  of  the  church.  All  secular  powers,  the 
state,  science,  art,  are  under  the  guardianship  of  the  hierarchy,  and 
must  everywhere  serve  its  ends.  This  is  emphatically  the  era  of  grand 
universal  enterprises,  of  colossal  works,  whose  completion  required  the 
co-operation  of  nations  and  centuries ;  the  age  of  the  supreme  outward 
sovereignty  of  the  visible  church.  Such  a  well  ordered  and  imposing 
system  of  authority  was  necessary  for  the  training  of  the  Romanic  and 
Germanic  nations,  to  raise  them  from  barbarism  to  the  consciousness  and 


INTROD.]    §  19.      CHARACTER  OF  THE  THREE  AGES,  CONTINTIED.  43 

rational  use  of  freedom.  Parental  discipline  must  precede  independence  ; 
children  must  first  be  governed,  before  they  can  govern  themselves  ;  the 
law  is  still,  as  in  the  days  of  Moses,  a  schoolmaster  to  bring  men  to 
Christ.  This  consciousness  of  independence  awoke,  even  before  the  close 
of  the  Middle  Ages.  The  more  the  dominion  of  Rome  degenerated  from 
a  patriarchal  government  into  a  tyranny  over  conscience  and  all  free 
thought,  the  more  powerfully  was  the  national  and  subjective  spirit 
roused  to  shake  off  the  ignominious  yoke. 

All  this  agitation  of  awakened  freedom  was  at  last  concentrated  in  a 
decisive  historical  movement,  and  assumed  a  positive,  religious  character 
in  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Here  begins  the  age  of 
subjectivity  and  individuality  ; — a  name  which  may  be  given  it  both  in 
praise  and  in  censure.  It  is  the  characteristic  feature  of  Protestantism, 
and  its  great  merit,  that  it  views  religion  as  a  personal  concern,  which 
every  man,  as  an  individual,  and  for  himself,  has  to  settle  with  God,  and 
with  his  own  conscience.  It  breaks  down  the  walls  of  partition  between 
Christ  and  the  believer,  and  teaches  every  one  to  go  to  the  fountain  of 
the  divine  word,  without  the  medium  of  human  traditions,  and  to  con- 
verse, not  through  interceding  saints  and  priests,  but  directly,  with  his 
Saviour,  individually  appropriating  Christ's  merit  by  a  living  faith,  and 
rejoicing  in  his  own  personal  salvation,  while  he  ascribes  all  the  glory  of 
it  to  the  divine  mercy  alo.ne.  Evangelical  Protestantism,  in  its  genuine 
form,  moves  throughout  in  the  element  of  that  freedom,  into  which 
Christ  has  brought  us,  and  naturally  calls  forth  vast  individual  activity 
in  literary  culture,  social  improvement,  and  practical  piety.  What 
Germany,  Switzerland,  Holland,  England,  Scotland,  and  the  United 
States  have  accomplished  during  the  last  three  centuries  in  religion, 
literature,  and  politics,  is  all  more  or  less  connected  with  the  memorable 
Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century.  We  ourselves  are  all  involved  in 
its  development.  Our  present  Protestant  theology  and  piety  breathe  iu 
its  atmosphere.  The  Puritanism  of  the  seventeenth  century,  the  Pietism 
and  Methodism  of  the  eighteenth,  and  most  of  the  religious  movements 
of  our  day  are  but  continued  vibrations  of  the  Reformation  ;  essentially 
the  same  Protestant  principle  of  religious  subjectivity,  variously  modified 
and  applied. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  what  thus  constitutes  the  strength  of  Protest- 
antism, may  be  called  also  its  weakness.  Every  right  principle  is  liable 
to  abuse.  Every  truth  may  be  caricatured,  and  turned  into  dangerous 
error,  by  being  carried  to  an  extreme,  and  placed  in  a  hostile  attitude 
towards  other  truths  equally  important  and  necessary.  Thus,  together 
with  its  evangelical  religious  life,  the  Protestant  movement  includes  also 
revolutionary   and   destructive  elements,  and  dangerous  tendencies  to 


44  §  19.       CHAKACTER   OF  THE  THREE  AGES,  CONTINTED.     [geNEE. 

licentiousness  and  dissolution  in  churcli  and  state.  True,  the  Reformers 
themselves  aimed  to  free  the  Christian  world  only  from  the  oppressive 
authority  of  human  ordinances,  and  not  by  any  means  from  the 
authority  of  God.  On  the  contrary,  they  sought  to  make  reason  obedi- 
ent to  the  word  of  God,  and  the  natural  will  subject  to  his  grace.  They 
wanted  no  licentiousness,  but  a  freedom  pervaded  by  faith,  and  ruled  by 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  Nay,  so  many  churchly  and  Catholic  elements  did 
they  retain,  that  much  of  our  present  Protestantism  must  be  considered 
an  apostasy  from  the  position  of  Luther,  Melancthon,  and  Calvin.  But, 
as  history,  by  reason  of  human  sinfulness,  which  is  always  attended  with 
error,  proceeds  only  by  opposites  and  extremes,  the  Protestant  subjectiv- 
ity gradually  degenerated,  to  a  fearful  extent,  into  the  corresponding 
extreme  of  division,  arbitrary  judgment,  and  contempt  for  every  sort  of 
authority.  This  has  been  the  case  especially  since  the  middle  of  the  last 
century,  theoretically  in  Rationalism,  practically  in  Sectarianism. 

Rationalism  has  grown,  indeed,  into  a  learned  and  scientific  system 
chiefly  among  the  Germans,  a  predominantly  theoretic  and  thinking 
people,  and  in  the  Lutheran  church,  which  has  been  styled  the  church 
of  theologians.  But,  in  substance,  it  exists  also  in  other  European 
countries,  and  in  North  America,  under  various  forms,  as  Arminianism, 
Deism,  Unitarianism,  Universalism,  Indifferentism,  and  downright  infidel- 
ity ;  and  it  infects,  to  some  extent,  the  theology  even  of  the  orthodox 
denominations.  It  places  private  judgment,  as  is  well  known,  not  only 
above  the  pope  and  the  church,  but  also  above  the  Bible  itself,  receiving 
only  so  much  of  the  word  of  God,  as  can  be  grasped  by  the  natural 
understanding  or  reason  {ratio,  whence  rationalism). 

The  system  of  sect  and  denomination  has  sprung  more  from  the  bosom 
of  the  Reformed  church,  the  church  of  congregational  life,  and  owes  its 
form  to  the  practical  English  character,  which  has  a  tendency  to  organize 
every  new  principle  into  a  party,  and  to  substitute  sects  for  mere  schools. 
In  North  America,  under  the  banner  of  full  religious  freedom,  it  has 
reached  its  height  ;  but,  in  its  essence,  it  belongs  properly  to  Protestant 
Christianity  as  a  whole.  All  our  Protestantism  is  sadly  wanting  in 
unity,  at  least  in  outward,  visible  unity,  which  is  as  necessary  a  fruit  of 
inward  unity,  as  works  are  of  faith.  The  sects,  indeed,  do  not  commonly 
reject  the  Bible.  On  the  contrary,  they  stiffly  adhere  to  it,  in  their  own 
way.  But  they  rely  on  it  in  opposition  to  all  history,  and  in  the  conceit, 
that  they  alone  are  in  possession  of  its  true  sense.  Thus  their  appealing 
to  the  Bible,  after  all,  practically  amounts,  in  the  end,  to  rationalism  ; 
since,  by  the  Bible,  they  always  mean  their  own  sense  of  it,  and  thus,  in 
fact,  follow  merely  their  private  judgment. 

Finally  the  principle  of  false  subjectivity  reveals  itself  in  the  fact, 


INTROD.]        §  19.       CHAKACTEE  OF  THE  THREE  AGES,  CONTINUED.  45 

that,   since  the  Reformation,   the  various   departments  of  the  world's 
activity,  science,  art,  politics,  and  social  life,  have  gradually  separated 
from  the  church,  and  pursue  their  own  independent  course.     In  this  wide 
spread  rationalism,  in  this  frittering  of  the  church  into  innumerable  party 
interests,  and  in  her  consequent  weakness  in  relation  to  all  the  spheres 
of  human  life,  and  especially  in  relation  to  the  state,  we  see  the  opera- 
tion of  a  bad,  diseased  subjectivity,  which  forms  just  the  opposite  pole  to 
the  stiff,  petrified,  and  burdensome  objectivity  of  degenerate  Catholicism. 
But  against  these  evils  the  deeper  life  of  the  church,  which  can  never 
be  extinguished,  again  reacts.     In  opposition  to  RationaHsm  there  arises 
nctoriously  a   new   evangelical   theology,    which   aims   to   satisfy   the 
demands  of  science  as  well  as  of  faith.     And,  on  the  other  hand,  against 
the  sect  system  there  comes  up  a  more  and  more  painful  sense  of  its 
evils,  which  calls  forth  a  longing  for  church  union.     This  jDractical  want 
presses  the  question  of  the  nature  and  form  of  the  church  prominently 
into  the  foreground.     The  deej^er,  though  by  no  means  the  prevailing 
and   popular  tendency  of  the  time  is  thus  towards   objectivity  ;   not, 
indeed,  towards  that  of  the  Middle  Ages,  or  even  of  the  Romanism  of 
our  day — for  history  can  no  more  flow  l:)ackwards,  than  a  stream  up  hill, 
— ^but  to  an  objectivity  enriched  with  all  the  experience  and  diversified 
energies  of  the  age  of  subjectivity,  to  a  higher  union  of  Protcslantism 
and  Catholicism  in  their  pure  forms,  freed  from  their  respective  errors 
and  infirmities.     These  yearnings  of  the  present,  when  properly  matured, 
will  doubtless  issue  in  a  reformation  far  more  glorious,  than  any  the 
church  has  yet  seen.     And  then  will  open  a  new  age,  in  which  human 
activity,  in  all  its  branches,  shall  freely  come  back  into  league  with  the 
chmxh  ;   science  and  art  join  to  glorify  the  name  of   God  ;  and  all 
nations  and  dominions,  according  to  the  word  of  prophecy,  be  given  to 
the  saints  of  the  Most  High. 

We  may  find  a  parallel  to  this  development  of  the  Christian  church  in 
the  history  of  the  Jewish  theocracy,  which  is  everywhere  typical  of  the 
experience  of  Christ's  people.  The  age  of  the  Primitive  church  corres- 
ponds to  the  Patriarchal  age,  which  already  contained,  in  embryo,  the 
two  succeeding  periods.  Medieval  Catholicism  may  be  compared  to  the 
Mosaic  period,  when  law  and  authority  and  the  organization  of  the  Jew- 
ish commonwealth  were  fully  developed.  And  the  Modern,  or  Evangel- 
ical Protestant  church  is  not  without  resemblance  to  the  age  of  the  Old 
Testament  prophets,  in  whom  the  evangelical  element,  the  Messianic 
hope  predominated,  and  who  stood,  to  a  certain  extent,  in  a  hostile  atti- 
tude towards  the  unfaithful  hierarchy,  and  towards  the  dead  formalism 
and  ceremonialism  of  the  people.  Law  and  prophecy,  the  two  poles  of 
the  old  Testament  religion,   after  having   been   separately  developed, 


46  §  20.       USES    OF   CHURCH   HISTORY.  [gener. 

appeared,  at  last,  united,  and,  as  it  were,  incarnate,  in  tlie  person  of 
John  the  Baptist  immediately  before  the  first  advent  of  Christ.  Per- 
haps in  this  point  also  the  analogy  will  hold  ;  and  then  we  might  indulge 
the  hope,  that  a  union,  or  at  least  a  friendly  approach  of  the  two  great- 
est principles  of  church  history,  and  of  the  pious  portions  of  the  two 
most  hostile  sections  of  Christendom,  will  precede  the  second  coming  of 
our  Lord,  and  the  perfection  of  his  kingdom,  when  there  shall  be  one 
fold  and  one  shepherd.  Such  private  speculations,  however,  must  not  be 
too  much  trusted,  and  by  no  means  permitted  to  influence  the  represen- 
tation of  facts.  Philosophy,  instead  of  presuming  to  dictate  the  course 
of  history,  and  to  accommodate  it  to  a  preconceived  theory,  must  be 
made  to  depend  upon  it,  and  must  draw  her  wisdom  from  its  teachings. 

§  20.    Uses  of  Church  History. 

1.  It  is  in  the  knowledge  of  her  history,  that  the  church  has  a  sense 
of  her  own  development  ;  and  this  knowledge,  therefore,  has  an  intrinsic 
value.  On  this  M^e  must  lay  stress,  in  opposition  to  a  contracted  utilita- 
rian view,  in  which  church  history  is  cultivated  only  for  certain  party 
interests,  and  thus  degraded  to  a  mere  tool  for  temporary  purposes. 
The  present  is  the  result  of  the  past,  and  cannot  possibly  be  fully  under- 
stood without  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  past.  The  church  cannot 
properly  comprehend  herself,  without  a  clear  view  of  her  origin  and 
growth.  Her  past  deeds,  sufferings,  and  fortunes  belong  to  the  substance 
of  her  life.  They  are  constituent  elements  of  her  being,  which  requires 
the  gradual  course  of  time  for  its  evolution.  We  wait  no  outward 
impulse  to  engage  our  interest  in  the  history  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 
Faith  itself,  in  its  nature,  prompts  every  one  to  this  investigation, 
according  to  his  inward  calling  and  outward  opportunity.  Continually 
striving  after  a  clearer  apprehension  of  its  object,  it' takes  the  deepest 
interest  in  the  ways  of  God,  the  words  and  deeds  of  his  servants,  the 
innumerable  witnesses  of  the  past.  If  man,  as  man,  according  to  the 
old  saying  :  homo  sum.,  nihil  humani  a  me  alienum  puto,  is  prompted  and 
bound  to  take  an  interest  in  everything  properly  human  ;  the  Christian, 
also,  as  a  Christian,  should  cultivate  the  liveliest  sympathy  with  the 
deeds  and  fortunes  of  all  his  brethren  in  the  faith,  with  whom  he  is 
joined  in  one  body.  Theology,  apprehended  and  cultivated  in  the  right 
spirit,  is  in  no  department  a  mere  theoretical  matter,  but  divine  worship. 
Church  history,  therefore,  deserves  to  be  studied  for  its  own  sake,  as  an 
essential  pai^t  of  that  knowledge  of  the  Triune  God,  which  is  life  eternal 
(John  11  :  3). 

Prom  this  high,  intrinsic,  and  abiding  worth  of  church  history  arise  its 
practical  utility  and  necessity  for  particular  purposes  and  callings,  espe- 


INTEOD.]  g  20.       USES    OF   CnUKCH    HISTOKT.  47 

cially  for  tlie  teachers  and  leaders  of  the  Christian  community.  This 
science,  like  all  human  knowledge  and  action,  should  be  made  subservi- 
ent to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  advancement  of  his  kingdom. 

2.  Thus,  the  knowledge  of  church  history  is,  also,  one  of  the  most 
powerful  helps  to  successful  action  in  the  service  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 
The  present  is  not  only  the  product  of  the  past,  but  the  fertile  soil  of 
the  future,  which  he,  who  would  cultivate,  must  understand.  But  the 
present  can  be  thoroughly  understood  only  by  an  accurate  acquaintance 
with  the  past.  No  one,  for  example,  is  prepared  to  govern  a  state  well, 
and  to  advance  its  interests,  who  has  not  made  himself  familiar  with  its 
wants  and  its  history.  Ignorance  can  produce  but  a  bungling  work, 
which  must  soon  again  fall  to  pieces.  History  is,  next  to  the  word  of 
God,  the  richest  source  of  wisdom  and  experience.  Her  treasures  are 
inexhaustible.  Whence  the  ephemeral  character  of  so  many  productions 
in  church,  and  in  state  ?  Their  authors  were  ignorant  and  regardless  of 
history.  That  tree  only  defies  the  storm,  whose  roots  strike  deep.  And 
that  work  only  can  stand,  which  is  built  on  the  solid  foundation  of  the 
past. 

3.  Again  ;  church  history  is  the  best  and  most  complete  defence  of 
Christianity,  and  is,  therefore,  pre-eminently  fitted  to  strengthen  faith, 
and  to  minister  abundant  comfort  and  edification.  It  is  a  continuous 
commentary  on  the  promise  of  our  Lord  :  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway, 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  The  Saviour  moves  along,  with  the 
fuluess  of  his  grace,  through  all  the  centuries  of  Christianity,  revealing 
himself  in  the  most  diverse  personalities,  and  making  them  organs  of  his 
Spirit,  his  will,  his  truth,  and  his  peace.  The  apostles  and  martyrs,  the 
apologists  and  church  fathers,  the  schoolmen  and  mystics,  the  reformers, 
and  all  those  countless  witnesses,  whose  names  are  mdelibly  traced  on  the 
pages  of  church  history,  form  one  choir,  sending  up  an  eternal  anthem 
of  praise  to  the  Redeemer,  and  most  emphatically  declaring,  that  the 
gospel  is  no  fable,  no  fancy,  but  power  and  life  ;  peace  and  joy  ^  in 
short,  all  that  man  can  wish,  of  good  or  glory.  Such  examples,  bearing 
the  actual  impress  of  the  life  of  the  Godman,  and,  as  it  were,  embodying 
Christ,  speak  far  more  forcibly,  than  any  intellectual  demonstration  or 
abstract  theory. 

So,  also,  church  history  furnishes  the  strongest  evidence  of  the  inde- 
structibility of  Christianity.  To  the  words  of  our  Lord  :  "  On  this  rock 
I  will  build  my  church,  and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against 
it,"  every  century  responds.  Yea  !  and  Amen  !  There  is  no  power  on  or 
under  the  earth,  which  has  not  sworn  hostility  to  the  band  of  the 
redeemed,  and  done  its  utmost  to  annihilate  the  infant  community.  But 
the  church  has  vanquished  them  all.     Stiff-necked  and  blinded  Judaism 


48  §  20.     USES  OF  CHUKcn  histoet.  [gener. 

laid  its  hand  upon  the  Anointed  of  the  Lord  and  his  servants.     But  the 
Saviour  has  risen  from  the  dead  ;  his  followers  have  beheld  with  adora- 
tion his  wonderful  judgments  upon  Jerusalem  ;  the  chosen  people  are 
scattered,  without  a  shephei'd,  and  without  a   sanctuary,   through  all 
nations  and  times,  a  perpetual  living  witness  to  the  truth  of  the  divine 
threatenings  ;  and  "  this  generation  shall  not  pass  away"  till  the  Lord 
come  again  in  his  glory.     Greece  applied  all  her  art  and  philosophy  to 
confute  the  doctrine  of  the  cross,  and  make  it  ridiculous  in  the  eyes  of 
the  cultivated  world.     But  her  wisdom  was  turned  into  foolishness,  or 
made  a  bridge  to  Christianity.     Rome,   proud  mistress  of  the  world, 
devised  the  most  inhuman  torments,  to  torture  Christians  to  death,  and 
root  out  their  name  from  the  earth.     But  tender  virgins  faced  eternity 
more  firmly  than  tried  soldiers  or  Stoic  philosophers  ;  and  after  two 
centuries  of  the  most  bloody  persecution,  lo,  the  Roman  emperor  himself 
casts  his  crown  at  the  feet  of  the  despised  Nazarene,  and  receives  bap- 
tism in  His  name.     The  crescent  of  Islam  thought  to  outshine  the  sun 
of  Christianity,  and  moved,  blood-red,  along  the  horizon  of  the   Eastern 
and  African  churches,  passing  over  even  into  Spain  and  France.     But 
the  messengers  of  the  Lord  have  driven  back  the  false  prophet,  and  his 
kingdom  is  now  a  mouldering  corpse.     Heresies  and  schisms  of  all  sorts 
arose  in  the  bosom  of  the  church  itself,  even  in  its  earliest  history,  and 
seemed,  for  a  long  time,  to  have  displaced  the  pure   doctrine  of  the 
gospel.     But  the  truth  has  always  broken  for  itself  a  new  path,   and 
forced  the  hosts  of  error  to  submission.     The  Middle  Ages  loaded  the 
simple  doctrine  of'  salvation  with  so  many  human  additions  that  it  could 
scarcely  be  discerned,  and  was  made  almost  "of  none  effect"  (Mark  1  : 
13).     But  the  inward  energy  of  the  church  powerfully  worked  its  way 
through  the  superincumbent  mass  ;  placed  the  candle  of  the  pure  word 
again  on  its  candlestick  ;  and  set  conscience  free  from  the  fetters  of  the 
hierarchy.      Deists,  materialists,  and  atheists,  in  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries,  poured  contempt  upon  the  Bible  ;  nay,  the  heroes 
of  the  French  Revolution,  in  their  mad  fanaticism,  even  set  aside  the 
God  of  Christians,  and,  in  the  midst  of  scenes  of  the  most  frightful 
cruelty,  placed  the  goddess  of  Reason  on  the  throne  of  the  world.     But 
they  soon  had  to  undo  their  own  folly.     The  Lord  in  heaven  laughed, 
and  had  them  in  derision.     Napoleon,  the  greatest  potentate  and  captain 
of  modern  times,  proposed  to  substitute  for  the  universal  dominion  of 
Christianity,  the  universal  dominion  of  his  own  sword,  and  to  degrade 
the  church  into  an  instrument  for  his  own  political  ends.     But  the  Lord 
of  the   church  hurled  him  from  his  throne  ;  and  the  giant,  who  had 
thrown  all  Europe  out  of  joint,  must  die  of  a  broken  heart,  a  prisoner  on 
a  lonely  rock  of  the  ocean.     In  the  bosom  of  Protestantism  has  arisen, 


INTROD.]  §  20.       USES    OF    CHTJECH   HISTOKT.  49 

within  the  last  and  present  century,  a  Rationalism,  which,  wielding  all 
the  powers  of  learning  and  philosophy,  has  gradually  advanced  to  the 
denial  of  a  personal  God,  and  of  immortality,  and  has  turned  the  history 
of  the  Saviour  into  a  book  of  myths.  But  it  has  been  promptly  met  by 
a  believing  theology,  which  has  triumphantly  driven  its  objections  from 
the  field  ;  while  division  has  broken  out  in  the  camp  of  the  enemy 
itself,  and  one  system  of  unbelief  is  found  actively  refuting  another. 
Indifferentism  and  spiritual  death  have  spread,  in  the  train  of  Rational- 
ism, over  whole  sections  of  the  church.  But  the  Christian  life  already 
celebrates  its  own  resurrection.  Banished  from  one  land,  it  flourishes 
with  fresh  vigor  in  another,  and  pushes  its  activity  even  to  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  heathen  world.  The  mightiest  empires,  the  most  perfect 
systems  of  human  wisdom,  have  perished  ;  while  the  simple  faith  of  the 
Galilean  fishermen  shows  itself  to-day  as  powerful  as  ever  ;  regenerating 
the  most  hardened  sinners  ;  imparting  strength  to  do  good,  joy  in  afflic- 
tion, and  triumph  in  death.  The  Lord  of  hosts  has  ever  been  a  wall 
round  about  his  Ziou.  The  gates  of  hell,  through  eighteen  centuries, 
have  not  prevailed  against  the  church  ;  as  little  will  they  prevail  against 
her  in  time  to  come.  To  have  weathered  so  many  storms,  coming  forth 
only  purer  and  stronger  from  them  all,  she  must,  indeed,  be  made  of  in- 
destructible material.  Church  history,  studied  with  a  truth-loving  spirit, 
places  this  beyond  a  doubt.  It  is,  therefore,  next  to  the  word  of  God, 
the  richest  and  most  edifying  book  of  devotion,  forbidding  despair,  even 
when  thick  darkness  rests  upon  the  present,  aud  the  walls  of  Zion  are 
beset  with  foes. 

4.  Finally  ;  church  history,  in  proportion  as  it  strengthens  our  faith 
in  the  divine  origin  and  indestructible  nature  of  Christianity,  must  also 
exert  a  wholesome  moral  influence,  on  our  character  aud  conduct,  and 
thus  prove  a  help  to  practical  piely.  It  is  morality  in  the  form  of  facts  ; 
divine  philosophy  taught  by  examples  ;  a  preaching  of  Christ  and  his 
gospel  from  the  annals  of  his  kingdom.'  Its  shining  examples  of  godly 
men  powerfully  challenge  our  imitation  ;  that  we,  like  them,  may  con- 
secrate our  thought  aud  life  to  the  honor  of  the  Lord  and  the  welfare 

^  iwfAer  strikingly  says  :  " There  is  a  rare  value  in  histories;  for  all  that  philoso- 
phy, wise  men,  and  universal  reason  can  teach  or  devise,  which  is  profitable  for  an 
honorable  life,  history  forcibly  presents  by  examples  in  actual  fact,  and  sets  imme- 
diately before  the  eyes,  as  though  we  were  by,  and  saw  it  acted.  And,  if  we  look  at 
it  deeply,  almost  all  rights,  art,  good  counsel,  warning,  threatening,  terror,  consolation, 
strength,  instruction,  providence,  prudence,  together  with  all  virtues,  gush  forth  from 
histories  and  annals,  as  from  a  living  fountain.  In  this  view,  histories  are  but  the 
advertisement,  memorial,  and  token  of  the  work  and  judgment  of  God,  of  the  way,  in 
which  he  upholds,  governs,  hinders,  advances,  punishes,  and  rewards  the  world  and 
especially  men,  as  each  may  deserve,  be  it  evil  or  good." 
4 


50  §  20.       USES    OF    CHURCH   HISTOEY.  [gENEE. 

of  man,  and  may  leave  a  lasting,  hallowed  influence  behind  us,  when  we 
die.  The  study  of  history  is  especially  fitted  to  free  our  minds  from  all 
prejudice,  narrowness,  party  and  sectarian  feeling,  and  to  fill  us  with  a 
truly  catholic  spirit ;  with  that  love,  which  joyfully  accords  due  praise 
to  the  most  diverse  forms  of  the  Christian  life,  adores  the  wonderful  wis- 
dom of  the  heavenly  gardener  in  the  variegated  splendor  of  the  garden 
of  the  Lord,  and  feels  itself  vitally  united  with  the  pious  of  all  ages  and 
nations  ;  with  that  love,  which  must  be  poured  out  copiously  upon  the 
church,  before  her  present  mournful  divisions  can  be  healed,  the  precious 
promise  of  one  fold  and  one  shepherd  be  accomplished,  and  the  prayer 
of  our  great  High  Priest  be  fulfilled  :  "  That  they  all  may  be  one  ;  as 
thou,  Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us  ; 
that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me." 

Here,  of  course,  all  depends  on  the  spirit,  in  which  church  history  is 
studied.  Like  every  other  science,  and  like  the  Bible  itself,  it  may  be, 
and  often  has  been,  scandalously  perverted  to  the  service  of  bad  ends. 
This  will  sufficiently  appear  from  the  history  of  our  science,  to  which  we 
shall  devote  the  last  chapter  of  the  General  Introduction.* 

*  On  the  subject  of  this  section,  compare  the  third  division  of  our  tract :  What  is 
Church  History?  p.  114,  sqq. 


INTEOD.]  §    22.       HISTOKIANS    OF   THE   PATKISTIC   PEKIOD,  61 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE  PRINCIPAL  WORKS  ON  CHURCH  HISTORY,  OR  THE  PROGRESS 
OF- CHURCH  HISTORY  AS  A  SCIENCE. 

§  21.   Progress  of  Church  Historiography. 

Church  historiography,  like  every  other  branch  of  science,  has  its 
history,  in  which  its  true  object  and  proper  method  are  continually  com- 
ing more  and  more  clearly  to  view.  At  first  it  existed  merely  as  a  col- 
lection of  material.  The  next  step  was  the  addition  of  critical  research 
and  discrimination.  Then  came  the  pragmatic  elucidation  and  combinar 
tion  of  events,  showing  the  nexus  of  cause  and  effect.  And  finally,  the 
scientific  mastery,  artistic  construction,  and  organic  reproduction  of  the 
objective  history  itself.  We  shall  not  fatigue  the  reader  with  a  dry 
catalogue  of  books,  but  confine  ourselves  to  an  account  of  the  leading 
works,  paying  particular  attention  to  the  peculiar  lights,  in  which  the 
different  historians,  especially  since  the  Reformation,  view  church  history, 
and  the  method  they  pursue  ;  and  to  the  progress  of  church  history  as  a 
science.^  We  may  divide  the  historians  into  three  classes  :  (1)  The  old 
Catholic  church  historians,  from  Eusebius  to  the  Reformation  ;  (2) 
Roman  Catholic  historians  since  the  split  of  the  Latin  church  ;  (3)  Pro- 
testant historians  ;  who  again  branch  into  various  schools,  particularly  in 
Germany,  reflecting,  as  in  a  mirror,  the  different  theological  phases 
through  which  Protestantism  has  passed. 

I,    CHURCH    HISTORIANS    BEFORE    THE    REFORMATION. 

§  22.    The  Patristic  Period. 

The  old  Catholic  historians  belong  partly  to  the  Patristic  period,  or 
the  first  six  centuries  ;  partly  to  the  Middle  Ages.  In  the  Patristic 
period  we  must  again  distinguish  the  Greek  fathers  and  the  Latin. 

*  The  same  subject  is  treated  on  a  somewhat  different  plan  in  the  tract :  What  is 
Church  History''    A  Vindication  of  the  Idea  of  Historical  Development^  p.  41-80. 


52  §  22.      HISTORIANS    of   the   PATEISTIC    rERIOD.  [gexek. 

1.  As  in  all  other  departments  of  theology,  so  also  in  church  history, 
the  Greek  church  leads  the  way.  Leaving  out  of  view  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  by  St.  Luke,  which  belong  to  the  canonical  literature  of 
the  New  Testament,  and  the  five  books  of  Ecclesiastical  Memoirs  by 
Hegesippus,  a  Jewish  Christian  writer  of  the  second  century  (150),  of 
which  only  a  few  fragments  have  been  preserved,  the  title,  '  father  of 
church  history,'  belongs  undoubtedly  to  the  learned,  candid,  and  mode- 
rate EusEBius  (340),  bishop  of  Caesarea  in  Palestine  ;  in  the  same 
sense,  in  which  Herodotus  is  called  the  father  of  profane  history.'  In 
his  Church  History,  which  reaches,  in  ten  books,  from  the  Incarnation 
to  the  year  324,  he  has  made  faithful  use  of  the  libraries  of  his  friend 
Pamphilus  of  Caesarea,  and  of  Alexander,  bishop  of  Jerusalem  ;  of  the 
canonical  and  apocryphal  writings  ;  of  the  works  of  the  apostolic  fathers 
(the  immediate  disciples  of  the  apostles),  the  apologists,, and  the  oldest 
church  writers,  including  many  valuable  documents,  which  have  since 
been  lost.*  His  Biography  of  Constantine  the  Great  is  not  so  trust- 
worthy. He  was  too  much  blinded  by  the  favor,  which  this  emperor 
showed  to  the  church,  not  to  sacrifice  the  character  of  the  historian  fre- 
quently to  that  of  the  panegyrist.  His  Chronicle  gives  a  short  account 
of  general  history  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  Constantine  the 
Great,  with  chronological  tables.  For  a  long  time  it  was  only  partly 
known,  through  the  free  translation  of  Jerome  ;  until  found,  in  the  year 
1192,  in  a  complete  Armenian  copy,  and  published  in  Latin  and  Greek 
by  Angelo  Mai  (Rome,  1833),  and  others.  The  historical  works  of 
Eusebius  are  chiefly  valuable  for  their  material  and  antiquity,  and  for 
the  interesting  position  of  the  writer,  who  lived  while  persecution  was 
still  raging,  and  also  witnessed  the  great  change  caused  by  Constantine's 
conversion.  As  regards  style  and  method,  he  is  far  surpassed  by  the 
classical  historians  of  Greece  and  Rome.  His  mild  disposition,  love  of 
peace,  and  aversion  to  doctrinal  controversies  and  exclusive  formulas  of 
orthodoxy,  have  brought  upon  him  the  suspicion  of  having  favored  the 
Arian  or  Semiarian  heresy  ;  but  without  sufficient  foundation.  It  is  cer- 
tain that  he  signed  the  symltol  of  Nice,  and  at  least  substantially  agreed 
to  it  ;  though  for  himself  he  preferred  the  looser  terminology  of  his 
favorite,  Origen,  concerning  the  divinity  of  Christ. 

The  work  of  Eusebius  was  continued  in  the  fifth  century,  first,  by  two 
jurists  of  Constantinople  ;  Socrates,  who  brought  down  the  history,  in 
seven  books,  from  the  accession  of  Constantine  (306),  to  the  year  439, 

'  Comp.  the  dissertation  of  Dr  Baur  :  Comparatur  Eusebius  Caes.  historiae  ecdcsias- 
ticae  parens  cum  parente  historiarum  Herodoto  Halic.     Tubing.  1834. 

-  A  detailed  account  of  his  sources,  sixty  in  number,  is  given  by  Fliigge  :  Vcrsuch 
ciner  Geschichtc  der  thcvlog.    Wiiscnchaftcn.  Halle,  1797.  Part  II.  p.  321,  sqq. 


INTROD.]  §22.       HISTOEIAJTS    OF   THE   PATEISTIC    PEEIOD.  53 

in  unpretending,  often  careless  style,  but  without  prejudice,  and  with 
greater  critical  tact  than  Eusebius  ;  and  Hermias  Sozomenus,  a  Palesti- 
nian, whose  nine  books  embrace  the  same  period  (323-423),  but  have 
more  regard  to  monasticism,  of  which  he  was  an  enthusiastic  admirer. 
Then  comes  Theodoret,  bishop  of  Cyrus  in  Mesopotamia,  who  wrote  his 
Ecclesiastical  History  in  five  books,  (covering  the  period  325-429),  about 
the  year  450,  and  excels  both  the  last  named  authors,  and  even  Eusebius, 
in  style,  spirit,  and  richness  of  matter.  In  his  Lives  of  Thirty  Hermits 
(^tAoiJeof  iaTopia)j  however,  he  relates  sometimes  the  most  wonderful 
things  respecting  his  heroes,  without  leaving  the  least  room  for  doubt. 
His  Fabulae  haereticae  are  valuable  for  doctrine  history. 

Besides  these  Catholic  authors,  there  was  also  Philostorgius,  who 
wrote  in  the  interest  of  Arianism  ;  but  of  his  twelve  books,  (reaching 
from  318  to  425),  we  possess  only  extracts  in  the  Bibliotheca  of  Photius. 
In  the  sixth  century  we  have  Theodorus  of  Constantinople,  who  con- 
tinued the  history  to  the  year  518  ;  and  the  Syrian  lawyer,  Evagrius  of 
Antioch,  who  brought  it  down  to  594.  Photius  extols  this  latter  author, 
as  more  orthodox  than  all  his  predecessors.'  All  these  historians,  except 
the  heretical  PhUostorgius,  view  the  history  from  essentially  the  same 
position,  and  follow  the  same  general  method.  Where  one  breaks  off, 
another  commences,  and  continues  the  narrative  in  the  same  spirit. 
Their  works  all  have  an  apologetical  character,  bearing  the  marks  of  the 
struggle  of  the  youthful  church  against  prevailing  Judaism  and  Heathen- 
ism, and  reflecting  the  moral  glory  of  martyrdom. 

The  later  Greek  church,  whose  general  course,  since  its  separation 
from  the  Latin,  may  be  styled  a  progressive  stagnation,  has  done  but 
little  for  our  science.  In  the  fourteenth  century  Nicephorus  Callisti 
(son  of  Callistus),  a  monk  of  Constantinople  (about  1333),  compiled 
from  the  older  historians  a  new  church  history,  in  twenty-three  books  ; 
but  only  eighteen  of  them,  (to  A.  D.  610),  are  preserved,  in  a  single 
manuscript  of  the  Yienna  library,  and  edited  by  Ducaeus  (le  Due),  Par. 
1630.  From  the  close  connection  between  church  and  state  in  the 
Byzantine  empire,  however,  all  the  so-called  Scriptores  Byzantixi,  from 
the  seventh  century  to  the  fifteenth,  may  also  be  considered  as  in  part 
belonging  to  the  literature  of  church  history.* 

'  All  these  seven  historians  have  been  published  together,  in  Greek  and  Latin,  with 
notes,  by  Valcsius  (du  Valois) ,  in  three  volumes  folio  (Par.  1659-73,  also  Amstelod. 
1695,  and  Cantabr.  1720) .  A  spirited,  but  one-sided  review  of  the  Greek  historians 
may  be  found' in  Dr.  Baurs  Epochen  d(r  kirchlicheyi  Geschichts  srhreibung.  Tiibing. 
1852   p.  7,  sqq. 

"^  Historiae  byzant.  scriptores.  Par.  42t.  fob  1645-1711.  Corpus  scriptor.  hist.  byz. 
consilio  Niebuhrii.  Bonnae.  1S28,  sqq.  They  include  the  Chronicon  paschale,  the  works 
of  Syncellus,  Theophanes,  Nicephorus,  Metaphrastes,  Zonaras,  Leo  Diaconus,  Acropo- 
lita,  Pachymeres,  and  others. 


54  §  23.      HISTOKIANS   OF   THE   MIDDLE   AGES.  [gener. 

2.  The  Latin  church  historians  were  wholly  dependent  on  Greek  mo- 
dels. RuFiNus,  presbyter  of  Aquileia  (t410),  translated  the  church 
history  of  Eusebius,  and  added  two  books,  extending  it  to  the  death 
of  Theodosius  the  Great,  A.  D.  395.  The  learned  Jerome  (t419) 
furnished  very  valuable  material  for  the  biography  of  the  early 
ecclesiastical  writers,  in  his  Catalogus  virorum  illustriiim  sive  scrijptorum 
ecclesiasticorum,  which  was  afterwards  continued  by  the  Gallic  presbyter, 
Gennadius  (f490),  and  the  Spanish  bishop,  Isidor  of  Sevilla  (f  636). 
SuLPicius  Severus,  a  presbyter  of  Gaul  (f  about  420)  wrote,  in  good 
Latin,  a  Historia  Sacra,  from  the  creation  of  the  world  to  A.  D.  400  ; 
but  it  scarcely  merits  the  name  of  a  history.  Of  still  less  account  are 
the  Seven  looks  of  History  against  the  Heathens,  by  the  Spanish  presby- 
ter, Paulus  Orosius,  of  the  fifth  century.  Cassiodorus,  consul  and 
monk  (f  about  562),  towards  the  close  of  his  life,  from  the  works  of 
Socrates,  Sozomen,  and  Theodoret,  which  were  translated  for  him  into 
Latin  by  his  friend  Epiphanius  Scholasticus,  compiled  his  Historia  iri' 
partita,  in  twelve  books  ;  and  this  extract  served  the  Latin  church  as  a 
manual  through  the  whole  Middle  Age. 

§  23.  Historians  of  the  Middle  Ages. 

The  Middle  Ages  furnished  no  independent  works  of  general  church 
history.  The  Historiae  ecdesiasticae  of  Haymo,  bishop  of  Halberstadt 
(f  853),  in  ten  books,  is  a  mere  extract  from  Rufiuus'  translation  of 
Eusebius  ;  and  the  Historia  ecclesiastica,  sive  chronographia  tripartita, 
of  the  Roman  presbyter  and  librarian  Anastasius  (f  about  886),  is  in 
part  a  translation  of  the  Chronography  of  Nicephorus,  and  in  part  an 
extract  from  the  works  of  Syncellus  and  Theophanes.  We  have,  on  the 
other  hand,  in  this  period  a  multitude  of  chronicles,  biographies  of  saints, 
histories  of  single  convents  and  monastic  orders,  and  of  distinguished 
l)opes  and  bishops,  which  are  mostly,  indeed,  simple,  often  uncritical  nar- 
rations, but  full  of  valuable  material.  Then,  again,  there  are  histories 
of  the  churches  of  particular  nations  ;  the  history  of  the  Gallic  chvurch, 
for  instance,  by  Gregory  of  Tours  (f  595),  to  the  year  591  ;  of  the 
Old  British  and  Anglo-Saxon  church,  by  the  Venerable  Bede  (f  735), 
to  the  year  731  ;  the  four  books  of  the  canon,  Adam  of  Bremen,  on  the 
I'eriod  from  Charlemagne  to  the  year  1076,  which  give  important  infor- 
mation respecting  the  spread  of  Christianity  among  the  Saxons  and  in 
Scandinavia,  especially  respecting  the  archbishopric  of  Hamburg- 
Bi'emen. 

Most  of  the  historians  and  annalists  of  the  Middle  Ages  were  monks, 
whose  liteiary  labors  and  missionary  zeal  give  them,  in  other  respects,  a 
prominent  place  in  tlie  history  of  European  civilization. 


INTROD.]  §  24.      KOMAN   CATHOLIC    HISTOEIOGEAPHY.  65 

The  revival  of  classical  studies  in  the  fifteenth  century  aroused  here 
and  there  the  spirit  of  critical  research.  An  example  of  this  we  have  in 
the  Roman  canon,  Laurentius  Yalla  (f  145*1),  who  ventured  to  prove' 
the  utter  groundlessness  of  Constantine's  donation  to  pope  Sylvester,  and 
also  attacked  the  traditional  opinion,  that  the  apostles  each  composed  a 
part  of  the  Apostles'  Creed.  Such  bold  attempts  at  historical  criticism 
and  free  investigation,  were,  however,  though  unconsciously,  forerunners 
of  the  Reformation. 

All  these  works  of  the  time  before  the  Reformation,  invaluable  as  they 
are  in  their  way,  exhibit  but  the  infancy  or  childhood  of  our  science. 
The  church  was  engaged  more  in  making  history,  than  in  writing  it. 
She  had  not  yet  begun  to  reflect,  in  an  independent  manner,  on  her  ow  i 
existence,  her  origin,  her  development.  She  was  so  firmly  convinced  of 
her  divine  character,  that  she  left  no  room  for  skepticism  or  doubt.  She 
enjoyed  her  wonderful  legends  in  childlike  faith  and  superstition,  as  though 
they  were  all  pure  historical  realities.  The  old  and  the  new,  the  distant 
and  the  near,  poetry  and  truth,  she  combined,  without  discrimination,  in 
one  grand  structure,  which  is  itself,  however,  one  of  the  most  imposing 
creations  of  history,  and  a  most  worthy  subject  of  historical  research  and 
representation.  In  a  word,  the  power  of  tradition  was  yet  unshaken. 
This  occasioned  an  almost  entire  want  of  the  spirit  of  free  inquiry,  and 
of  genuine  scientific  method.  The  whole  conception  of  what  constitutes 
history,  was  imperfect.  It  properly  embraced  only  facts,  the  outward 
activity  of  the  spirit.  Doctrine  history,  in  any  proper  sense,  was  wholly 
excluded,  as  implying  that  the  doctrine  of  the  church  itself  passes  through 
a  living  process  of  development.  The  only  form,  in  which  this  most 
important  branch  of  historical  theology  existed,  and  made  its  first  appear- 
ance, was  that  of  the  history  of  heresies ;  as  may  be  seen  in  the  princi- 
pal works  of  ecclesiastical  antiquity  on  this  subject,  by  Epiphanius"  and 
Theodoret.* 

ii.  roman  catholic  historians  since  the  reformation. 

§  24.   General  Character  of  Roman  Catholic  Historiography. 

From  the  old  Catholic  historians,  we  pass   directly  to  those  of  the 

Roman  Catholic  church  since  the  Reformation,  as,  in  spirit  and  tendency, 

most  nearly  related  to  the  former.     In  these  also  the  idea  of  development 

is  wanting,  and,  with  it,  all,  free,  unbiased  criticism.     Their  position  is 

^   In  his  book  :  De  /also  credita  et  ementita  donatione  Constantini  M. 
®  In  his  Uavapiov,  or  Laboratory,  written  about  A.  D.  374,  against  eighty  heresies ; 
where  the  intolerant  zeal  of  a  fanatical  orthodoxy  reaches  its  height. 
^  Fabulae  hsereticae. 


56  §  25.      ITALIAN    HISTOKIANS.  [genEE. 

determined  for  them  beforehand.  It  is  that  of  fixed  orthodoxy  and  exclu- 
sive churchliness.  Their  doctrine  of  the  infallible  authority  of  the  papacy, 
cramps  inquiry  in  every  direction  ;  and,  since  they  conceive  of  the  church 
as  identical  with  the  Roman  church,  they  look  upon  every  deviation  from 
it  as  apostacy  and  corruption,  as  damnable  heresy  and  schism.  They 
cannot,  therefore,  be  expected  to  do  justice  to  non-Catholic  and  anti- 
Romanist  movements.  This  exclusiveness  comes  out  most  harshly  in  the 
treatment  of  the  last  three  centuries,  which,  it  is  plain,  have  been  chiefly 
ruled  by  the  spirit  of  the  Reformation.  The  purely  historical  character 
of  their  works  is  here  impaired  by  apologetic  interest  for  the  papacy  and 
polemic  zeal  against  everything  anti-Roman.  The  constant  effort  is,  to 
trace  back  the  Roman  doctrines  and  institutions  into  the  earliest  antiqui- 
ty, and  to  claim  for  them,  if  possible,  apostolic  authority  ;  and  this,  of 
course,  involves  often  the  greatest  violence  to  history.  Yet  among  the 
Roman  Catholic  historians  there  is  no  lack  of  extensive  learning.  In 
what  concerns  their  own  church  they  have  gone  into  the  most  ingenious 
and  profound  investigations,  under  the  very  impulse,  mainly,  of  Protest" 
ant  opposition  ;  and,  in  general,  they  have  done  our  science  much  meri- 
torious service,  especially  by  laborious  antiquarian  research  and  collec- 
tions, and  by  critical  editions  of  the  fathers,  decrees  of  councils,  papal 
bulls,  and  other  valuable  sources  of  church  history.  And  then,  too,  they 
could  not  fail,  particularly  the  most  important  of  them  in  France  and 
Germany,  to  proceed  more  cautiously  than  the  older  historians  ;  giving 
up  many  manifest  fables  and  sui)erstitions,  which  had  before  been  receiv- 
ed without  question,  as  historical  facts  ;  and  accommodating  themselves 
more,  both  in  matter  and  in  manner,  to  modern  taste. 

§  25.  {a)  Italian  Historians.  Cctsar  Baronius. 
The  first  Protestant  church  history,  the  Magdeburg  Centuries,  made 
such  a  sensation,  that  the  Roman  church  was  forced  to  cast  about  in 
earnest  for  a  reply  in  the  same  form.  This  service  was  undertaken  by 
a  Neapolitan,  C^sar  Baronius,  properly  Baronio,  at  the  instance  of  his 
teacher,  Philip  Neri,  in  a  very  learned  and  ingenious  work,  on  which  he 
labored  for  thirty  years,  till  his  death  (A.  D.  160*7),  with  unwearied  dili- 
gence ;  and  for  which  he  was  rewarded  with  the  dignity  of  a  Cardinal. 
His  Annales  ecdesiastici,  which  appeared  first  at  Rome  (1588-1601),  and 
have  since  been  many  times  reprinted,  extracted  from,  translated,  and 
continued,  though  with  less  skill,  by  others,  embrace,  in  twelve  folio 
volumes,  as  many  centuries,  from  the  birth  of  Christ  to  A.  D.  1198. 
They  furnish,  from  the  papal  archives,  and  from  many  libraries,  particu- 
larly the  Vatican,  a  host  of  documents  and  public  papers  previously  un- 
known ;  and  in  general,  with  all  their  faults,  they  are  of  so  much  value, 


INTROD.]  g  25.       ITALIAN    HISTOKIANS.  57 

that  even  at  this  day,  in  a  thorough  course  of  study,  they  cannot  well  be 
dispensed  with.  The  cardinal  comes  forward  under  the  conviction,  that 
he  is  presenting  the  first  true  church  history.  He  censures  Eusebius  for 
leaning  towards  Arianism  ;  Socrates  and  Sozomen,  for  favoring  the 
JSTovatians  ;  and  all  his  predecessors,  for  going  to  work  without  critical 
discrimination.  The  Magdeburg  Centuries  he  considers  "  Centuries  of 
Satan  ;'"  though,  in  his  profound  contempt  for  them,  he  seldom  refers  to 
them  directly,  but  rather  lets  history  speak  for  itself,  and  refute  his  Pro- 
testant opponents  in  a  positive  way,  by  copiously  unfolding  its  authentic 
testimonies.  And  in  many  instances  he  undoubtedly  has  the  decided 
advantage,  and  is  backed  by  an  overwhelming  mass  of  authorities.  He 
wrote  unconditionally  in  the  interest  of  absolute  Romanism.  He  endea- 
vors to  show,  that  the  papacy  was  instituted  by  Christ  ;  that  it  always 
remained,  in  doctrine  and  constitution,  the  same  ;  and  that  the  Reforma- 
tion was  an  apostacy  from  the  true  church,  and  a  rebellion  against  the 
ordinance  of  God.  But  for  this  purpose  he  is  compelled  to  call  in  the 
aid  of  many  fictitious  or  corrupted  narratives  and  spurious  documents, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  to  suppress  or  distort  important  public  records. 
This  drew  forth  oiDposition,  not  only  from  the  Protestants,  particularly 
from  Casaubonus,  Fr.  Sjpanheim,  and  Sam.  Basnage,  but,  upon  subordi- 
nate points  at  least,  from  the  more  liberal  Catholics  themselves,  espe- 
cially from  the  profoundly  learned  French  Franciscan,  Anton  Pagi,  who 
paid  special  attention  to  the  correction  of  chronological  mistakes.'' 

In  connection  with  the  Annals  of  Baronius  we  should  here  mention 
those  authors,  who  have  continued  them  in  the  same  spirit  ;  especially 
Odoricus  Raynaldus,  an  Italian,  who  extended  them  to  the  year  1565  ; 
and  Henr.  Spondanus  (Sponde),  a  Frenchman,  originally  of  the  Reform- 
ed church,  who  wrote  two  volumes,  bringing  the  narrative  down  to  1640. 
Caspar  Sacharelli,  towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  wrote  an 
independent  work  on  church  history,  in  twenty-five  volumes.^ 

For  single  portions  of  church  history,  valuable  collections  of  docu- 
ments, and  editions  of  older  writers,  special  credit  is  due,  among  the 
Italians,  to  Muratori,  Zaccagni,  Zaccaria,  Mansi,  and  Gallandi  ;  also 
to  the  three  Assemani,  celebrated  oriental  and  antiquarian  scholars, 
originally  from-  Syria,  but  residents  of  Rome  in  the  last  century,  and,  in 
our  own  age,  to  Cardinal  Angelo  Mai,  the  indefatigable  collector  and 

'  Thus  they  are  styled  in  the  Parentalia  Justi  Baronii  in  obitum  CcBsaris  Baronii, 
prefixed  to  the  first  volume. 

^  In  his  Critica  historico-chronologica  in  Annales  Baronii-  Antwerp.  1705.  4t.  fol. — 
The  best  edition  of  the  Annals  of  Baronius,  including  Raynaldi  continuatio,  Pagii  cri- 
tica, and  other  explanatory  writings,  was  published  by  Mansi,  at  Lucca,  between  the 
years  1738-59,  in  38  volumes  folio. 

•  Historia  ecclesiastica.  Rom.  1772-95.    25  vols.  4to. 


68  §  26.      FKENCH   HISTORIANS.  [gener. 

editor  of  valuable  unpublished  manuscripts  from  the  treasures  of  the 
Vatican  and  other  libraries.^  The  most  gifted  and  free-minded  among 
the  Italian  historians  was  the  Venetian  monk,  Paolo  Sarpi  (f  1623)  ; 
but  from  him  we  unfortunately  have  only  a  History  of  the  Council  cj 
Trent.  This  work  is  written  with  almost  Protestant  boldness  and  inde- 
pendence, and  in  excellent  style.  The  cardinal  Pallavicini  has  only 
partially  succeeded  in  his  learned  attempt  to  refute  it. 

§  26.  (&)  French  Historians. 

The  first  merit,  in  Catholic  historiography,  belongs,  on  the  whole,  to 
the  French,  whose  more  independent  posture  in  relation  to  the  Roman 
see  has  here  served  a  good  purpose,  however  objectionable  Gallicanism 
may  be  in  other  respects.  It  was  in  part,  indeed,  the  very  defence  of 
the  Galilean  church  freedom,  which  called  forth  the  most  interesting  and 
thorough  investigations.  With  this  purpose  appeared,  first,  the  work  of 
Bishop  GoDEAu,  of  Vence,  in  popular  form  (1635),  but  coming  down 
only  to  the  end  of  the  ninth  century  ;  then  that  of  the  far  more  learned 
Dominican,  Natalis  Alexander  (Noel),  in  twenty-four  volumes  (1616- 
86),  reaching  to  A.  D.  1600.  The  latter  writer,  in  direct  opposition  to 
Baronius,  vindicates  the  rights  of  the  church,  and  of  secular  princes 
against  the  popes,  and  declares  the  reformatory  councils  of  Pisa,  Con- 
stance, and  Basel  to  be  ecumenical ;  yet  he  justifies  the  cruel  persecution 
of  the  Albigenses,  and  is  full  of  zeal  against  the  Protestant  heretics. 
Innocent  XI.,  in  1684,  prohibited  this  work  on  pain  of  excommunica- 
tion ;  but  thirty  years  later,  Benedict  XIII.,  himself  a  Dominican,  set 
it  free  again.  In  1690  Claude  Pleury,  abbot  of  a  Cistercian  convent, 
after  1116  confessor  of  Louis  XV.,  but  living  as  an  anchoret  at  court, 
(fl128),  began  the' publication  of  his  Histoire  ecclesiastique,  which 
reaches,  in  twenty  volumes,  to  the  year  1414,  and  was  continued  by 
Fabre,  though  with  no  genius,  down  to  A.  D.  1595.  Pleury  writes 
diffusely,  and  in  the  spirit  of  a  monk,  but  with  taste,  skill,  mildness,  and 
decided  love  for  the  church  and  Christianity,  and  with  a  view  to  edify, 
as  well  as  to  instruct.  He  follows  the  order  of  time,  though  not  slavish- 
ly ;  and  some  volumes  he  prefaces  with  general  views.  He,  too,  defends 
antiquity  and  the  Galilean  ecclesiastical  constitution,  though  without  at 
aU  compromising  the  credit  of  the  church,  its  general  tradition,  or  the 
necessity  of  the  pope,  as  its  head.  His  principal  concern  is  with  doc- 
trine, discipline,  and  practical  piety.  The  spirited  and  eloquent  bishop 
of  Meaiix,  Bossuet  (f  1104),  also  a  Galilean,  in  his  Universal  History 
(Discours  sur  I'histoire  universelle,  1681),  reaching  from  the  creation  to 
Charlemagne,  presents,  with  brilliant  genius,  religion  and  the  church  as 
^  Comp.  Mai's  Collectio  scriptorum  veteium,  1825,  sqq. 


INTBOD.]  §  26.       FRENCH   HISTORIANS.  69 

the  soul  and  centre  of  all  history.  In  his  polemic  work  on  the  Variations 
of  Protestantism  (Histoire  des  variations  des  eglises  protestantes),  he 
appears  more  as  a  learned  and  skillful  controversialist  and  partisan,  than 
as  an  impartial  historian.^  The  Jansenist  Tillemont  pursued  a  new 
plan.  He  composed  a  church  history  of  the  first  six  centuries,  in  six- 
teen volumes  (1693-1112),  purely  from  original  sources,  with  the  most 
accurate  and  conscientious  fidelity  ;  adding  his  learned  investigations  in 
the  form  of  notes.  The  latest  large  French  work  on  general  church  his- 
tory is  that  of  RoHRBACHER,  Prof,  in  Louvain,  in  twenty-nine  volumes, 
coming  down  to  the  present  time,  a  second  edition  of  which  has  been 
published,  1850,  sqq.  A  Roman  Catholic  reviewer  describes  this  work 
as  "  wanting  method,  sometimes  a  little  crude  and  indigested,  and  not 
always  consistent  with  itself,  but  at  the  same  time  as  a  work  of  exten- 
sive erudition,  written  from  a  truly  Roman  Catholic  (ultra-montane) 
point  of  view,  with  great  sincerity,  earnestness  and  vigor." 

But,  in  addition  to  these  general  works,  many  single  portions  of 
church  history,  costly  editions  of  the  fathers,  and  other  valuable  helps  to 
our  science  have  issued  from  the  learned  monastic  institutions  of  France. 
Among  the  authors  of  such  works,  special  mention  is  due  to  the  St. 
Maur  Benedictines,  D'Achert,  Ruinart,  Mabillon,  Massuet,  Martene, 
DuRAND,  MoNTFAucoN  f  and  to  the  Jesuits,  Sirmond  and  Petau,  (Peta- 

'  His  argument  against  the  Protestants  comes  to  this  :  Your  history  is  a  history  of 
constant  changes  and  contradictions  ;  therefore  you  cannot  have  the  truth,  which  is,  in 
its  nature,  unchangeable.  The  celebrated  historian,  Gibbon,  when  a  student  at  Oxford, 
was  converted  to  the  Roman  church  by  this  work  of  Bossuet,  but  afterwards  became 
an  infidel.  In  his  Autobiography,  published  by  Lord  Sheffield,  ch.  viii ,  he  says  :  "  I 
read,  I  applauded,  I  believed,  the  English  translations  of  two  famous  works  of  Bos- 
suet, bishop  of  Meaux,  the  Exposition  of  the  Catholic  doctrine,  and  the  History  of  the 

Protestant  Variations  achieved  my  conversion,  and  I  surely  fell  by  a  noble  hand 

In  the  History,  a  bold  and  well-aimed  attack,  he  displays,  with  a  happy  mixture  of 
narrative  and  argument,  the  faults  and  follies,  the  changes  and  contradictions  of  our 
first  reformers ;  whose  variations,  (as  he  dexterously  contends) ,  are  the  mark  of  histo- 
rical error,  while  the  perpetual  unity  of  the  Catholic  church  is  the  sign  and  test  of  in- 
fallible truth." 

'  In  the  congregation  of  St.  Maur  there  was  a  complete  system  of  study.  In  exten- 
sive literary  enterprises,  the  general  was  authorized  to  assign  parts  to  the  different 
members  according  to  their  talents  and  tastes  ;  to  one,  the  collection  of  material ;  to 
another,  the  arrangement  of  it ;  to  a  third,  the  manufacture ;  to  a  fourth,  the  finishing ; 
to  a  fifth,  the  charge  of  the  press ;  &c.  Each  was  required  to  labor,  not  for  personal 
renown,  but  only  for  the  good  of  the  church  and  the  honor  of  his  order.  The  authors 
are  often  not  even  named.  This  co-operation  of  various  scholars,  who  were  free  from 
all  temporal  care,  and  favored  with  wealth  and  the  most  ample  literary  helps,  brought 
out  vast  works,  such  as  even  an  Academy  of  sciences  could  hardly  undertake.  The 
best  editions  of  the  church  fathers,  Cyprian,  Ambrose,  Augustine.  Jerome,  Justin  Mar- 
tyr, Irenaeus,  Athanasius,  Basil.  Chrysostom,  Gregory  the  Great,  Bernard  of  Clairvaux, 


60  §  27.       GERMAN    AND   ENGLISH   HISTORIANS.  [gENEB. 

vius),  whose  celebrated  and  very  learned  work,  Be  theologids  dogmatibus, 
(1644-50)^  marks  an  epoch  in  doctrine  history. 

§  2T.  German  and  English  Historians. 
No  free  and  independent  interest  in  church  history  showed  itself 
among  the  Catholics  of  Gennaiiy,  till  the  Josephine  period  ;  nor  then 
was  the  spirit  thoroughly  aroused,  till  it  received  the  impulse  of  the 
Protestant  theology.  The  productions  of  Germany,  therefore,  in  this 
department,  are  chiefly  of  recent  date.  General  works,  some  of  them, 
however,  unfinished,  have  been  furnished  by  Royko,  Dannenmayr,  the 
well-known  pious  and  amiable  poet  and  convert  Count  Fr.  L.  Stolberg,' 
Katerkamp,  Ritter,  Locherer,  Hortig,  Alzog,  Bollinger  ;  valuable 
monographs  by  the  genial  Goerres,  {Geschichte  der  christlichen  Mystik), 
the  distinguished  convert  and  Austrian  historiographer  Hurter,"  by 
Hefele,  Staudenmaier,  and  others.  The  finest  endowments  for  a  histo- 
rian must  be  conceded  to  the  spirited  and  jdIous  Mohler,  (f  1838),  the 
greatest  Roman  Catholic  theologian  since  Bellarmine  and  Bossuet.  He 
has  aided  his  church  in  coming  to  herself  again,  and  has  inspired  her 
with  new  polemic  zeal  against  Protestantism  ;  though,  in  truth,  he  him- 
self every  where  reveals  the  influence  of  the  Protestant  theology,  espe- 
cially that  of  Schleiermacher  and  Neander,  and  of  all  the  modern  Ger- 
man culture,  upon  his  own  idealistic  apprehension  and  defence  of  Catho- 
lic doctrine  and  usage.  He  wrote  no  complete  church  history,  indeed  ; 
but  his  larger  works,  (Symbolik,  Patristik,  Athanasius  M.),  and  his 
smaller  tracts,  (on  Ansclm,  the  Pseudo-Isidorian  Decretals,  Gnosticism, 
Monasticism,  &c.),  almost  all  have  more  or  less  to  do  with  history,  par- 
ticularly with  doctrine  history  ;  and  in  depth  and  freshness  of  spirit,  as 

&c.,  we  owe  to  the  diligence  of  the  St.  Maurists,  which,  in  literary  matters,  surpassed 
that  of  the  Jesuits. 

'  Geschichte  der  Religion  Jesu.  Hamburg.  1806-19.  15  vols,  continued  by  F-  v. 
Kerz,  vols.  16-38,  coming  down  to  the  twelfth  century.  Hase  strikingly  says  of  Stol- 
bcrg.  that  "  he  has  written  and  poetically  decked  out,  (geschrieben  und  gedichtet) ,  the 
history  of  the  Jewish  nation,  as  well  as  of  the  ancient  church,  with  the  zeal,  unction, 
and  unreserved  devotion  of  a  proselyte,  but  also  with  a  heart  full  of  enthusiasm  and 
love." 

^  Hurter,  when  he  wrote  his  learned  and  ingenious  work  on  Innocent  III.  (in  four 
volumes),  was,  it  is  true,  still  Antistes  of  the  Reformed  church  in  Schaffhausen.  But 
even  in  that  history  he  unmistakably  betrays  his  Romanizing  tendency,  in  his  unquali- 
fied praise  of  his  hero  and  his  age,  and  in  his  marked  predilection  for  a  brilliant  hierar- 
chy and  a  gorgeous  ceremonial.  It  is  everywhere  visible,  that  the  author,  in  his 
infatuated  partiality  for  the  Middle  Ages,  esteems  the  dome  of  St.  Peter's  above  the 
manger  of  Bethlehem,  and  the  decretals  of  the  popes  above  the  word  of  God.  His 
dissatisfaction  with  the  moral  insecurity  of  the  present  age,  and  with  the  politico-reli- 
gious confusion  of  his  own  country  afterwards  decided  and  fully  justified  to  his  own 
conscience  a  transition,  which  was  inwardly  complete  long  before. 


INTROD.]  §  27.       GERMAN   AND   ENGLISH   HISTORIANS,  61 

well  as  in  graceful,  animated  style,  they  surpass  all  the  productions  of 
the  authors  now  mentioned.  Of  his  disciples,  Johann  Alzog,  whom  we 
might  call  in  some  respects  the  Roman  Catholic  Hase,  has  made  use, 
according  to  his  own  confession,  of  Mohler's  unpublished  lectures,  and 
furnished  a  Manual  of  general  church  history  (fifth  edition,  1850),  which 
commends  itself  highly  by  a  comparatively  liberal  spirit,  clear  arrange- 
ment, vivacity  and  beauty  of  style,  and  may  upon  the  whole  be  pro- 
nounced the  best  work  of  the  kind  which  has  issued  from  the  Roman 
Catholic  press  of'  Germany.  The  Roman  Catholic  church-dictionaries 
{Kirchenlexica)  lately  issued,  the  one  by  Aschbach  (1846-51),  the  other 
by  Wetzer  and  Welte  (184Y  sqq.),  contain  also  many  learned  and  val- 
uable historical  articles,  especially  from  the  pens  of  Alzog  and  Hefele. 

The  Roman  Catholics  of  England  have  thus  far  contributed  very 
little  to  historical  theology.  Quite  recently,  however,  an  author  has 
arisen  among  them,  who,  for  accurate  study  of  sources,  and  calm,  simple, 
clear,  and  dignified  representation,  takes  rank  with  the  first  historians  of 
the  age.  Dr.  John  Lingard,  priest  of  the  Catholic  chapel  of  Hornby 
in  England,  (fl851),  in  his  "Antiquities  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  church," 
has  furnished  perhaps  the  most  satisfactory  and  reliable  work  we  have  on 
the  church  history  of  England  before  the  Norman  conquest.  His 
larger  and  excellent  "  History  of  England,"  which  extends  in  thirteen 
volumes,  (new  ed.  1848,  sqq.),  from  the  first  invasion  by  the  Romans  to 
the  accession  of  William  the  Third,  (1688),  contains  chiefly  tjie  political 
history  of  that  country,  but  has  its  ecclesiastical  history  interwoven. 
The  author,  however,  with  all  his  love  of  truth,  with  all  his  comparatively 
mild  and  liberal  spirit,  and  his  general  accuracy  in  the  statement  of  facts, 
is  by  no  means  free  from  religious  bias,  and  can,  therefore,  not  always  be 
trusted.  In  his  accounts  of  distinguished  Protestants,  as  Edward  YL, 
Somerset,  Cranmer,  Knox,  and  especially  Elizabeth,  in  whom  he  finds 
hardly  anything  praiseworthy  but  her  talents,  he  involuntarily  becomes 
polemical  ;  while  for  the  bloody  Mary,  Mary  Stuart,  (that  "  innocent 
and  much  injured  woman,"  as  he  calls  her),  and  other  Roman  Catholics, 
he  always  at  least  indirectly,  and  sometimes  directly,  apologizes.  Thus 
he  himself  gives  proof  of  what  he  says  in  the  preface  to  the  first  volume  ; 
that  the  historian,  "as  he  is  always  exposed  to  the  danger,  will  occasion- 
ally suffer  himself  to  be  misled  by  the  secret  prejudices,  or  the  unfair 
statements  of  the  authors,  whom  it  is  his  duty  to  consult." 

A  considerable  addition  to  English  Catholic  literature  may  be  expected 
from  the  recent  Puseyite  converts  to  Romanism,  several  of  whom,  espe- 
cially Dr.  Newman,  are  men  of  extensive  learning  and  highly  cultivated 
mind.  Their  productions,  thus  far,  however,  since  their  conversion,  have 
been  mostly  of  a  polemical  or  devotional  character,  or  translations  and 


62  §  27.       GEKMAN   AND    ENGLISH    HISTOKIANS.  [gener. 

compilations  from  older  and  continental  Catholic  works.  It  remains  to 
be  seen,  whether  the  ingenious  theory  of  development,  which  Dr.  New- 
man brought  forth  in  his  "  Essay  on  the  Development  of  Christian  Doc- 
trine" (1845)  immediately  before  his  conversion,  and  which  he  has  not 
since  retracted,  will  have  a  material  influence  upon  the  future  literature 
of  Roman  Catholic  historians.*  His  theory,  however,  comes  only  to 
this,  that  the  Catholic  system  was  not  complete  and  fully  unfolded  from 
the  start,  but  is  the  product  of  a  living  process  of  gradual  evolution.' 
As  to  Protestantism,  he  excludes  it  entirely  from  the  process,  and  treats 
it  as  an  apostasy  from  historical  Christianity  and  a  pi'ogressive  corruption 
which  must  ultimately  run  into  infidelity. 

'  0.  A.  Brownson  of  Boston,  the  well-known  convert  from  Puritanism  and  infidelity 
to  extreme  Romanism,  has,  in  several  articles  of  his  able,  but  fanatically  anti-protestant 
Review,  vehemently  opposed  this  theory  of  development  as  essentially  anti-catholic, 
and  as  preparing  the  way  for  a  new  and  dangerous  heresy  in  the  Roman  church,  unless 
it  be  checked  in  time  by  the  proper  authorities.  We  are  inclined  to  believe,  that  he 
does  personallj'  great  nijustice  to  Newman,  and  seems  to  be  unconsciously  under  the 
influence  of  jealousy  of  his  distinguished  fellow-converts  of  the  ex-Puseyite  school, 
but,  at  the  same  time,  that  the  strictly  ultra-montane  standpoint  which  he  occupies 
does  not  admit  any  theory  of  development,  but  rests  rather  on  the  principle  of  absolute 
immutability.  Newman's  theory,  says  Brownson  (Quarterly  Review  for  July  1846, 
p.  342,  sq.)  "  is  essentially  anti-catholic  and  Protestant.  It  is  not  only  not  necessary 
to  the  defence  of  the  church,  but  is  utterly  repugnant  to  her  claims  to  be  the  authori- 
tative and  infallible  church  of  God Newman  forgets  that  she  sprang  into  exist- 
ence full  grown,  and  armed  at  all  points,  as  Minerva  from  the  brain  of  Jupiter,  and 
that  she  is  withdrawn  from  the  ordinary  law  of  human  systems  and  institutions  by  her 
supernatural  origin,  nature,  character,  and  protection."  It  is  easy  to  make  such  a  bold 
assertion,  but  impossible  to  prove  it  historically.  With  Mr.  Brownson,  however,  and 
his  like,  history  must,  nolens  volens,  bend  to  his  preconceived  creed  and  logic. 

*  "  The  following  essay,"  says  Newman,  p.  19  (Americ.  ed.),  "  is  directed  towards  a 
solution  of  the  difficulty  which  has  been  stated — the  difficulty  which  lies  in  the  way 
of  using  the  testimony  of  our  most  natural  informant  concerning  the  doctrine  and  wor- 
ship of  Christianity,  viz.,  the  history  of  eighteen  hundred  years.  The  view  on  which 
it  is  written  has  at  all  times,  perhaps,  been  implicitly  adopted  by  theologians,  and,  I  be- 
lieve, has  recently  been  illustrated  by  several  distinguished  writers  of  the  continent, 
such  as  De  Maistre  and  Miihler  :  viz.,  that  the  increase  and  expansion  of  the  Christian 
Creed  and  Ritual,  and  the  variations  which  have  attended  the  process  in  the  case  of 
individual  writers  and  churches,  are  the  necessary  attendants  on  any  philosophy  or 
polity  which  takes  possession  of  the  intellect  and  heart,  and  has  had  any  wide  or  extended 
dominion  ;  that,  from  the  nature  of  the  human  mind,  time  is  necessary  for  the  full  com- 
prehension and  perfection  of  great  ideas ;  and  that  the  highest  and  most  wonderful  truths, 
though  communicated  to  the  world  once  for  all  by  inspired  teachers,  could  not  be  com- 
prehended all  at  once  by  the  recipients,  but,  as  received  and  transmitted  by  minds  not 
inspired,  and  through  media  which  were  human,  have  required  only  the  longer  time 
and  deeper  thought  for  their  full  elucidation.  This  may  be  called  the  Theory  of  De- 
velopments." 


INTROD.]  §  29.      PEEIOD   OF   POLEMIC   OETHODOXT.  63 

III.    PROTESTANT    HISTORIANS. 

§  28.   General  Character  of  Protestant  Historiography. 

As  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century  opens  a  new  age  for  the 
church,  and  for  theology  in  general,  so  also  it  forms  an  epoch  in  the 
history  of  our  science.  In  fact  we  may  say,  it  was  only  the  Reformation, 
which  made  church  history  properly  free  and  independent.  Before  that 
time,  the  historian  was,  so  to  speak,  of  one  growth  with  his  subject. 
Now,  he  rose,  by  reflection,  above  it  ;  and  instead  of  at  once  receiving 
on  authority  everything  Catholic  as  true,  and  condemning  everything  not 
Catholic  as  false,  he  began  to  subject  the  whole  development  of  the 
church  itself  to  critical  examination,  judging  it  without  regard  to  papal 
decrees,  according  to  the  word  of  God  and  common  reason.  This 
opened  the  door,  indeed,  to  a  false  freedom  and  emancipation  from  law- 
ful authority,  to  a  negative  tendency,  an  entire  contempt  and  rejection 
of  history,  such  as  we  meet  with  in  Rationalism  and  among  sects  ;  but 
at  the  same  time  it  prepared  the  way  for  such  impartial  research,  as 
would  bring  the  mind,  by  free  conviction,  into  harmony  with  the  objec- 
tive course  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  a  truly  rational  and  necessary 
unfolding  of  his  plan  of  salvation.  And  to  this  result  the  most  impor- 
tant labors  in  later  historiography,  at  least  in  Germany,  seem  inevitably 
to  tend. 

It  was  a  long  time,  however,  before  Protestant  science  here  attained 
a  clear  perception  of  its  mission.  It  had  to  pass,  in  its  own  history, 
through  various  periods,  widely  different  in  their  mode  of  viewing  and 
treating  the  past.  "We  may  distinguish  five  such  periods  :  the  orthodox- 
polemical,  the  unchurchly-pietistic,  the  pragmatic-supranaturalistic,  the 
negative-rationalistic,  and  the  evangelical-catholic.  Of  these  periods,  the 
first  and  the  fourth  are  related  to  each  other  as  opposite  extremes  ;  the 
second  and  third,  as  stages  of  transition  from  the  position  of  church 
orthodoxy  to  that  of  rationalism  ;  while  the  fifth  seeks  to  combine  the 
excellencies  of  all  the  others  without  their  faults  ;  and  is,  moreover, 
itself  divided  into  so  many  different  schools,  that  it  cannot  easily  be 
brought  under  any  general  designation. 

§  29.  {a)  Period  of  Polemic  Orthodoxy.     Flacius. 

This  period  embraces  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries.  The 
Reformers  themselves  did  nothing  directly  for  church  history,  except  as 
they  gave  it  a  mighty  impulse,  and  waked  up  a  new  spirit  of  inquiry  ; 
which,  however,  is  of  itself  no  small  merit.  They  were  too  much  occu- 
pied with  polemics,  and  with  the  creation  of  new  material  for  subsequent 


64  §  29.       PERIOD    OF    POLEMIC    OETHODOXT  [OENEK. 

historians,  to  possess  the  calmness  and  leisure  required  for  the  writing  of 
history.'  Besides,  their  theological  activity  was  mainly  directed  to  the 
settlement  of  articles  of  faith,  and  to  the  exposition  of  the  Scriptures. 
But  argument  from  Scripture  alone  could  not  permanently  satisfy.  As 
the  Catholics  continually  appealed  to  the  fathers,  and  declared  the 
Reformation  to  be  an  innovation,  which  had  no  ground  at  all  in  the  past, 
it  became  an  object  with  the  Protestants  to  wrest  the  historical  argu- 
ment from  their  opponents,  by  drawing  ecclesiastical  antiquity  to  their 
own  side.  For  to  admit  that  pure  Christianity  had  vanished  from  the 
earth,  and  had  not  come  to  light  again  till  the  sixteenth  century,  was 
impossible  for  them  in  the  face  of  their  Lord's  jiromise  to  be  with  his 
church  always,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world  ;  and  they  wished  also  to 
be  counted  not  heretics,  but  true  Catholics.  Thus  the  apologetic 
interest  in  the  struggle  with  Rome  forced  the  Protestants  to  the  study 
of  history.  This,  however,  gave  their  first  productions  throughout  a 
character  either  directly  or  indirectly  polemical.  During  the  whole  of 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  church  history  was  viewed 
exclusively  from  the  standpoint  of  some  particular  confession  or  denomi- 
nation, and  made  subservient  to  party  ends.  Not  only  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics, but  also  the  Protestants,  with  the  same  zeal,  and  almost  the  same 
intolerance,  converted  history  into  an  armory  to  furnish  them  weapons 
against  their  ecclesiastical  opponents.  The  object  of  each  party  was 
always  to  show  that  they  were  truly  orthodox,  either,  on  the  one  hand, 
as  the  heirs,  or,  on  the  other,  as  the  restorers  of  the  pure  catholic  doc- 
trine and  practice  ;  and  to  represent  the  opposite  party  as  heretics,  who 
either,  as  the  Romanists,  corrupted  the  true  faith,  or,  as  the  charge  ran 
against  the  Protestants,  set  it  aside,  and  substituted  arbitrary  innova- 
tions. In  abhorring  the  heretics  of  the  primitive  church,  as  the  Gnos- 
tics, Arians,  Semiarians,  Sabellians,  Nestorians,  Monophysites,  Pelagians, 
and  others,  both  parties  agreed  ;  for  the  Reformation  had  expressly 
endorsed  the  ecumenical  symbols.  But  in  the  treatment  of  the  Middle 
Ages  they  widely  differed.  The  one  extolled  them  as  the  ages  of  faith  ; 
the  other  abused  them  as  the  period  of  growing  darkness  and  supersti- 
tion. Even  such  institutions  and  doctrines,  as  are  now  acknowledged  to 
be  of  later  origin,  the  Roman  church  tried,  partly  by  means  of  spurious 
or  at  least  suspicious  documents,  to  date  back  to  the  remotest  antiquity  ; 
while  it  viewed  the  Reformation  as  having  sprung  from  the  most  impure 

*  The  Reformers  of  the  second  generation,  however,  could  look  back  upon  this  great 
movement  as  an  accomplished  fact.  Thus  Matthcsius  wrote  the  life  of  Luther ;  Came- 
rarius,  that  of  Melancthon  ;  Bullinger,  Ziiingli's  successor,  composed  the  history  of 
the  Helvetic  Reformation ;  Be:a^  with  the  skill  of  a  master,  the  fortunes  of  French 
Protestantism  down  to  the  year  1.563.  and  the  life  of  his  predecessor  and  friend,  Calvin. 


INTROD.]  g  29.      PEEIOD  or   POLEMIC   OETHODOXT.  65 

motiyes,  as  a  rebellion  against  God,  and  as  the  fruitful  source  of  all 
disorder  and  confusion.  The  Protestants,  on  the  other  hand,  misrepre- 
sented, with  the  same  fanatical  party  zeal,  the  history  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  church.  They  refused  to  acknowledge  her  great  merits  in 
Christianizing  and  civilizing  the  Romanic  and  Germanic  nations  ;  while, 
after  the  example  of  Flacius,  they  glorified,  as  heroes  of  faith  and 
"witnesses  of  friofk,"  (testes  veritatis),  even  those  of  her  opponents, 
who,  on  closer  inspection,  are  found  to  have  rejected  the  fundamental 
doctrines  of  the  gospel,  and  of  the  Reformation  itself.'  The  only 
defence  of  Protestantism,  known  in  those  days,  was  such  as  included  a 
wholesale  condemnation  of  Popei'y,  as  essentially  anti-Christian.  The 
noblest  and  most  effectual  way  of  opposing  Catholicism  is,  to  show  that 
it  was  necessary  in  its  time,  and,  in  the  hand  of  Providence,  like  Judaism 
before  the  advent  of  Christ,  served  high  moral  ends  ;  and,  at  the  same 
time,  to  view  the  Reformation  as  the  grand  jn-oduct  of  the  Middle  Ages 
themselves,  representing  a  higher  and  more  free,  evangelical  development 
in  the  life  of  Christianity.  But  this  liberal  and  comprehensive  view  has 
only  recently  taken  root  in  some  portions  of  Protestantism. 

The  Lutheran  and  Befor?ned  historians  of  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries,  while  they  substantially  agreed  in  their  opposition  to 
Romanism,  as  a  corruption  of  the  Dark  Ages,  differed  between  them- 
selves. Each  confession  was  anxious  to  find  its  own  doctrinal  system  in 
the  age  of  the  fathers.  But  this  effort  rests,  to  a  considerable  extent, 
on  an  illusion.  A  full  and  unbiased  investigation  makes  it  more  and 
more  evident,  that  the  church  of  the  first  six  centuries  was  strictly 
neither  Lutheran,  nor  Calvinistic,  nor  Anglican,  but  essentially  Catholic 
in  the  reigning  spirit  of  its  theology  and  religious  life,  already 
containing  the  proper  germs  of  scholasticism,  monachism  and  the 
hierarchy  and  worship  of  the  Middle  Ages.  This  is  shown  by  the  Greek 
church,  which  is  known  to  cling  with  the  most  obstinate  tenacity  to 
primitive  traditions,  and  to  be,  in  doctrine  and  discipline,  much  nearer 
akin  to  the  Roman  church,  than  to  the  Protestant. 

But,  irrespective  of  this  defect  in  their  historical  standpoint,  the 
polemico-historical  Vvorks  of  the  older  Protestant  orthodoxy,  like  those 
of  its  opponents,  have  great  merits,  and  mark  an  important  advance  by 
their  most  industrious  accumulation  of  material  and  laborious  and  minute 

'  It  will  not  now  be  denied  by  unprejudiced  scholars,  that  the  older  Protestant  histo- 
rians do  still  greater  violence  to  history,  than  the  Roman  Catholic,  who,  in  the  most 
important  points  of  controversy,  have  the  weight  of  the  church  before  the  Reformation, 
up  to  the  second  century,  plainly  on  their  side.  This  is  admitted  even  by  Dr.  Baur,  a 
radical  ultra-Protestant,  in  his  comparison  of  Baronius  with  the  authors  of  the  Magde- 
burg Centuries  :  Epochen  dcr  kinhl.  Gcschich/schr.  p.  81. 
5 


6Q  §  29.       PEKIOD    OF   POLEMIC   OETHODOXT.  [geNER. 

investigation  of  ancient  documents.  Some  of  them,  relating  to  particu- 
lar points  of  controversy,  are  unsurpassed  in  this  respect,  even  to  this 
day.  The  Reformed  church,  especially  in  France,  Holland,  and  Eng- 
land, furnished  perhaps  a  greater  number  of  thorough,  persevering,  and 
accurate  scholars  in  the  seventeenth  century,  than  she  has  ever  since 
done.  The  polemical  and  denominational  party  interest,  moreover, 
awakened  the  spirit  of  criticism  ;  still  leaving  it,  however,  entirely  under 
the  control  of  dogmatism. 

1.  The  Lutheran  church  takes  the  lead  ;  and  in  this  church,  not  the 
moderate  and  pacific  school  of  Melancthon,  but  that  party,  which  set 
itself  stiffly  against  all  attempts  at  reconciliation  with  the  Catholics  and 
the  Reformed,  and  afterwards  expressed  itself  symbolically  in  the  Form 
of  Concord.  Matthias  Flacius,  one  of  the  most  zealous  and  violent 
controversialists  of  his  age,  in  the  year  1552,  while  settled  at  Magde- 
burg, commenced,  in  connection  with  several  rigid  Lutheran  divines, 
(Wigand,  Judex,  Faber,  Corvinus,  Holzhuter),  and  younger  assistants, 
the  celebrated  Centuriae  Magdehirgenses,  as  the  work  is  called  ;  making 
use  of  a  vast  amount  of  published  and  unpublished  sources,  and  sup- 
ported in  his  undertaking  by  the  liberality  of  princes  and  cities.  This 
work,  which  marks  an  epoch  in  historiography,  presents,  in  thirteen  folio 
volumes,  first  published  at  Basle,  (1559-74),  as  many  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era,  each  century  in  sixteen  sections  ;  the  express  design 
being,  to  vindicate  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation  as  catholic  and 
orthodox,  and  to  confute  the"  papacy,  as  an  innovation  and  apostasy.* 
Hence  the  controversial  character  of  the  work.  The  Centuries  found  so 
much  favor,  that,  for  a  hundred  years  after,  it  was  counted  sufficient,  in 

'  As  the  Preface  states  :  "  Est  igitur  admodum  dulce  pio  pectori  in  tali  historia  cog- 
noscere,  quod  haec  ipsa  doctrinae  forma,  quam  nunc  in  ecclesiis  nostris  ex  ingenti  Dei 
beneficio  habemus,  sit  ilia  ipsa  vetus,  non  nova,  germana.  nonadulterina,  non  commen- 
ticia,"  etc.  Flacius  had  the  sanne  polemical  and  apologetical  object  in  view  in  his  pre- 
vious work,  entitled  :  Catalogus  testium  veritatis,  (A.  D.  1556) ,  the  materials  for  which 
he  collected  from  all  sorts  of  libraries  and  convents,  with  the  most  persevering  indus- 
try, and  at  great  expense.  It  was  intended  to  prove,  that,  as  God,  in  the  times  of  the 
prophet  Elijah,  had  seven  thousand  left,  who  had  never  bowed  the  knee  to  Baal,  and 
who  constituted  the  true  Israel ;  so  in  the  Christian  church  there  had  always  been,  even 
in  the  darkest  ages,  "  witnesses  of  truth,"  who  protested  against  the  prevailing  errors 
and  corruptions,  and  saved  the  light  of  the  gospel  from  extinction,  till  at  last  it  broke 
forth  in  all  its  primitive  splendor  in  the  reformation  of  Dr.  Martin  Luther.  But  such 
a  catalogue  of  all  kinds  of  Anti-Romanists,  including  the  Albigenses,  Cathari,  Pauli- 
cians,  and  other  Manichaean  sects,  is  a  poor  substitute  for  the  unbroken  succession  of  a 
holy  catholic  church.  It  is  absolutely  vam  to  try  to  make  out  such  a  succession,  with- 
out including  the  Roman  Catholic  church  of  the  Middle  Ages.  For  the  greatest  saints 
of  those  times,  Ansel m,  Bernard,  Thomas  aKempis,  and  a  host  of  others,  are  found 
not  among  the  opponents,  but  among  the  very  champions  and  heroes  of  this  church. 


INTROD.]  g  29.       PERIOD   OF    POLESnC    OETHODOXY.  67 

the  Lutheran  church,  to  compile  text-books  from  their  material,  and  in 
their  spirit.  Among  these  extracts  and  continuations,  that  of  the 
Wiirtemberg  divine,  Lucas  Osiander,  (in  nine  quarto  vols.  Tubingen, 
1592-1604),  was  most  approved. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  the  dogmatic  works  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
especially  in  Chemnitzius'  Examen  Concilii  Tridentini,  Gerhard's  Loci 
tkeologici,  and  Qcenstedt's  Theologia  dogmatico-pokmica,  all  in  the  same 
controversial  tone,  we  find  a  vast  accumulation  of  material  tor  doctrine 
history,  some  of  which  is  still  of  great  value.  Among  works  on  particu- 
lar periods,  the  most  important  place  belongs  to  the  Latin  History  of  the 
German  Reformation,  by  Lud.  a  Seckexdorf,  (died  at  Halle,  A.  D. 
1692).  It  is  a  triumphant  refutation  of  the  history,  or  rather  caricature, 
of  Lutheranism,  by  Maimbourg,  the  French  Jesuit,  (Par.  1680). 

Another  Lutheran  divine  of  the  seventeenth  century,  George  Calix- 
Tus,  (f  1656),  merits  honorable  mention,  as,  in  the  spirit  of  his  writings, 
an  exception  to  the  general  rule,  and  a  forerunner  of  a  more  liberal 
view  of  church  history,  the  representative,  in  the  midst  of  a  polemic  age, 
of  a  peaceful  theology,  which  concerned  itself  with  practical  and  essen- 
tial points.  In  opposition  to  the  intolerant  party  spirit  and  bigotry  of 
his  orthodox  contemporaries,  who  vehemently  cried  him  down  as  a  dan- 
gerous Syncretist,  he  endeavored  in  various  historical  publications,  to 
find  elements  of  truth  in  all  confessions,  and  to  point  out  a  truly  catho- 
lic church  as  standing  above  the  parties  ;  going  back,  for  this  purpose, 
to  the  primitive  age,  as  the  common  ground,  from  which  the  various  visi- 
ble churches  sprang.  He,  and  such  men,  as  Arndt,  the  pious  author  of 
"  True  Christianity,"  sowed  the  seed  of  the  Pietistic  movement  of 
Spener  and  Franke. 

2.  In  the  Reformed  church,  John  H.  Hottinger,  of  Zurich,  proposed 
to  furnish  a  counterpart  to  the  Centuries.  His  work'  evinces  great 
knowledge,  particularly  of  the  East,  with  love  of  order  and  justice. 
But  it  is  unequal,  devoting  five  volumes  to  the  sixteenth  century  alone. 
It  drags  in,  too,  according  to  the  taste  of  those  times,  much  foreign 
matter  ;  the  history,  for  instance,  of  the  Jews,  Pagans,  and  Mohamme- 
dans ;  accounts  of  remarkable  natural  phenomena,  earthquakes,  locusts, 
famines,  floods,  monstrosities,  eclipses  of  the  sun  and  moon,  &c.,  as  fore- 
tokening the  fortunes  of  the  church.  Frederick  Spanheim,  of  Leyden, 
founded  his  Summa  historirp,  eccl.  (A.  D.  1689),  upon  a  most  accurate 
and  conscientious  use  of  sources  and  a  searching  criticism,  with  a  view  to 
the  refutation  of  Baronius.     The  two  Frenchmen,  Ja^ies  Basxage,^  min- 

'  In  nine  vols.  Tig.  1655-67. 

*  Histoire  de  V  eglise  depuis  Jesus  Chr.  jusqu'  a  present.     Rotterd.  1699. 


68  §  29.       PEKIOD    OF   POLEMIC    ORTHODOXY.  [gENER. 

ister  at  the  Hague,  and  Samuel  Basnage/  minister  in  Ziitphen,  wrote, 
the  former  against  Bossuet,  the  latter  against  Baronius  ;  both,  especially 
James,  with  the  purpose  of  showing,  that  the  true  church  of  Christ  has 
never  failed,  and  has,  at  all  times,  had  faithful  witnesses. 

But  from  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  to  the  beginning  of 
the  eighteenth,  the  Reformed  church,  particularly  in  France,  Holland, 
and  England,  was  far  more  successful  in  cultivating,  under  the  impulse 
of  learned  curiosity  and  antiquarian  taste,  as  well  as  of  opposition  to 
Rome,  single  portions  of  history,  shedding  light  on  patristic  antiquity, 
the  course  of  the  papacy,  and  of  the  Reformation,  with  profound  learn- 
ing and  keen  penetration,  though  not  without  a  strong  controversial  bias. 
Such  monographs,  some  of  which  are  still  highly  valuable,  have  distin- 
guished the  names  of  Bullinger,  Hospinian,  J.  Jacob  Hottinger,  (son 
of  John  Henry,  and  author  of  the  Helvetic  Church  History),  and  Hei- 
degger, among  the  German  Swiss  ;  Beza,  Du  Plessis  Mornay,  Pierre 
Du  Moulin,  David  Blondel,  Jean  Daille  (Dallaeus),  Cl.  Saumaise 
(Salmasius),  Jean  Claude,  and  later,  Isaac  Beausobre  and  J.  Lenfant,* 
among  the  French  ;  Fr.  Spanheim,  the  elder  Vossius,  Gerdes,  and 
later,  Vitringa,  among  the  Dutch  ;  archbishop  Usher,  J.  Pearson,  W. 
Beveridge,  Gilbert  Burnet,  Strype,  Joseph  Bingham,  George  Bull, 
W.  Cave,  J.  E.  Grabe,^  Whitby,  Prideaux,  to  whom  we  may  add  the 
dissenter  Nath.  Lardner,  of  the  eighteenth  century,  among  the  English. 
The  Anglicans  directed  their  attention  chiefly  to  the  government  and 
antiquities  of  the  church,  with  an  eye  to  the  Presbyterian  controversy, 
as  well  as  to  that  with  Rome. 

Before  passing  to  the  next  period,  we  must  mention  also  the  name  of 
the  celebrated  Peter  Bayle,  son  of  a  Huguenot  minister,  educated  first 
by  his  father,  then  by  the  Jesuits.  He  was  for  eighteen  months  a  Ro- 
man Catholic,  but  was  afterwards  re-converted  to  Protestantism,  and 
died  at  Rotterdam,  A.  D.  1706.  Though  he  defended  Calvinism,  with 
great  success,  against  the  aspersions  of  the  French  Jesuit,  Maimlourg, 
who  was  master  of  the  art  of  "  turning  history  into  romance  and  romance 
into  history,"  yet  he  occupied  an  original  position,  very  different  from 
that  of  his  orthodox  contemporaries,  and,  in  his  skepticism,  must  be  con- 
sidered a  forerunner  of  the  French  infidels  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
But,  in  extent  of  historical  imformation,  critical  acumen,  and  bold  re- 
search, he  was  inferior  to  none  of  his  age.     His  large  Dictionnaire  histo- 

'  Annales  politico-eccelsiastici,  etc.  1706.  3  vols,  (reaching  only  to  A.  D.  602) . 

"  The  last  two,  French  Refornned  preachers  in  Berlin,  vi^ere  already  influenced,  to  a 
considerable  extent,  by  Arnold's  new  view  of  the  relation  of  the  sects  to  the  church,  as 
may  be  seen  in  Beausobre's  History  of  Manicheism. 

^  Originally  a  German  Lutheran,  who  passed  over  to  the  Episcopal  church,  (i-17111. 


INTBOD.]  §  30.       PIETISTIC    PERIOD.       ARNOLD.  69 

rique  d  critiqv£  is  almost  a  mii'acle  of  learning,  and  not  without  value 
even  at  the  present  time. 

§  30.   {b)  Pietistic  Period.     Arnold.     Milner. 
The  next  j^eriod  in  church  historiography  after  that  of  the  Magdeburg 
Centuries  was  introduced  by  the  Impartial  History  of  the  Church  and  of 
Heretics  from  the  leginning  of  the  New    Testament  to  the  year  1688, 
(Frankf.  1699  sq.),  by  Gottfried  Arnold   (f  1114),  a  friend  and  fol- 
lower of  Spener,  and  a  short  time  professor  at  G lessen.     He  precisely 
reversed  the  principle,  which  reigned  before.     He  made,  not  the  domi- 
nant church,  but  the  sects,  the  main  line  of  development,  and  the  channel 
of  the  Christian  life  ;    and  is,  accordingly,  the  historian  of  unchurchly, 
separatistic  piety.     The  great  body  of  historical  Christianity,  before  and 
after  the  Reformation,  especially  the  ruling  clergy,  are,  with  him,  the 
apostasy,  predicted  in  the  New  Testament  ;   whilst  the  persecuted  mi- 
nority, the  dissenting  sects  and  individuals  constitute  the  true  church, 
the  bride  of  Christ  ;  like  the  apostles  in  the  midst  of  the  reigning  Juda- 
ism of  their  day,  and  the  confessors  and  martyrs  of  the  second  century 
in  the  vast  Roman  empire.'     This  view  of  church  history  grew  out  of  the 
one-sided  practical  tendency  of  pietism,  and  the  violent  resistance  it  met 
from  Lutheran  orthodoxy.     Arnold  placed  the  essence  of  Christianity  irr 
subjective,  experimental  piety.     This,  he  thought,  was  to  be  found  in  the 
oppressed  and  persecuted  minority  ;  while  the  great  visible  church,  Pro- 
testant as  well  as  Roman  Catholic,  was  looked  upon  as  haughty,  worldly, 
and  intolerant.     It  is  true,  the  orthodox  church  historians  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  also,  took  the  part  of  the  Albigenses  and  Waldenses,  of 

'  The  following  passage  from  the  Preface  of  his  work,  ^  30  and  31,  is  but  a  mild 
specimen  of  its  genera!  tone  :  "  Many  may.  perhaps,  again  bring  forward  the  common 
objection  :  Gur  dear  mother,  the  Christian  church,  ought  not  to  be  so  prostituted,  seeing 
she  has  already  had  so  much  to  suffer.  To  this  I  reply,  first,  that  it  is  hard  for  the  in- 
experienced to  see  which  of  those  outward  church  assemblies  is  to  be  counted  the  true 
church ;  since  every  one,  according  to  his  own  inclinations  and  interest,  will  have  that 
religion  to  be  the  true  one,  into  which  he  himself  has  happened  to  be  born.  Besides, 
it  is  not  a  scriptural  expression  and  opinion,  that  the  church  is  a  mother.  The  Scrip- 
tures know  of  but  one  mother  of  all  saints,  the  Jerusalem  above,  Gal.  4  :  26.  Heb. 
]2  :  22.  But  they  have  never  given  those  ungodly  pretenders  and  hypocrites,  much 
less  the  apostate  clergy,  liberty  to  call  themselves  a  mother,  and  in  this  way  to  intrench 
and  secure  themselves  against  all  testimony,  admonition,  and  improvement.  The  true, 
pure  congregation  of  the  Lord  has  been,  from  the  beginning  of  the  gospel  and  the  times 
of  the  apostles,  a  virgin,  and  the  bride  of  Christ.  But  the  false,  apostate  church,  ac- 
cording to  the  testimony  of  the  first  teachers  and  the  report  hereafter  to  follow  in  this 
history,  has  become  a  harlot ;  and  by  means  of  the  miscellaneous  and  inconsiderate  in- 
troduction of  all  hypocrites  and  wicked  men,  under  Constantine  the  Great,  as  also  by 
the  natural  increase  and  propagation  of  false  Christians,  has  given  birth  to  many  mil- 
lions of  bastards,  with  whom,  however,  no  true  member  of  Christ  has  anything  to  do-" 


70  §  30.       PIETISTIC    PEKIOD.       AKNOLD.  foENEK. 

Wickliffe,  Huss,  and  other  "  witnesses  of  the  truth"  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
against  the  reigning  Catholicism.  But  Arnold,  making  his  own  personal 
experience  the  measure  and  rule  of  all  church  history,  carried  the  same 
way  of  thinking  back  even  into  the  first  six  centuries,  or  at  least  to  the 
age  of  Constantine,  and  forward  into  the  Protestant  church  ;  which,  of 
course,  made  a  very  material  difference.  He  had  the  pious  courage  to 
become  the  patron  and  eulogist  of  all  persons  of  ill  repute  in  church  his- 
tory. Yet,  after  all,  he  could  not  carry  out  his  own  principle  with  abso- 
lute consistency.  Being  a  pious  man,  and  holding  fast  to  the  essential 
doctrines  of  the  gospel,  he  stood,  in  reality,  more  in  harmony  with  the 
ancient  church  orthodoxy,  than  with  the  Gnostics,  Manichaeans,  Arians, 
Pelagians,  and  other  such  sects  ;  though,  as  far  as  possible,  he  espoused 
their  cause. 

But  while  Arnold  thus  endeavored,  as  no  historian  before  him  had 
done,  to  show  fair  play  to  all  sorts  of  heretics  and  schismatics,  enthu- 
siasts and  fanatics,  particularly  to  the  Mystics,  for  whom  he  had  a  spe- 
cial predilection,  he  did  the  grossest  injustice  to  the  representatives  of 
orthodoxy.  He  imputed  to  them  the  basest  motives.  He  passed  over 
their  merits  in  silence.  He  dwelt  almost  exclusively  on  their  human 
imperfections,  and  aspersed  their  character  in  every  possible  way.  His 
•work,  therefore,  in  contradiction  to  its  own  title,  is  but  a  production  of 
passionate  party  spirit  against  the  Catholics,  still  more  against  the  ortho- 
dox Protestants,  and  above  all  against  the  Lutherans — simply  a  faithful 
mirror  of  his  own  one-sided  sul^jectivity,  and  of  the  sympathies  and  anti- 
pathies of  his  own  time.  It  makes  a  most  gloomy  impression,  and  is 
adapted  to  upset  all  faith  in  one  holy  apostolic  church,  to  undermine  all 
confidence  in  the  presence  of  God  in  history,  and  in  the  final  triumph  of 
good,  and  thus  to  promote  a  hopeless  skepticism.  ]N  any  Pietists,  it  is 
true,  were  highly  pleased  with  the  History  of  Heretics  ;  and  the  cele- 
brated T/ioviasius,  of  Halle,  who  stood  midway  between  Pietism  and  the 
rationalistic  Illumiiiatiouism,  declared  it,  next  to  the  Bible,  the  best  of 
books.  But  Spener,  the  pious  and  amiable  leader  of  the  Pietistic  move- 
ment, was  by  no  means  satisfied  with  it  ;  and  the  orthodox  Lutherans, 
Cyprian,  for  instance,  Vejel,  Corvinus,  Gotz,  Loscher,  Fauslking^  Wack- 
ier, exposed  a  mass  of  perversions  and  errors  in  it,  by  replies,  which  were, 
however,  not  only  vehement,  but  in  most  cases  equally  one-sided.* 

With  all  these  imperfections,  Arnold  must  be  awarded  the  decided 
merit,  not  only  of  having  collected  a  great  mass  of  material  for  the  his- 

'  These  writings  are  found  quoted  in  the  third  volume  of  /.  G.  WalcKs  Bibliotheca 
theologica  gelecta,  Jenae.  p.  129  sqq.  They  appear  at  large,  with  replies  and  illustra- 
tions, in  the  third  volume  of  the  Schaff'hausen  edition  of  Arnold's  History  (1742) 


INTEOD-I  g  30.      PIETISTIC   PEKIOD.      MILKER.  71 

tory  of  sects,  especially  in  the  seventeenth  century,'  but  also  of  having 
introduced  a  new  and  more  liberal  treatment  of  the  sects,  and  of  having 
brought  out  the  relation  of  church  history  to  practical  piety.  He  was, 
moreover,  the  lirst  who  wrote  church  history  in  the  German  language, 
instead  of  the  Latin  ;  though  in  that  tasteless  periwig  style,  full  of  half 
and  whole  Latinisms,  which  characterizes  the  period  from  Opitz  to  Bod- 
mer,  and  makes  it  the  most  gloomy  in  the  history  of  German  literature. 
"With  Arnold  may  be  named,  as  in  some  measure  akin,  the  later  Eng- 
lish historian,  Joseph  Milner  (fll9l),  a  pious  minister  of  the  English 
Episcopal  Church.  His  Church  History,  in  five  volumes,  following  the 
current  centurial  division,  comes  down  to  the  Reformation,  which  he 
treats  with  special  minuteness.  He,  too,  looked  on  the  sects,  even  the 
Paulicians  and  Cathari,  as  the  main  depositories  of  piety  ;  and  hence,  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  which  he  handles  with  very  little  favor,  he  devotes  by 
far  the  largest  space  to  the  Waldenses.  He,  too,  wrote  for  edification, 
in  the  spirit  of  Methodistic  piety,  which  bears  a  close  affinity  to  that  of 
the  Pietists,  though  it  has  less  sympathy  with  the  inward,  contemplative 
life,  and  with  the  various  forms  of  Mysticism.  Greatly  surpassed  by 
Arnold  in  learning  and  original  research,  Milner,  on  the  other  hand, 
excels  him  in  popular  style,  and  in  fairness  towards  the  reigning  church 
of  the  first  six  centuries.  Pope  Gregory  the  Great,  for  example,  fares 
much  better  at  his  hands.  His  object,  also,  is  exclusively  practical,  and 
leads  him,  therefore,  to  omit  entirely  all  subjects,  which,  in  his  own  nar- 
row view,  serve  not  for  edification  ;  as,  for  instance,  church  government, 
most  of  the  theological  controversies,  the  scholastic  and  mystic  divinity, 
ecclesiastical  art  and  learning.  His  simple  aim  is,  to  exhibit  the  moral 
life  of  the  invisible  church.*     Milner's  work  is,  accordingly,  almost  en- 

^  On  this  point,  Schrockh,  who  is  by  no  means  a  friend  of  Arnold,  says  of  him  (Kir- 
chengeschichte,  Vol.  I.  p.  185,  2nd  ed.)  :  "If  one  wishes  to  know,  what  sorts  of  small 
sects,  enthusiasts,  dreamers,  new  prophets,  senseless  mystics,  unlucky  reformers,  and 
other  spiritual  monsters  there  have  been,  especially  within  the  last  two  centuries,  in 
and  out  of  our  (Lutheran)  church,  he  must  betake  himself  to  their  common  rendez- 
vous, Arnold's  Ketzerhistorie." 

'  Or,  as  he  himself  says,  in  his  Introduction  :  "Nothing  but  what  appears  to  me  to 
belong  to  Christ's  kingdom,  shall  be  admitted ;  genuine  piety  is  the  only  thing,  which  I 
intend  to  celebrate.''^  So  far.  he  was  assuredly  right  in  styling  his  work,  "  An  Ecclesi- 
astical History  on  a  new  planP  But  how  one-sided  were  his  views  of  piety,  appears, 
for  instance,  in  his  judgment  of  Tertullian,  of  whom  he  says  :  "  Were  it  not  for  some 
light,  which  he  throws  on  the  state  of  Christianity  in  his  own  times,  he  would  scarcely 
deserve  to  be  distinctly  noticed.  I  have  seldom  seen  so  large  a  collection  of  tracts,  all 
professedly  on  Christian  subjects,  containing  so  little  matter  for  useful  instruction  " 
(Vol.  I.  Boston  ed.  p.  220) .  How  vastly  different  the  opinion  of  the  equally  pious  and 
far  more  learned  Neander!  When,  on  the  other  hand,  Milner  so  highly  extols  Cyprian 
defending  him  against  the  reproaches  of  Mosheim,  and  placing  him  far  above  Origen 


72  §  31.      PKAGMATIC    SDPKANATUKALISTIC   TERIOD.  [genee. 

tirely  free  from  the  polemic  spirit,  with  which  Arnold's  overflows,  and  is, 
so  far,  much  better  adapted  for  practical  and  papular  use,  and  still  well 
worthy  of  commendation.  Nay,  it  may  be  said  to  have  been  the  best 
church  history  of  this  sort,  till  Neander  asserted  anew  the  claims  of  prac- 
tical piety,  and  fully  cai-ried  out  the  good  intentions  of  Pietism  and 
Methodism  ;  but  with  incomparably  greater  knowledge,  and  on  a  scale 
so  much  more  liberal,  as  to  require  no  sacrifice  of  other  interests  to  this. 

§  31.    (c)  Pragmatic  Supranaturalistic  Period.     Mosheim.      Schrockh. 

Planck. 

From  a  combination  or  compromise  of  the  Old  Orthodox  and  the 
Pietistic  principles,  now  arose  the  third  form  of  Protestant  historiogra- 
phy, which  may  be  called  the  pragmatic  sxi/pranaturalistic.  By  suprana- 
turalism,  in  the  historical  sense,'  we  understand  the  last  product  of  the 
Protestant  orthodoxy  ;  that  is,  that  theological  system,  which,  under 
the  influence  of  Pietism  and  the  liberal  tendencies  in  philosophy  and 
general  literature  beginning  to  spread  simultaneously  in  England,  France, 
and  Germany,  materially  relaxed  from  the  strict,  exclusive  orthodoxy  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  gave  up  the  strong-hold  of  church  symbols,  and 
fell  back  simply  upon  the  Bible,  and,  in  a  number  of  its  representatives, 
approached  the  very  threshhold  of  Rationalism.  Thus  in  the  church 
historians  of  this  period,  including  some,  who  date  before  the  proper 
supranaturalism,  we  no  longer  observe  the  rigid  exclusiveness,  which  had 
formerly  prevailed.  The  polemic  zeal  for  particular  confessions,  and  the 
horror  of  licretics,  in  whom  Arnold  had  found  so  much  to  praise,  gradu- 
ally disappear,  and  give  place  to  a  peaceful,  conciliatory  spirit,  in  which 

he  is  inconsistent,  for  Cyprian  molded  hinnself  throughout  on  the  model  of  Tertullian's 
writings,  and  made  them  his  daily  food ;  and  he  contributed  more  than  any  of  the 
older  fathers,  to  the  development  of  the  principle  of  Catholicism,  especially  of  the 
hierarchy.  He  was,  in  fact,  the  first  to  look  upon.  or.  at  least,  distinctly  to  speak 
of  the  Roman  bishopric,  as  the  Cathedra  Petri,  and  the  centre  of  church  unity  {unde 
uw'tas  sacerdotalis  exorta  est\  Augustine.  Anselm,  and  Bernard,  Milner  recognizes  as 
trul)'  pious  men,  and  dwells  uj)on  with  delight ;  yet,  after  all,  his  view  of  them  is  imper- 
fect and  contracted,  taking  in  only  those  features,  in  which  they  seem  to  fall  in  with 
his  own  notions  of  religion.  Their  decidedly  Catholic  traits  he  either  al'ogether  over- 
looks, or  considers  as  merely  accidental,  outward  appendages  which  must  be  excused 
in  them  on  account  of  the  prevailing  spirit  of  the  age  ;  whereas,  in  truth,  those  traits 
have  an  intimate  and  most  influential  connection  with  their  whole  system  of  doctrine 
and  mode  of  life. 

'  For  in  the  theological  and  philosophical  sense,  the  old  orthodoxy,  as  well  as  every 
form  of  Christian  theology,  is  likewise  supranaturalistic ;  i.  e.  it  rests  upon  the  view, 
that  Christianity  is  strictly  a  supranatural  revelation,  and  a  new  moral  creation,  alto- 
gether transcending  the  powers  of  mere  nature  ;  whereas  Rationalism  allows  no  such 
revelation,  either  denying  its  possibility,  or  in  an  over  estimate  of  the  human  powers, 
particularly  of  reason,  declaring  it  useless. 


INTROD.]  I  31,       PRAGMATIC    SUPKANATrEALISTIC    PEKIOD.  73 

the  monographs  of  Calixtus,  so  vehemently  condemned  by  the  orthodox 
zealots  of  the  seventeenth  century,  had  already  led  the  way.  The  great 
effort  now  is,  to  do  justice  to  all  parties  ;  and  there  must  certainly  be 
admitted,  in  the  works  of  a  Mosheim,  a  Schrockh,  and  a  Walch,  an 
impartiality,  which  belonged  to  neither  of  the  preceding  schools.  This 
virtue,  however,  it  must  be  owned,  runs  out,  at  times,  into  doctrinal  lax- 
ness  and  indifference,'  and  is,  in  part,  connected  with  a  very  low  and 
essentially  rationalistic  conception  of  the  church.  Even  with  Mosheim, 
and  still  more  with  Schrockh,  Sjjittler,  and  Planck,  the  church,  at  least 
after  the  apostolic  age,  is,  in  reality,  stripped  of  her  divine,  supernatural 
character,  and  degraded  to  the  common  level  of  human  societies  and  the 
political  state.  For  this  very  reason,  this  form  of  supranaturalism  must 
ultimately  yield  to  the  power  of  Rationalism.  For  a  divine  Christianity 
without  a  divine  church  proves,  in  the  end,  to  be  an  unmeaning  abstrac- 
tion. 

We  call  this  ^leriod  pragmatic,  with  reference  to  its  reigning  method. 
After  the  time  of  Mosheim  and  Walch  in  Gei'many,  and  of  Robertson, 
Hume,  and  Gibbon  in  England,  it  came  to  be  required  of  the  historian, 
that  he  should  proceed  pragmatically  ;  that  is,  that  he  should  not  simply 
relate  events,  but  should  also,  to  make  the  history  of  greater  practical 
use,  psychologically  hivestigate  their  "causes  in  the  secret  springs  and  in- 
clinations of  the  human  heart.  Not  satisfied  with  the  statement  of  facts 
as  they  arc,  the  pragmatic  method,  in  which  Gottl.  Jacob  Planck  was 
the  greatest  master,  tries  to  show  the  internal  connection  of  cause  and 
effect,  and  the  manner,  as  well  as  the  reason,  of  the  occurrence  of  cer- 
tain events.  This  is  undoubtedly  an  important  advance  in  our  science, 
and  could  do  no  harm,  where  it  was  accompanied  by  a  strong  faith  in 
the  presence  of  God  in  the  world.  But,  at  the  same  time,  it  gave  the 
treatment  of  history,  especially  in  the  hands  of  the  Rationalists,  who 
soon  followed,  a  very  subjective  character.  Events  were  referred  mostly 
to  external,  accidental  causes  and  arbitrary  motives.  In  the  diligent 
search  for  these  subjective,  finite  factors,  the  power  of  the  objective  idea, 
of  general  laws,  was  gradually  forgotten,  and,  in  the  end,  even  the  highest 
and  most  sacred  power  of  history,  the  all-ruling  providence  of  God,  the 
spirit  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  dwells  in  his  church,  was  lost  out  of  sight. 
History  came  to  be  viewed  as  the  result,  partly  of  human  caprice  and  cal- 
culation, partly  of  a  remarkable  concurrence  of  fortuitous  circumstances." 

We  must  here  observe,  that,  since  the  middle  of  the  last  century 

'  Comp.  Mosheivi's  general  jud<,'rnent  of  the  heretics,  Inst.  Hist.  Eccles.  Praep. 
§11,  p.  5. 

"  This  vulgar  and  virtually  atheistic  view  underlies,  also,  the  historical  works  of 
Hunne  and  Gibbon,  who  mistook  it  for  the  very  highest  philosophy. 


74:  §  31.      SUPKANATTJRALISTIC   PEllIOD.     MOSHEIM.  [gener. 

church  history  has  been  cultivated  and  advanced  almost  exclusively  in 
Germany  ;  especially  by  the  Lutheran,  and  more  lately  the  United 
Evangelical  churches  ;  while  in  other  Protestant  countries  it  has  made 
very  little  progress. 

Among  the  works  of  this  period  on  the  general  history  of  the  church, 
must  be  mentioned  first,  Chr.  E.  Weismann's  Introdudio  in  memorabilia 
ecdesiastica  historice  sacrce.  N.  T.  etc.  (Tubingen,  1718),  distinguished  for 
its  pious,  mild  spirit,  its  quiet,  moderate  tone,  its  predilection  for  the 
school  of  Spener,  and  for  the  better  Mystics,  and  its  regard  to  the  pur- 
poses of  edification  in  the  selection  of  its  matter. 

He  was  soon  eclipsed,  however,  by  the  celebrated  chancellor  of  Got- 
tingeu,  John  Lawrence  von  Mosheim,  (fl755),  who  holds  the  first 
place  among  the  church  historians  generally  of  the  last  century,  and 
has  acquired  the  honorable  title  of  "  father  of  church  history."  His 
Institutwncs  historice  ecdesiasticcc  (Helmstadt,  1*155),  in  four  books,  also 
translated  into  German  and  continued  by  Schlegel  and  Yon  Einem, 
gained,  in  England  and  North  America,  an  authority  even  greater  than 
in  Germany,  being  used  to  this  day,  (as  translated  by  Maclaine,  and 
more  recently  by  Murdock),  as  a  text-book  in  most  seminaries  of 
theology.  On  the  contrary,  there  is  but  little  acquaintance,  out  of 
Germany,  with  his  valuable  monographs  on  the  Period  before  ConstaTv- 
tine  (A.  D.  1753),'  and  on  the  History  of  Heretics,  (the  Ophites,  Apos- 
tolic Brethren,  Michael  Servetus),  and  his  Institutiones  H.  E.  Major es 
(1739),  of  which,  however,  only  the  first  volume  (saec.  I.)  was  pub- 
lished. In  all  these  works  Mosheim  distinguishes  himself  by  his  thorough 
use  of  sources,  his  critical  acumen,  his  varied  culture  and  knowledge  of 
men,  his  bold,  although  at  times  extravagant  combination,  his  power  of 
historical  contemplation,  and  his  command,  beyond  all  his  predecessors 
and  contemporaries,  of  a  clear,  tasteful,  and  pleasing  style,  both  Latin 
and  German.  He  is  properly  the  founder  of  church  historiography,  as 
an  art.''  To  the  practical  purposes  of  history,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
pays  less  regard.  He,  too,  in  various  cases,  takes  the  part  of  heretics, 
even  of  such  a  man  as  Servetus  f  not,  however,  like  Arnold,  enthusias- 

'  These  Comrmentarii  de  rebus  Christianorum  ante  Constantinum  Magnum,  in  which 
more  especially  Mosheim  deposits  the  results  of  his  extensive  research,  have  been 
recently  translated  into  English  by  Dr.  Murdock. 

"^  By  his  mastery  of  the  German,  which  he  employed  in  his  smaller  historical  mono- 
graphs, his  pulpit  orations,  and  his  theological  Ethics,  he  marks  an  epoch,  also,  in 
German  literature,  which  at  that  time  began  to  revive  and  to  approach  its  classical 
period  through  Klopstock,  Lessing,  Winkelmann,  and  afterwards  through  Wieland, 
Herder,  Gothe,  and  Schiller. 

*  Compare  the  far  too  charitable  and  favorable  judgment  he  passes  on  this  unfortu- 
nate victim  of  Calvin's  religious  zeal,  in  his  Ketzergeschichte,  1748.  Book  II.  §  39,  p.   . 
254  sqq.,  quoted  in  my  tract  on  Historical  Development,  p.  59. 


INTROD.]  §  31.      SUPEANATTJKALISTIC   PERIOD.      WALCH,  75 

tically  eulogizing  them  and  traducing  their  orthodox  opponents  ;  but 
showing  by  a  calm  and  dignified  criticism,  the  sense  and  inward  consist- 
ency of  their  systems.  He  was  the  first,  for  example,  who  ceased  to 
regard  the  Gnostic  speculations  as  a  mere  chaos  of  extravagant  and 
senseless  opinions,  and  felt  in  them  the  presence  of  a  connected  system 
of  thought  resulting  from  a  strange  combination  of  ancient  heathen 
philosophy  with  certain  elements  of  the  Christian  religion.  In  view  of 
these  decided  advances  upon  his  predecessors,  it  is  the  more  strange  that 
he  still  adhered  to  the  old  plan  of  division  by  centuries,  and  that  he 
could  adopt  so  mechanical  an  arrangement,  as  that  of  external  and  inter- 
nal history,  prosperous  and  adverse  events. 

His  contemporary  Pfaff,  of  Tubingen,  was  equally  learned,  indeed, 
but  his  Institutiones,  (A.  D.  1121),  were  not  written  in  so  clear  and 
interesting  a  style,  and  were  overladen  with  names  and  citations.  The 
indefatigable  scholar,  S.  J.  Baumgartex,  brought  down  his  Abstract  of 
Church  History  only  to  the  end  of  the  ninth  century.  Cotta's  J^ew 
Testament  Church  History  in  Detail,  (1768-73),  likewise  remained 
incomplete.  The  most  extensive  work  from  this  school  of  mild  and 
impartial  Supranaturalism — a  work,  too,  which  betokens  its  gradual 
transition  to  latitudinarianism  and  rationalism — is  the  Church  History  of 
J.  M.  ScHRocKH  (f  1808),  a  disciple  of  Mosheim,  and  Professor  first  of 
poetry,  afterwards  of  history  in  Wittenberg.  With  Tzschibner's  con- 
tinuation it  makes  forty-five  volumes,  and  was  published  between  the 
years  1768  and  1810.  In  spite  of  its  wearisome  dififuseness,  its  want  of 
philosophical  depth  and  just  proportion,  and  its  wholly  injudicious 
method,  it  is  still  invaluable  for  its  exceedingly  industrious  and  faithful 
transcriptions  from  original  authorities,  and  will  long  remain  a  real  mine 
of  historical  learning.  It  is,  also,  the  first  church  history,  in  which  the 
centurial  division  is  abandoned,  in  favor  of  one  by  larger  periods,  more 
conformable  to  the  real  divisions  of  the  history  itself.  Smaller  text- 
books were  published  by  Schrockh,  Spittler,  and  Staddlin,  the  last  in 
the  interest  of  Kant's  moral  philosophy.  J.  Fr.  Roos  wrote  popularly, 
more  for  the  general  public. 

After  these  general  authors,  however,  several  Lutheran  theologians 
merit  honorable  mention,  who  have  done  permanent  service  in  particular 
parts  of  church  history.  J  A.  Cramer,  eventually  chancellor  of  the 
university  of  Kiel,  (fl788),  in  his  continuation  of  Bossuet's  Universal 
History,  thoroughly  investigated  the  Scholasticism  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  was  the  first  German,  after  Mosheim,  who  wrote  history  with  ele- 
gance and  force  in  his  vernacular  tongue.  J.  George  Walch,  Prof,  in 
Jena,  (f  1775),  and  still  more  his  sou,  W.  Francis  Walch,  Prof,  in 
Gottingen,  (11784),  are  among  the  most  industrious,  solid,  and  honest 


V6  §  31.       SUPKANATUKALISTIC    PERIOD.       PLANCK.  [genER. 

inquirers,  who  have  ever  lived.  The  latter  gave  himself  mainly  to  the 
history  of  heresies,  divisions,  and  religious  controversies,  and  his  work  on 
this  field,  in  eleven  parts,  (1*162-85),  is  still  indispensable.  In  his  own 
persuasions  he  stands  firmly,  indeed,  on  Lutheran  ground  ;  but  he  is  free 
from  polemic  zeal,  and  solely  bent  upon  the  conscientious  investigation 
and  critical,  pragmatic  representation  of  his  subject,  without  sympathy 
or  antipathy.  He  already  approaches  so  near  the  true  view  of  history, 
that  he  cannot  conceive  of  it  without  change  ;  while  he  justly  discrimi- 
nates between  the  unchangeable  essence  of  the  Christian  truth  itself,  and 
the  ever  varying  form  of  its  apprehension  among  men.  He  lacks,  how- 
ever, in  organic  conception  and  graphic  life,  and  is  extremely  tiresome,' 

The  elder  Planck,  a  native  of  Wtirtemberg,  and  since  1784  Prof,  of 
Theol.  inGcittingen,  (|1833),  who  has  immortalized  himself  especially  by 
his  learned  and  skillful  History  of  Protestant  Doctrine,"^  though  still 
entertaining  personally  a  high  regard  for  Scriptural  Christianity,  stands 
at  the  extreme  limit  of  this  school,  where  it  is  just  ready  to  merge  in 
Rationalism.  With  him  the  subjective,  pragmatic  method  reaches  its 
height.  History  already  becomes  only  the  dreary  theatre  of  human 
interests  and  passions.  Hence  he  everywhere  obtrudes  his  individual 
sympathies  and  antipathies,  and  cannot  complain  enough  of  the  short- 
sightedness, stupidity,  passion  and  malice  of  man.  Though  he  relates 
doctrinal  controversies  with  great  prolixity  and  familiar  loquacity,  yet  he 
holds  himself  quite  indifferent  to  their  contents.  His  interest  in  them  is 
not  religious  or  theological,  but  regards  merely  their  psychological  analy- 
sis and  outward  form.^     With  such  indifference  to  church  doctrine,  it  is 

*  Dr.  Baur  {Epoihen,  etc.  p.  147) ,  says  :  "There  is  nothing  more  dull,  spiritless,  and 
intolerably  tedious,  than  Walch's  Ketzergeschichte." 

^  Six  vols.  Leipzig,  1781-lSOO.  2nd  ed.  1791, sqq.  The  first  three  volumes  give  the 
political  histor)-^  of  the  Reformation.  The  remaining  and  more  important  ones  treat 
of  the  theological  controversies  from  the  death  of  Luther  to  the  appearance  of  the 
Form  of  Concord,  the  last  symbolical  book  of  the  Lutheran  church  In  1831  Planck 
published  a  continuation,  giving  a  condensed  account  of  the  theological  controversies 
from  the  Form  of  Concord  to  the  middle  of  the  18th  century. 

^  Comp.,  for  instance,  his  preface  to  Vol.  IV.,  in  which  he  enters  upon  the  depart- 
ment of  doctrine  history,  where  he  candidly  avows,  p.  6.  that  the  subject  before  him 
is  one,  in  which  even  the  theological  public  of  his  time  can  hardly  continue  to  take  any 
real  interest ;  since  not  only  have  most  of  the  doctrinal  questions  themselves,  about 
which  our  fathers  contended,  "entirely  lost,  for  our  present  theolog}',  the  importance 
they  once  possessed ;  but  their  history,  also,  has  lost,  for  the  spirit  of  our  age,  even  the 
negative  interest,  with  which  the  slowly-maturing  aversion  to  those  questions  could, 
for  a  long  time,  clothe  it.  Ten  years  ago  they  might  have  been  dwelt  upon  with  some 
interest;  because  ten  years  ago  they  had  not  wholly  lost  their  power  over  the  mind  of 
the  age.  .  .  .  But  now  this  bond  also  is  gone-  An  entirely  new  theology  has  arisen. 
Not  only  those  forms,  but  even  many  of  the  old  fundamental  ideas  have  been  left 
behind.     Nor  have  we  now  any  fear,  that  the  spirit  of  our  theology  can  ever  return  of 


INTROD.]         §  31.       SUPEANATTJKALISTIC  PERIOD.       SPITTLER.  Y7 

truly  amazing,  that  he  could  bestow  so  much  toilsome  study  and  learned 
industry  on  such  "  perfectly  indifferent  antiquations,"  as  the  theological 
contentions  of  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries.  Of  course  his 
work,  with  all  its  great  and  enduring  merits,  and  the  relative  truth  and 
necessity  of  its  position,  could  not  fail  to  have  a  bad  effect,  in  complete- 
ly sundering  the  doctrinal  consciousness  of  its  age  from  the  basis  of  the 
older  church  orthodoxy,  and  in  justifying  this  rupture  as  a  pretended 
advance.  In  his  other  large  work,  the  History  of  Chiirch  Government,^ 
Planck  likewise  starts  from  that  rationalistic  conception  of  the  church, 
which  dates  from  Locke  ;  viz.,  that  this  divine  establishment  was  origi- 
nally a  mere  voluntary  association,  which  formed  its  laws  and  institutions 
in  accordance  with  the  changing  wants  of  the  times,  and  under  the 
influence  of  fortuitous,  external  circumstances  ;  and  that,  in  this  way,  it 
gradually  assumed  an  aspect  altogether  different  from  what  its  founder 
and  first  members  intended  or  foresaw.  In  this  way  he  accounts  for  the 
gigantic  hierarchy  of  the  Middle  Ages,  which  he  looks  upon  in  a  simply 
political  light,  with  the  calmness  of  a  learned,  but  indifferent  spectator ; 
while  the  older  Protestant  orthodoxy  had  held  it  in  pious  abhorrence,  as 
the  broken  bulwark  of  the  veritable  Antichrist. 

His  friend,  L.  Tim.  Spittler,  also  a  native  of  Wurtemberg,  Prof,  of 
Philosophy  at  Gottingen,  afterwards  secretary  of  state  at  Stuttgart, 
(fl810),  is  still  more  decidedly  rationalistic.  Though  not  a  theologian 
by  profession,  but  a  secular  historian  and  statesman,  he  delivered  lec- 
tures on  church  history  with  immense  applause,  and  his  published  Man- 
ual became  quite  a  popular  text-book  iu  Germany.  He  breaks  through 
the  confines  of  a  strictly  theological  position,  and  handles  church  history, 
as  a  man  of  the  world,  from  a  political  and  general  literary  point  of 
view,  but  at  the  expense  of  religious  depth  and  spirituality.  Though  he 
never  directly  assails  Christianity  itself,  yet  his  work  is  by  no  means 
suited  to  increase  our  faith  in  its  supernatural  character.  His  rational- 
istic temper  comes  out  plainly  even  in  the  first  sentence  of  the  first 

itself,  or  be  forced  back,  to  them ;  and  we  view  them,  accordingly,  as  a  perfectly  indif- 
ferent antiquationP  Scarcely  could  a  Rationalist  express  himself  more  unfavorably 
on  the  doctrinal  controversies  of  the  church.  No  wonder,  that  Planck  passes  so  favor- 
able a  judgment  on  the  theological  revolution  of  the  last  century,  in  his  continuation  of 
Spittler's  Manual  of  Church  History,  5th  ed.  p.  509,  where  he  says:  "Upon  the 
whole,  however,  we  have  made  extraordinary  gain  by  this  revolution  of  the  last  thirty 
years,  (the  rise  of  German  Rationalism  1,  which  will  probably  be  hereafter  distin- 
guished as  the  most  splendid  period  in  the  history  of  the  Lutheran  church  !" 

^  Geschichte  der  Entstehung  und  Ausbildung  derchristlich-kirklichenGesellschafts- 
verfassung.     5  vols.     Hanover,  1803-9- 

■  Grundriss  der  Geschichte  der  christl.  Kirche.  1782.  The  fifth  edition  was  publish- 
ed and  continued  by  Planck,  1812.  pp.  569. 


78  §  32.      RATIONALISTIC    PERIOD.  [gexek. 

period,  which  is  a  fair  specimen  of  the  whole.  "The  world,"  says  he,' 
"  has  never  experienced  a  revolntion  apparently  so  insignificant  in  its 
first  causes,  and  so  exceedingly  momentous  in  its  ultimate  consequences, 
as  that,  which,  eighteen  hundred  years  ago,  a  native  Jew,  by  the  name  of 
Jesus,  made  in  a  few  years  of  his  life."  A  man  who  speaks  in  such  a 
cold,  and  almost  irreverent  style  of  the  Son  of  God  and  the  Saviour  of 
the  world,  and  has  no  higher  predicates  for  him,  than  "  a  very  tender- 
minded  man,"  "  the  greatest,  most  benevolent  man,""  must,  at  the  same 
time,  of  course,  be  destitute  of  any  true  conception  of  the  divine  char- 
acter of  the  church,  and  incapable  of  duly  appreciating  the  spiritual  life 
of  its  heroes.  Spittler  derives  even  the  grandest  phenomena  of  history 
from  mere  finite  causes  and  accidental  circumstances,  and  sinks  them  to 
the  common  level  of  every-day  occurrences. 

The  Reformed  church,  in  this  period,  produced  but  one  work  of  any 
great  extent,  the  Institution es  h.  eccl.  V.  et  N.  T.^  of  the  learned  Hol- 
lander, Venema.  This  work  is  carefully  drawn  from  original  sources, 
and  extends  to  the  year  1600  ;  but  bears  no  marks  of  the  revolution 
effected  in  this  science  since  Arnold,  and  hence  might  as  well  have  been 
mentioned  in  the  orthodox  period.  It  had  become  the  fashion  in  Hol- 
land, from  the  time  of  Cocceius,  to  put  church  history  into  close  connec- 
tion with  systematic  theology,  and  with  the  exposition  of  the  Scriptures, 
especially  of  the  Apocalypse,  in  which  the  picture  of  Popery  was  seen 
clear  as  the  sun.  This,  of  course,  destroyed  its  independence  as  a 
science,  and  put  an  end  to  its  progress.  The  popular  and  edifyiig  work 
of  the  English  Milner  has  already  been  noticed.  Smaller,  and  in  their 
way  excellent,  manuals  of  church  history  were  published  by  the  Gene- 
van divine,  Turretine,  A.  D.  1734,  who  still  occupies  substantially  the 
same  doctrinal  position  as  the  Reformed  historians  of  the  severiteenth 
century  ;  P.  E.  Jablonsky,  Prof,  in  Frankfurt  on  the  0.,  A.D.  1755  ; 
and  by  Munscher,  Prof,  in  Marburg,  A.D.  1804.  This  last  author  has 
won  a  still  greater  reputation  by  his  Doctrine  History,  (1797,  sqq.), 
which  comes  down,  in  four  volumes,  to  the  year  604,  and  was  continued 
by  Dan.  v.  Cblln.  But  his  doctrinal  indifferentism  shows,  that,  like 
Planck,  he  already  belongs  more  properly  to  the  Rationalistic  school. 

§  32.  {d)  The  Rationalistic  Period.     Semler. 
Arnold's  unchurchly  view  of  history,  and  his  defense  of  all  sorts  of 
heretics  and  schismatics,  as  well  as  the  looseness  and  doctrinal  indiffer- 
ence  of  the  last  representatives  of  the   Supranaturalistic  school,  had 
already  so  thoroughly  prepared  the  way  for  Rationalism,  that  we  are 

'  Page  26.  (5th  ed.)  *  Ibid,  pp.  27  28. 

^  1777-83,  in  seven  parts. 


INTROD.]  g  32.      KATIONALISTIC    PERIOD.  T9 

forced  to  concede  to  the  latter  a  certain  historical  necessity.  But  while 
Pietism  loved  the  sects  for  their  real  or  supposed  piety,  Rationalism 
favored  them  for  their  heresies,  and  the  indifferentism  of  a  Planck,  a 
Spittler,  and  a  Miinscher  ran  out  into  formal  hostility  to  the  doctrine 
and  faith  of  the  church.  Several  other  causes,  as  the  influence  of  the 
Popular  Philosophy  of  Wolff,  of  Kant's  Criticism,  of  English  Deism  and 
French  Materialism,  combined  to  develop  the  seeds  of  German  Rational- 
ism, and  to  complete  this  far-reaching  theological  revolution,  the  disas- 
trous effects  of  which  are  not,  to  this  day,  entirely  obliterated. 

Now  Arius,  in  his  denial  of  the  divinity  of  Christ,  was  in  the  right 
against  Athanasius  ;  Pelagius,  with  his  doctrine  of  an  undepraved  human 
will,  against  Augustine  ;  the  Paulicians,  Cathari,  &c.,  against  Catholi- 
cism ;  the  Socinians,  against  the  Reformers  ;  the  Arminians,  against  the 
Synod  of  Dort ;  the  Deists,  against  the  English  church.  These  were,  in 
fact,  in  their  real  spirit,  but  the  forerunners  of  Rationalism  in  its  war 
against  the  church  doctrine,  nay,  in  the  end,  against  the  divine  revelation 
in  the  Bible  itself.  For  any  unprejudiced  person  must  admit,  that  at 
least  the  main  substance  of  the  church  doctrine  is  grounded  in  the  Bible. 
Hence  Rationalism,  in  its  latest  phases,  has,  with  perfect  consistency, 
rejected  not  only  the  material  principle  of  Protestantism,  the  doctrine 
of  justification  by  faith,  but  its  formal  principle  also  ;  taking  as  the 
source  and  rule  of  truth  and  of  belief,  or  rather  of  unbelief,  not  the 
Word  of  God,  but  human  reason  (whence  Rationalism)  ;  and  this,  not  in 
its  general,  objective  character,  as  it  actuates  history  and  the  church, 
but  the  subjective  reason,  as  determined  by  the  prevailing  spirit  of  its 
own  age,  virtually  the  finite,  every-day  understanding,  what  we  call 
"common  sense,"  in  its  baldest  form.  This  tendency  is,  in  its  very  na- 
ture, utterly  unhistorical.  It  has  no  regard  for  history,  as  such  ;  but 
only  a  negative  interest  in  it,  as  a  subject  for  its  own  destructive  criticism. 
It  denies  the  objective  forces  of  history  ;  banishes  from  the  world  not 
only  Satan,  whom  it  looks  upon  as  merely  the  superstitious  creation  of  a 
heated  fancy,  but,  what  is,  of  course,  far  more  serious,  even  God  himself ; 
and  thus  turns  all  history  into  an  eyeless  monster,  a  labyrinth  of  human 
perversions,  caprices  and  passions.  Every  thing  is  referred  to  some  sub- 
jective ground.  Rationalism  considers  itself  as  having  mastered  the 
greatest  and  loftiest  facts,  when  it  has  traced  them,  "  pragmatically,"  to 
the  most  accidental  and  external,  or  even  the  most  common  and  ignoble 
causes  and  motives  ;  the  doctrine  of  the  divinity  of  Christ,  for  instance, 
and  of  the  Holy  Trinity,  it  derives  from  the  dreamy  fancy  and  transcen- 
dental Platonism  of  the  Greek  fathers ;  the  evangelical  doctrines  of  sin 
and  grace,  from  Augustine's  restless  metaphysics  ;  the  papacy  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  from  the  trick  of  the  pseudo-Isidorian  Decretals  and  the 


80  §  82.      KATIONALISTIC    PERIOD.  [gENER. 

ambition  of  "the  rascal"  Hildebrand  ;  the  reformation,  from  the  pecu- 
niary embarrassment  of  Leo  X.  and  the  imprudence  of  Tetzel  ;  Luther's 
view  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  from  his  own  stubborn  and  dogmatizing  hu- 
mor. This  extreme,  subjective  view  of  history  not  only  casts  censure  on 
God,  as  having  made  the  world  so  badly,  that  it  went  to  ruin  in  his 
hands,  or  as  having  no  more  concern  with  its  history,  than  a  watchmaker 
with  a  watch  long  since  finished  and  sold — thus  furnishing  excellent 
resources  for  skepticism  and  nihilism  ;  but  it  offered,  at  the  same  time, 
the  greatest  possible  insult  to  human  nature,  by  robbing  it,  in  this  way, 
of  all  its  dignity  and  higher  worth.  It  would  be  inconceivable  that  men 
should  still  expend  so  much  diligence  and  learning  on  so  heartless  a  work, 
were  it  not  explained  by  the  spirit  of  opposition  to  the  church  and  the 
irresistible  propensity  of  the  German  mind  to  theory  and  speculation. 

Yet  on  the  other  hand,  Rationalism  has  been  of  undeniable  service  to 
church  history.  In  the  first  place,  it  exercised  the  boldest  criticism,  plac- 
ing many  things  in  a  new  light,  and  opening  the  way  for  a  more  free  and 
unprejudiced  judgment.  Then  again,  it  assisted  in  bringing  out  the  true 
conception  of  history  itself,  though  rather  in  a  merely  negative  way. 
Almost  all  previous  historians,  Protestant  as  well  as  Catholic,  had  looked 
upon  the  history  of  heresies  as  essentially  motion  and  change,  while  they 
had  regarded  the  church  doctrine  as  something  once  for  all  settled  and 
unchangeable  ;  a  view,  which  cannot  possibly  stand  the  test  of  impartial 
inquiry.  For  though  Christianity  itself,  the  saving  truth  of  God,  is 
always  the  same,  and  needs  no  change  ;  yet  this  can  by  no  means  be 
affirmed  of  the  apprehension  of  this  truth  by  the  human  mind  in  the 
different  ages  of  the  church  ;  as  is  at  once  sufficiently  evident  from  the 
great  difference  between  Catholicism  and  Protestantism,  and,  within  the 
latter,  from  the  distinctions  of  Lutherauism,  Zuinglianism,  and  Calvinism. 
But  Pvationalism  now  discovered  fluctuation,  motion,  change,  in  the 
church,  as  well  as  in  the  sects  ;  thus  taking  the  first  step  towards  the 
idea  of  organic  development,  on  which  the  latest  German  historiography 
is  founded.  Still  it  did  not  rise  above  this  vague  notion  of  change,  which 
is  but  the  outward  and  negative  aspect  of  development.  It  entirely 
overlooked  the  element  of  truth  in  the  old  orthodox  view.  It  failed  to 
discern,  that,  together  with  the  changeable,  there  is  also  something  per- 
manent ;  and  that,  amidst  all  these  variations,  the  church  remains,  in  her 
inmost  life,  the  same.  Church  history  became,  in  its  hands,  a  storm- 
tossed  ship,  without  pilot  or  helm,  a  wild  chaos,  without  unity  or  vital 
energy  ;  the  play  of  chance,  without  divine  plan  or  definite  end.  Ra- 
tionalism knew  nothing  of  a  development,  which  proceeds  according  to 
necessary,  rational  laws  ;  remains,  in  its  progress,  identical  with  itself ; 
preserves  the  sum  of  the  truth  of  all  preceding  stages  ;    and,  though 


INTROD.]  §  32.       EATIONALISTIC    PERIOD.  81 

it  be  through  many  obstructions  and  much  opposition,  and  in  perpetual 
conflict  with  the  kingdom  of  evil,  ever  presses  on  towards  a  better  state. 
It  regarded  the  course  of  history  rather  as  a  steady  deterioration,  or, 
more  properly,  a  process  of  rarefaction  and  sublimation,  in  which  the 
church  gradually  loses  her  doctrinal  and  religious  substance  ;  till  at  last 
the  age  of  Illuminationism  makes  the  happy  discovery,  that  the  whole 
of  Christianity  may  be  ultimately  resolved  into  a  few  common-place  moral 
maxims  and  notions  of  virtue  1 

The  main  instrument  of  this  great  revolution  in  the  conception  and 
treatment  of  church  history,  the  man,  who  is  unquestionably  entitled  to 
the  name,  "father  of  German  neology,"  was  John  Solomox  Semlek, 
Prof,  of  theology  in  Halle,  (fllOl).  He  had  been  educated  in  the 
bosom  of  an  anxious,  narrow-minded,  and  pedantic  Pietism,  and  from 
this  retained  his  "private  piety,"  which  he  held  to  be  entirely  indepen- 
dent of  all  theory,  and  in  virtue  of  which  he  opposed  the  appointment 
of  the  notorious  Bahrdt,  and  wrote  against  the  Wolfenbiittel  Fragments. 
To  Arnold's  Histoiy  of  Heretics  he  was  early  indebted  for  much  of  his 
aversion  to  orthodoxy  and  partiality  for  heretics  ;  to  Bayle's  Dictionary, 
for  all  manner  of  doubts  ;  and  to  his  preceptor,  Baumgarten,  for  the  con- 
viction, that  the  church  doctrine,  as  it  then,  stood,  "  had  by  no  means 
borne  always  the  same  form."  His  own  studies  showed  him  more  and 
more  clearly,  that  all  is  motion  and  flow  ;  everything  is  in  transition  or 
past  ;  every  age  has  its  own  views  and  modes  of  thought,  its  peculiar 
consciousness,  into  which  a  man  must  transfer  himself,  before  he  can 
understand  it.  He  was  endowed  with  rare  powers  of  invention,  but  was 
destitute  of  all  system,  method,  and  taste  in  representation  ;  impulsive 
and  sanguine  ;  in  fact,  the  very  embodiment  of  his  own  favorite  notion 
of  change.  With  gigantic  diligence  and  insatiable  curiosity  he  traversed 
the  most  retired  regions  of  history,  and  particularly  the  Middle  Ages, 
trying  to  place  every  thing  in  some  hitherto  undiscovered  light.  Every- 
where he  made  new  discoveries,  and  roused  the  spirit  of  inquiry,  but 
without  himself  producing  anything  solid  and  permanent.'  "  His  whole 
course  is  merely  preparatory,  breaking  ground,  agitating  all  possibilities, 
perpetually  raising  doubts  and  suspicions,  forming  conjectures  and  combi- 
nations ;  a  vast  rummage  of  material.  His  writings  on  doctrine  history 
are  like  an  unbroken  field,  which  has  yet  to  be  tilled  ;   a  building-lot, 

'  Of  his  171  works,  hardly  one  is  now  read,  except  by  the  professional  historian. 
They  include,  annong  other  things,  even  treatises  on  the  habits  of  snails  in  winter,  and 
on  naaking  gold,  with  which,  however,  not  only  his  literary  voracity,  but  also,  as  Tho- 
luckat  least  suspects  [Vermischte  Schriften,  Part  II.,  p.  82).  his  devotion  to  Mamniou 
had  something  to  do. 

6 


82  §  32.       RATIONALISTIC   PERIOD.      SCHMIDT.  [gener. 

where,  amid  rubbish  and  ruins,  the  materials  for  a  new  structure  still  lie 
in  endless  confusion.'" 

The  most  characteristic  and  energetic  work  from  Semler's  school  is 
Henke's  General  History  of  the  Christian  Church,  in  eight  parts  (1*788 
sqq).  His  principal  aim  is,  to  show  up  the  mischief  which  religious  des- 
potism and  doctrinal  constraint,  as  he  supposes,  have  everywhere 
wrought  through  all  ages  ;  and  he  presents  a  glaring,  keenly  sarcastic 
picture  of  enthusiasm,  superstition,  stupidity,  and  wickedness.  His  work 
is  thus  truthfully  characterized  by  Hagenhach  :^  "  In  his  hands  church 
history  becomes  mainly  a  history  of  human  aberrations.  Fanaticism, 
hypocrisy,  calculation,  and  cunning,  or  bigotry,  are  the  factors,  with 
which  he  meets,  wherever  the  unprejudiced  eye  discerns  greatness,  to  be 
measured  by  a  different  rule  from  any  that  modern  reason  and  taste  may 
suggest.  The  historian,  who  sees  in  TertuUian  merely  the  '  extravagant 
head  ;'  in  St.  Augustine,  '  the  ingenious  babbler  ;'  who  discovers  nothing 
but  '  cunning  and  baseness'  in  Gregory  YII.,  and  calls  him  '  a  man  with- 
out religion,  without  truthfulness  and  honesty  ;'  who  has  no  other  opinion 
of  St.  Francis  of  Assissi,  than  that  he  was  '  a  man  sick  in  soul  and  body,' 
'  an  unfortunate  madman,'  '  an  entirely  neglected  and  crippled  head  ;' — 
shows,  by  such  judgments,  that  he  is  destitute  of  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant qualifications  of  a  historian,  that  elasticity  of  mind  and  soul,  which 
enables  him  to  adapt  himself  to  characters  and  situations  different  from 
those  which  meet  us  in  the  every-day  wisdom  of  the  surrounding  world." 
Vater,  in  his  continuation  and  fifth  edition  of  the  work,  has  considerably 
smoothed  off  its  sharp  corners,  and  breathed  into  it  a  more  kindly  spirit. 

After  Henke  and  others  had  thus  let  out  their  hatred  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical past  to  their  hearts'  content,  there  arose  a  perfect  indifference  to 
the  religious  import  of  church  history.  In  this  spirit  J.  E.  Ch.  Schmidt, 
of  Giessen,  compiled  his  instructive  work,  continued  by  Rettberg,  purely 
from  original  sources.'  Danz  took  a  similar  course.  But  Gieseler  sur- 
passed them  all  in  the  judicious  selection  of  his  extracts,  and  in  sober 
and  cautious  criticism.  In  his  valuable,  though  yet  unfinished  Church 
History,  Rationalism  appears  still  more  cooled  down,  and  retreats  behind 
a  dry  and  purely  scientific  research  and  a  calm,  objective  narration. 

'  He  is  thus  strikingly  characterized  by  Dr.  F-  Ch.  Baur,  who  himself  greatl)-  re- 
sembles him  in  many  things  (Lehrb.  d.  Christl.  Dogmmgesch.  1847.  p.  40) . 

""  In  Ullmaim's  "  Studien  und  Kriliken,"  1851.  p.  562  sq. 

^  Handbuch  der  Christl.  Kirchengeschichte,  Giessen.  1801-20.  6  parts  (2nd  ed. 
1825-7) .  The  seventh  part,  by  Rettberg,  comes  down  to  A.  D.  1305.  Schmidt 
wrote,  also,  a  short  Manual  of  Ch.  Hist.,  (2nd  ed.  1808) ,  with  ample  references,  in 
clear  style,  and  well  arranged,  but  without  spirit  and  life. 


INTROD.]         g  33,       RATIONALISTIC    HISTORIANS    IN    ENGLAND.  83 

§  33.  Rationalistic  Historians  in  England.      Gibbon. 

While  the  awful  rationalistic  apostasy  from  the  faith  of  the  fathers  has 
fully  developed  itself,  both  theoretically  and  practically,  in  Germany,  and 
especially  within  the  Lutheran  confession,  the  Reformed  church  of  France, 
Holland,  England,  and  Scotland  has  remained  far  more  stationary  in  its 
theology.  We  observe  in  it,  indeed,  a  considerable  decline  in  ecclesiasti- 
cal and  religious  life  since  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  from  which  sev- 
eral branches  have  not  to  this  day  recovered  ;  and  we  still  more  frequent- 
ly meet  with  undeveloped  and  often  unsuspected  rationalistic  clmenfs  and 
tendencies  in  a  great  portion  of  English  and  American  theology  ;  in  close 
connection,  however,  with  a  certain  traditional  orthodoxy  and  practical 
piety.  Our  current  ultra-Protestant  views  of  the  early  church,  and  es- 
pecially of  the  Middle  Ages,  (Dark  Ages,  as,  through  ignorance  or  pre- 
judice, we  generally  call  them),  and  of  all  that  appertains  to  the  history 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  church,  are  very  much  like  those  of  German  Ra- 
tionalism, and  rest  on  a  virtual  denial  of  Christ's  uninterrupted  presence 
in  his  church  "  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  (Matt.  28  :  20).  But 
with  the  decline  of  living  faith  in  the  various  Reformed  confessions,  the 
interest  in  theology  also  decreased,  and  latitudinarianism  and  indifferent- 
ism  obtained  more  sway,  in  the  eighteenth  century,  than  open  hostility  to 
Christianity. 

Great  Britain  produced,  indeed,  in  the  middle  and  latter  part  of  the 
last  century,  her  first  great  historians,  Robertson  and  David  Hume, 
(fltl6),  of  Scotland,  and  especially  Edward  Gibbon,  (fn94),  of  Eng- 
land.^ But  they  selected  for  their  investigation  interesting  portions  of 
political  and  secular  history,  and  touch  the  subject  of  religion  and  the 
church  only  occasionally,  as  it  comes  in  contact  with  their  direct  object. 
In  these  portions,  however,  the  last  two  writers  give  free  vent  to  the 
skeptical  and  infidel  spirit  of  the  so-called  philosophic  age  ;  especially 
Gibbon,  in  his  celebrated  History  of  the  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman 
Empire.  This  work,  in  unity  of  design,  extent  and  variety  of  research, 
admirable  skill  in  the  selection  and  condensation  of  matter,  luminous 
arrangement,  harmony,  clearness,  and  vivacity  of  diction,  not  only  surpass- 
ed all  its  predecessors  in  England,  but  occupies  a  prominent  place  among 
the  greatest  historical  compositions  of  ancient  and  modern  times.     It  is, 

'  "The  old  reproach,  that  no  British  altars  had  been  raised  to  the  muse  of  history, 
was  recently  disproved  by  the  first  performances  of  Robertson  and  Hume,  the  histories 
of  Scotland,  and  of  the  Stuarts.  .  .  .  The  perfect  composition,  the  nervous  language,  the 
well  turned  periods  of  Dr.  Robertson,  inflamed  me  to  the  ambitious  hope  that  I  might 
one  day  tread  in  his  footsteps  ;  the  calm  philosophy,  the  careless  inimitable  beauties  of 
his  friend  and  rival,  often  forced  me  to  close  the  volume  with  a  mixed  sensation  of  de- 
light and  despair."     Gibbon^  Autobiography.^  eh.  xii. 


84  §  33.      EATIONALISTIC    HISTORIANS    IN   ENGLAND.  [gener. 

on  this  account,  the  more  to  be  regretted,  that  its  author  was  so  utterly 
blind  to  the  claims  of  Christianity,  the  divine  origin  and  moral  grandeur 
of  which  find  one  of  their  most  convincing  illustrations  in  the  very  event, 
which  he  portrays,  the  downfall  of  its  deadly  enemy,  the  colossal  Roman 
empire,  and  in  the  erection  of  the  new  European  civilization  upon  its  ruins 
by  the  untiring  energy  of  the  church.  It  is  in  the  famous  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  chapters  of  his  work,  particularly,  that  Gibbon  treats  of  the 
propagation  of  Christianity  and  its  early  history  in  the  Roman  empire. 
His  own  religious  opinions  did  not  rise  above  the  vagaries  of  a  heathen 
philosopher.  He  seems  even  to  have  doubted  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  ;'  or  at  least  he  suffered  this  important  truth  to  have  no  influence 
on  his  theory  or  practice.  How  could  he  be  expected,  then,  to  do  justice 
to  a  religion  based  altogether  upon  the  realities  of  a  supernatural,  hea- 
venly world  ?  It  is  true,  he  does  not  directly  attack  Christianity,  and 
either  dexterously  eludes,  or  speciously  concedes  its  divine  origin,  in  order 
to  make  its  real  or  supposed  corruptions  in  a  subsequent  age  the  more 
apparent  and  appalling.  "  The  theologian,"  says  he,  with  latent  sarcasm, 
in  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  chapter,  "may  indulge  the  pleasing  task 
of  describing  religion  as  she  descended  from  heaven,  arrayed  in  her  native 
purity.  A  more  melancholy  duty  is  imposed  on  the  historian.  He  must 
discover  the  inevitable  mixture  of  error  and  corruption,  which  she  contract- 
ed in  a  long  residence  upon  earth,  among  a  weak  and  degenerate  race  of 
beings."  But  he  wrongs  Christ  by  casting  reproach  on  his  people  ;  he 
undermines  the  authority  of  the  apostles  by  suspecting  the  virtues  of  their 
immediate  successors.  What  reasonable  confidence  can  we  have  in  the 
divine  founder  of  our  holy  religion  if  his  work  proved  a  failure  almost  as 
soon  as  it  was  done  ? 

Fortunately,  however,  Gibbon's  picture  of  early  Christianity  is,  in  the 
main,  but  the  skillful  caricature  of  a  thoroughly  prejudiced  and  skeptical 
mind,  utterly  incapable  of  entering  into  its  spirit.  His  sympathies  are 
with  the  heroes  of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome  ;  and  while  he  praises  the 
virtues,  and  often  apologizes  for  the  vices  of  Heathens,  he  either  willfully 
omits,  or  diminishes  and  casts  suspicion  on  the  virtues  of  Christians,  and, 

^  In  the  15th  ch.  (Vol.  ].,  p.  5:27  sqq.  ed.  HarperX  he  relates,  with  apparent  approba- 
tion, the  doubts  and  uncertainties  of  heathen  writers  on  this  subject;  and,  judging  from 
the  general  tone  of  his  Autobiography,  he  believed  in  and  desired  only  the  immortal- 
ity of  fame.  In  one  of  his  last  letters,  to  Lord  Sheffield  on  the  death  of  his  lady,  dated 
Apr.  27, 1793,  he  writes  :  "  The  only  consolation  in  these  melancholy  trials  to  which 
human  life  is  exposed,  the  only  one  at  least  in  which  I  have  any  confidence,  is  the  presence 
of  a  friend,  and  of  that,  as  far  as  it  depends  upon  myself,  you  shall  not  be  destitute,"  (Au- 
tobiog.  p.  358,  N.  i''ork  ed.)  A  poor  consolation  indeed,  and,  in  this  instance,  of  short  dura- 
tion ;  as  Gibbon  died  a  few  months  after  at  London  under  circumstances  by  no  means  edi- 
fying or  encouraging. 


INTROD.]  g  33.       KATIONALISTIC    HISTOKIANS   IN    ENGLAND.  85 

with  sneering  contempt  and  almost  malignant  sarcasm,  carefully  enume- 
rates and  exaggerates  all  their  failings  ;  it  is  only  with  reluctance,  and 
with  exception  and  reservation,  that  he  admits  their  claim  to  admiration. 
"  This  inextricable  bias,"  says  his  editor,  Milman,'  "  appears  even  to  influ- 
ence his  manner  of  composition.  While  all  the  other  assailants  of  the 
Roman  empire,  whether  wai'like  or  religious,  the  Goth,  the  Hun,  the 
Arab,  the  Tartar,  Alaric  and  Attila,  Mahomet,  and  Zengis,  and  Tamer- 
lane, are  each  introduced  upon  the  scene  almost  with  dramatic  animation 
— their  progress  related  in  a  full,  complete,  and  unbroken  narrative — the 
triumph  of  Christianity  alone  takes  the  form  of  a  cold  and  critical  disquisi- 
tion. The  successes  of  barbarous  energy  and  brute  force  call  forth  all 
the  consummate  skill  of  composition  ;  while  the  moral  triumphs  of  Chris- 
tian benevolence,  the  tranquil  heroism  of  endurance,  the  blameless  purity, 
the  contempt  of  guilty  fame,  and  of  honors  destructive  to  the  human  race, 
which,  had  they  assumed  the  proud  name  of  philosophy,  would  have  been 
blazoned  in  his  brightest  words,  because  they  own  religion  as  their  prin- 
ciple, sink  into  narrow  asceticism.  The  glories  of  Christianity,  in  short, 
touch  on  no  chord  in  the  heart  of  the  writer  ;  his  imagination  remains  un- 
kindled  ;  his  words,  though  they  maintain  their  stately  and  measured  march, 
have  become  cool,  argumentative  and  inanimate."  The  great  work  of 
Gribbon,  from  whose  real  merits  we  would  not  detract  a  single  iota,  fur- 
nishes a  new  commentary  on  the  Saviour's  word,  that  the  things  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  are  hid  from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  revealed  unto 
babes. 

Gibbon's  covert  attack  on  Christianity  called  forth,  at  the  first  appear- 
ance of  his  work,  various  answers  ;  but,  the  apology  of  bishop  Watson 
excepted,  they  were  hastily  compiled  by  inferior  and  now  forgotten 
writers.  Guizot,  Wench,  and  Milman,  in  the  valuable  annotations  to 
their  translations  and  editions,  have  pointed  out  a  number  of  errors, 
omissions,  and  misstatements  in  the  History  of  the  Decline  and  Fall  ;  but 
neither  of  them  show  a  very  profound  knowledge  of  early  Christianity, 
and  consequently  neither  has  done  it  full  justice.  A  thorough  and  satis- 
factory refutation  of  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  chapters,  and  of  the 
latter  portions  of  Gibbon  relating  to  church  history,  may  be  considered 
still  a  desideratum  in  English  literature. 

In  this  connection  we  must  mention  the  work  of  the  zealous  English 
Unitarian,  Joseph  Priestley,  a  better  naturalist  than  theologian,  who 
died  at  Northumberland,  Pennsylvania,  A.D.  1804.  It  is  entitled  :  An 
Hhtory  of  the  Corruptions  of  Christianity,  in  two  volumes,"^  and  is  main- 

'  Preface  to  Gibbon's  History,  p.  xvii.  sqq. 

'  Second  edition,  1793,  Birmin^haoi.  The  dedication  to  his  friend,  Lindsey,  is  dated 
Nov. 1782. 


86  §  34.      EVANGELICAL   CATHOLIC    PEKIOD,  [gener. 

ly  a  sort  of  history  of  Christian  doctrine,  the  character  of  which  may  be 
easily  inferred  from  the  title.  It  is  a  very  incomplete  and  thoroughly 
onesided  account  of  the  origin  of  the  "  opinions"  concerning  Christ,  the 
Trinity,  the  atonement,  concerning  sin  and  grace,  angels  and  saints,  &c.  ; 
with  a  view  to  show,  that  the  orthodox  doctrines  of  the  church  are  an 
apostasy  from  primitive  Christianity  as  contained,  (according  to  his  own 
subjective  and  low  rationalistic  interpretation,  of  course'),  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  were  gradually  introduced  from  without,  especially 
through  the  influence  of  the  Greek  philosophy.  The  first  step  in  this 
supposed  process  of  "corruption"  was  the  deification  of  Christ,  the  germ 
of  which  is  found  in  Justin  Martyr's  Platonic  idea  of  the  Logos.  This 
fundamental  error  was  the  fruitful  source  of  other  corruptions,  until  at 
last  Christianity  was  brought  into  a  state  little  better  than  heathen 
polytheism  and  idolatry.  Dr.  Priestley  could  not  fail  to  see,  that  such  a 
conversion  of  church  history  into  a  history  of  progressive  corruption 
might  easily  be  laid  hold  of  by  the  infidel  in  an  open  attack  on  Chris- 
tianity itself,  as  the  fountain  of  all  these  errors  and  illusions.  But  he 
thought  he  had  a  sufficient  answer  and  consolation  in  the  honest  conceit, 
that  "these  corruptions  appear  to  have  been  clearly  foreseen  by  Christ 
and  by  several  of  the  apostles,"  and  in  the  further  consideration,  that,  in 
his  days,  "  according  to  the  predictions  contained  in  the  books  of  scrip- 
ture, Christianity  has  begun  to  recover  itself  from  this  corrupted  state, 
and  that  the  reformation  advances  apace. "^  The  work  is  written  in  a 
moderate  tone,  in  a  clear  and  pleasing  style  ;  but  is  destitute  of  real 
research  and  scientific  value.  It  is  chiefly  interesting  as  a  significant 
parallel  to  the  contemporary,  but  far  more  learned  historical  productions 
of  German  Rationalism. 

§  34.  (e)  Evangelical  Catholic  Period  of  Organic  Development. 

German  Protestantism,  like  the  prodigal  son,  gradually  became 
ashamed  of  the  husks,  on  which  it  had  long  fed,  (and  on  which,  in  some 
places,  it  still  tries  to  live),  smote  upon  its  breast  in  penitent  sorrow,  and 
resolved  to  return  to  its  father's  house,  to  the  old,  and  yet  eternally 
young,  faith  of  the  church.  As  the  deistical  or  vulgar  Rationalism 
gained  prevalence  and  power  towards  the  end  of  the  last  century  by  the 
co-operation  of  different  causes  and  influences  ;  so  men  of  various  call- 
ings and  tendencies,  as  Herder,  Hamann,  Jacobi,  the  romantic  school  of 
Schlegel,  Tieck,  and  Novalis,  the  philosophers,  Schelling  and  Hegel,  and 

'  He  himself  makes  the  truthful  remark,  though  without  applying  it  to  his  own 
case,  vol.  I.  p.  11  :  "  Nothing  is  more  common  than  for  men  to  interpret  the  writings 
ot  others,  according  to  their  own  previous  id-'as  and  conceptions  of  things." 

^  See  preface  to  the  first  vol.  p.  15. 


INTROD.]  g  34.      EVANGELICAL   CATHOLIC    PERIOD.  87 

still  more  the  theologian,  Schleiermacher,  each  did  his  part  towards  over- 
throwing its  dominion  in  the  scientific  world,  and  preparing  the  way  for 
a  new  theology,  pervaded  by  the  life  of  faith.  To  their  exertions  must 
be  added  the  reawakening  of  moral  earnestness  and  religious  life,  occa- 
sioned partly  by  the  afterworkings  of  Pietism,  and  of  the  Moravian 
movement  ;  partly  by  the  deep  concussions  of  the  Napoleon  wars,  and 
the  patriotic  enthusiasm  of  the  popular  struggles  for  freedom,  accompa- 
nied by  an  effort,  though  somewhat  vague,  for  a  universal  regeneration 
of  Germany  ;  in  part,  finally,  by  the  third  centennial  Jubilee  of  the 
Reformation,  A.  D.  1817,  and  the  important  and  pregnant  fact,  connect- 
ed with  it,  of  the  Evangelical  Union  between  the  hitherto  separated 
sister  churches  of  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  confessions,  first  in  Prus- 
sia, and  afterwards,  in  pursuance  of  this  example,  in  Wiirttemberg, 
Baden,  and  other  parts  of  Germany.  From  these  causes,  and  in  bold, 
uniutermitted,  and  victorious  warfare,  first  against  tha  older  popular 
Rationalism,,  and  afterwards  against  the  speculative  forms  of  it  proceed- 
ing from  the  Hegelian  school,  arose  the  modern  evangelical  theology  of 
Germany  ;  displaying  in  all  departments  of  religious  knowledge,  espe- 
cially in  exegesis,  church  history,  and  doctrine  history,  a  noble,  and  still 
lively  and  productive  activity  ;  and,  of  all  Protestant  theological  schools 
of  the  present  day,  unquestionably  the  first  in  learning,  acumen,  spirit, 
vigor  and  promise.' 

This  period  has  done  proportionally  more  than  any  other  for  the 
advancement  of  our  science,  as  to  both  matter  and  form.  Within  the 
last  thirty  years  in  Germany  historical  theology  has  engaged  an  extra- 
ordinary amount  of  diligence  and  zeal,  the  effects  of  which  will  long  be 
felt,  and  will  be  found  increasingly  beneficial,  also,  in  other  lands,  partic- 
ularly in  the  various  branches  of  English  and  American  Protestantism.* 
In  the  mass  of  literature  thus  created,  we  must  distinguish  three  classes 
of  works  :  (1)  Those  which  embrace  the  lohole  range  of  church  history  ; 

'  Comp.  my  GaUerieder  bcdeutendstenjetztlcbenden  UniversitdtsthcologenDeutschlands, 
a  series  of  articles  in  the  April,  May,  July,  August  and  September  numbers  of  the 
"Deutsche  Kirchenfreund,"  vol.  V.,  for  the  year  1852. 

^  Winer,  in  the  first  Supplement  to  his  Manual  of  Theological  Literature,  mentions 
no  less  than  five  hundred  works  pertaining  to  the  department  of  church  history,  which 
appeared  in  the  short  space  of  two  years  (1839-41) .  In  addition  to  these,  the  theolog- 
ical jouriiaLs  of  Germany — smllgen's  "Zeitschrift  fur  historische  Th«ologie,"  now  edit- 
ed by  Dr.  Niedner ;  Ullmann  and  UmbreWs  "  Studien  und  Kritiken" — contain  a  multi- 
tude of  historical  treatises,  many  of  them  of  great  value;  while  almost  all  the  later 
exegetical  and  dogmatical  works  are  very  largely  interwoven  with  historical  matter.  A 
very  careful  and  minute  account  of  what  has  been  added  to  the  literature  of  church  his- 
tory from  the  year  1825  to  1850,  especially  by  German  Zealand  industry,  may  be  found 
in  several  articles  of  Dr.  Engelhardt  in  Niedner's  Zeitschrift  fiir  histor.  Theologie 
for  1851  and  '52. 


88  §  34.       EVANGELICAL    CATHOLIC    PEKIOD.  [genEE. 

and  here  again,  (a)  those  constructed  on  an  extended  plan,  and  designed 
more  for  professional  scholars,  but,  as  yet,  mostly  unfinished  ;  as  the 
works  of  Neander,  (1825  sqq.),  Gieseler,  (1824  sqq.),  Engelhardt, 
(4  vols.  1833  sqq.),  Gfrorer,  (1841  sqq.)  ;  and  (b)  smaller  manuals, 
intended  rather  for  students.  Among  the  latter,  the  number  of  which 
has  of  late  very  rapidly  swollen,  we  may  mention  particularly  that  of 
NiEDNER,  (1846),  distinguished  for  oi'iginal  learning  and  masterly  con- 
densation of  details  ;  that  of  Hase,  (sixth  edition,  1848),  which,  in 
spirited,  piquant  description,  comprehensive  brevity,  esthetic  taste,  and 
successful  delineation  of  individual  characters,  excels  all  former  or  later 
compeuds  ;  and  finally,  that  of  Guericke,  (seventh  edition,  1849), 
which,  in  spite  of  its  illiberal  spirit,  and  heavy  and  awkward  style,  has 
found  much  favor  and  an  extensive  circulation,  by  its  skillful  working  up 
of  material  furnished  mostly  by  others,  especially  Neander,  by  its  decided 
orthodoxy  and  its  enthusiasm  for  old  Lutheranism.'  (2)  Those  which 
are  limited  to  the  department  of  doctrine,  history  ;  among  which  are  most 
conspicuous  the  works  of  Baumgarten-Crdsius,  (two  volumes,  1832  ; 
abridged,  1840  and  1846),  Engelhardt,  (two  parts,  1839),  Hagenbach, 
(two  parts,  second  edition,  1847),  and  Baur,  (one  volume,  1847).  (3) 
A  whole  host  of  monographs  on  celebrated  persons,  on  single  doctrines 
of  Christianity,  on  special  topics,  as  the  missions,  government,  worship, 
moral  and  religious  life,  of  the  church.  It  is  impossible  here  to  enume- 
rate even  the  most  important  of  them.  A  great  number  of  the  later 
theologians,  Neander,  Ullmann,  Marheineke,  Engelhardt,  Thilo,  Liebner, 
Hagenbach,  Bohringer,  Bindemann,  Jiirgens,  Henry,  Herzog,  Baum, 
Riluchlin,  Erbkam,  Baur,  Rothe,  Corner,  Bunsen,  Hasse,  Ebrard, 
Heppe,  (fee,  have  applied  themselves  with  zeal  and  success  to  the  field 
of  monographic  historical  literature.  Roman  Catholic  scholars  of  Ger- 
many, too,  as  Mbhler,  Hofler,  Staudenmaier,  Hefele,  Hurter,  have  fol- 
lowed the  example  set  especially  by  Neander  in  this  sphere  of  study. 
The  relation  of  the  general  works  to  the  special  is  that  of  recijjrocal 
completion.      The  former,   as    Dr.   Kliefoth   happily  remarks, °  have  a 

'  Less  generally  known,  yet  equally  valuable  in  their  way,  are  the  manuals  of 
church  history  by  Schleirmacher,  (one  of  his  most  imperfect  and  unimportant  works, 
published  after  his  death,  hy  Bonnell,  A.  D.  1S40,  from  sketches  of  lectures'),  Lindner, 
(1848  sqq.),  Fricke,  (1850),  Jacobi,  (1850),  Kurtz,  (1850),  Schmid,  (1851).  Jacobi 
is  a  worthy  and  faithful  disciple  of  Neander  ;  Lindner  and  Kurtz  have  a  decided  predi- 
lection for  Lutheran  orthodoxy,  but  greatly  surpass  Guericke  in  liberality  and  style, 
and  will  in  all  probability  gradually  take  his  place  in  regard  to  circulation.  The  work 
of  Kurtz  es\<ecidi\\y^  which  is  just  now  (1853)  coming  out  in  a  greatly  enlarged  and  im- 
proved edition,  has  all  the  elements  and  prospects  of  general  popularity. 

iJ(?M^f;-'s  "  Allg.  Repertorium  fiir  die  theol.  Literatur  und  kirchliche  Statistik"  for 
1845,  p.  106  •  where  the  reader  will  find  several  instructive  articles  by  Kliefoth,  on 
The  later  Ecclesiastical  Ilistoriof^raphy  of  the  German  Evangelical  Church. 


INTROD.]  §  34.      EVANGELICAL   CATHOLIC    PERIOD.  89 

double  office  :  "  first  to  go  before  the  monographs,  and  show  the  chasms, 
which  still  need  to  be  filled  by  such  labor  ;  and  then  again,  to  come  after 
the  monographs,  and  give  tlieir  results  the  proper  place  in  the  living 
organism  of  the  history.'" 

This  mass  of  historical  literature,  both  general  and  special,  is  by  no 
means  pervaded  by  one  and  the  same  principle  and  spirit.  It  reflects 
the  endless  diversity  and  partial  confusion  of  the  theological  schools  and 
tendencies  of  modern  Germany.  In  the  general  views  and  judgments 
of  Giesekr,  Gfrorer  and  others,  as  well  as  in  their  cold,  unedifyiug  way 
of  treating  their  subject,  we'  recognize  still  the  influence  of  the  older 
common -sense  Rationalism.  The  productions  of  the  T'uhingen  school 
are  in  league  with  the  speculative,  or  transcendental  and  pantheistic  Ra- 
tionalism of  the  Hegelian  system.  Hase,  one  of  the  most  elegant  and 
tasteful  writers  of  history,  is,  indeed,  an  opponent  of  the  common  Ra- 
tionalism, and  attacked  it  with  spirit  and  ingenuity  in  his  controversies 
with  the  late  General  Superiutendant,  Ruhr.  He  has  uncommon  facility 
in  adapting  himself  to  the  various  forms  of  Christianity  and  the  different 
stages  of  its  development  ;  possesses  a  delicate  sense  of  the  beautiful  ; 
and  furnishes  capital  miniature  portraits,  also,  of  such  saints  as  Antony, 
Bernard,  Francis  of  Assissi.  But  he  sympathizes  with  the  heroes  of  the 
Catholic  and  Protestant  churches  more  from  his  humanism  and  poetic 
taste,  than  from  the  standpoint  of  a  supernatural  faith  ;  and  the  highly 
artistic  structure  of  his  otherwise  masterly  text-book  wants  the  heaven- 
aspiring  tower  and  the  holy  sign  of  the  cross.  Guericke,  where  he  does 
not  follow  Xeander,  falls  back  into  the  obsolete  method  and  spirit  of 
Flacius,  and,  from  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  mars  the  historical  cha- 
racter and  the  dignity  of  his  Manual  quite  too  much  by  passionate  and 
coarse  attacks  upon  the  Reformed  church,  and  every  form  of  union, 
which  does  not  square  with  his  own  contracted  notions  of  orthodoxy. 
Gfrorer  began  in  low,  rationalistic  style,  but,  in  the  progress  of  his  work, 
seems  to  approach  a  politico-Catholic,  hierarchical  view.  Engelhardt, 
in  his  thoroughly  learned  works  on  church  and  doctrine  history,  makes 
it  his  business  simply  to  report  from  original  sources  with  scrupulous  ac- 
curacy and  colorless  monotony,  without  suffering  any  judgment  of  his 

'  Fr.  Bohringer  has  attempted  to  present  all  church  history  in  a  chronological 
series  of  the  biographies  of  its  heroes,  in  his  yet  unfinished  work  :  The  Church  of  Christ 
mid  her  witnesses  :  or  Church  History  in  Biographice.  Ziirich,  1842,  sqq.  His  plan  cer- 
tainly aims  to  supply  a  real  want,  has  something  very  attractive  in  it.  and  is  followed 
out  with  diligence  and  talent.  But  it  seems  to  us  too  extensive  for  a  larger,  more  pro- 
miscuous class  of  readers,  such  as  he  has  in  view ;  while  for  the  scholar  it  is  likewise 
ill  adapted  on  account  of  its  entire  want  of  literary  apparatus.  The  independent  think- 
er can  take  nothing  on  mere  authority,  but  must  everywhere  examine  the  historian, 
and  see  whether  his  text  be  a  faithful  copy  of  the  sources  he  has  used. 


90  §  34.      EVAITGELICAL   CATHOLIC   PERIOD.  [gener. 

own  to  appear.  Nudner  has  thorouglily  mastered  and  digested  all  his 
material  with  considerable  energy  of  thought ;  but  his  singular  termino- 
logy and  the  artificial  interweaving  of  his  categories  make  it  hard  to 
obtain  any  clear,  simple  view. 

With  these  explanations  and  qualifications,  we  proceed  to  point  out 
those  general  features  of  the  modern  German  historiography  which  give 
it  a  decided  superiority  over  that  of  the  preceding  periods. 

1,  Its  most  prominent  excellence,  as  to  form  and  method,  we  take  to 
be  its  scientific  structure  and  that  spirited,  lifelike  mode  of  representation, 
which  springs  from  the  idea  of  an  organTc  development  J-  History  is  no 
longer  viewed  as  a  mere  inorganic  mass  of  names,  dates,  and  facts,  but 
as  spirit  and  life,  and  therefore  as  process,  motion,  development,  passing 
through  various  stages,  ever  rising  to  some  higher  state,  yet  always  iden- 
tical with  itself,  so  that  its  end  is  but  the  full  unfolding  of  its  beginning. 
This  makes  church  history,  then,  appear  as  an  organism,  starting  from 
the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  creator  and  progenitor  of  a  new  race  ; 
perpetually  spreading  both  outwardly  and  inwardly  ;  maintaining  a 
steady  conflict  with  sin  and  error  without  and  within  ;  continually  beset 
with  difficulties  and  obstructions  ;  yet,  under  the  unfailing  guidance  of 
providence,  infallibly  working  towards  an  appointed  end.  This  idea  of 
organic  development  combines  what  was  true  in  the  notion  of  something 
permanent  and  unchangeable  in  church  history,  as  held  by  both  the  Ca- 
tholic and  the  Old-Protestant  Orthodoxy,  with  the  element  of  truth  in 
the  Rationalistic  conception  of  motion  and  flow  ;  and  on  such  ground 
alone  is  it  possible  to  understand  fully  and  clearly  the  temporal  life  of 
Christianity.  A  permanent  principle,  without  motion,  stiffens  into  stag- 
nation ;  motion,  without  a  principle  of  permanence,  is  a  process  of  dis- 
solution. In  neither  case  can  there  properly  be  any  living  history.  The 
conception  of  such  history  is,  that,  while  it  incessantly  changes  its  form, 
never  for  a  moment  standing  still,  yet,  through  all  its  changes,  it  remains 
true  to  its  own  essence  ;  never  outgrows  itself  ;  incorporates  into  each 
succeeding  stage  of  growth  the  results  of  the  preceding  ;  and  thus  never 
loses  anything,  which  was  ever  of  real  value. 

This  idea  of  an  organic,  steadily  improving  development  of  humanity, 
according  to  a  wise,  unalterable  plan  of  providence,  is  properly  speaking 
as  old  as  Christianity,  meets  us  in  many  passages  of  the  New  Testament 
(Matt.  13  :  31,  32.  Eph.  4  :  12-16.  Col.  2:19.  2  Pet.  3  :  18),  and  in 
occasional  remarks  of  the  early  fathers,  such  as  Tertullian  and  Augustine, 
and  was  brought  out  in  the  eighteenth  century  with  peculiar  emphasis  and 
freshness  by  the  genial  Herder,  in  his  "Ideas  for  the  Philosophy  of  the 
History  of  Humanity,"  (1184),  so  highly  valued  by  the  gifted  historian 

'  See  above,  §  S. 


INTROD.]  g  34.       EVAl^GELICAL    CATHOLIC    PEKIOD.  91 

of  Switzerland,  John  von  Miiller.*  The  more  mature  and  philosophical 
conception  of  it,  however,  and  the  impulse  which  it  gave  to  a  deeper  and 
livelier  study  of  history,  are  due  especially  to  the  philosophy  of  ScheUing, 
and,  still  more,  of  Hegel.  With  Hegel,  all  life  and  thought  is  properly 
development,  or  a  process  of  organic  growth,  which  he  calls  Aufhehung  ; 
that  is,  in  the  threefold  sense  of  this  philosophical  term  so  much  used  by 
him  ;  (1)  an  abolition  of  the  previous  imperfect  form  (an  aufkeben  in  the 
sense  of  tollere)  (2)  a  preservation  of  the  essence  {conservare) ,  and  (3) 
an  elevation  of  it  to  a  higher  stage  of  existence  (elevare).  Thus  as  the 
child  grows  to  be  a  man,  his  childhood  is  done  away,  his  personal  iden- 
tity is  preserved,  and  his  nature  raised  to  the  stage  of  manhood.  So,  as 
Judaism  passes  into  Christianity,  its  exclusive  character,  as  a  preparatory 
establishment,  is  lost  ;  but  its  substance  is  transferred  into  the  gospel, 
and  by  it  completed.  Christ  is,  on  the  one  hand,  the  end  of  the  law  and 
the  prophets,  while,  on  the  other,  he  says  :  "I  am  not  come  to  destroy, 
but  to  fulfill."  This  is  no  contradiction,  but  only  the  exhibition  of  the 
same  relation  in  different  aspects. 

The  general  idea  of  development,  however,  takes  very  different  forms 
from  different  standpoints  ;  as  faith,  authority,  freedom,  nay,  even  Christ- 
ianity itself  are  liable  to  the  most  contradictory  definitions.  How  far 
apart,  for  example,  are  Neander  and  Baur,  though  both  apprehend  and 
represent  church  history  as  a  process  of  life  !  How  different  again  from 
both  the  Roman  catholic  convert  Newman,  who  has  likewise  a  theory  of 
development  of  his  own  !  Hegel's  development,  in  the  hands  of  his  infi- 
del followers,  is,  at  bottom,  merely  an  intellectual  process  of  logical  think- 
ing, in  which,  in  the  end,  the  substance  of  the  Christian  life  itself  is  lost. 
As  once  Platonism  was,  for  Origen,  Yictorinus,  Augustine,  Synesius,  and 
others,  a  bridge  to  Christianity,  while,  at  the  same  time,  the  Neo-Platon- 
ists  and  Julian  the  Apostate  used  it  as  a  weapon  against  the  Christian 
religion  ;  so,  also,  the  categories  of  modern  philosophy,  (not  only  German, 
but  English  too),  have  subserved  purposes  and  tendencies  diametrically 
opposite.  The  right  applicalion  of  the  theory  of  develofment  depends  alto- 
gether on  having  beforehand  a  right  view  of  positive  Christianity  ^  and  being 
rooted  and  grounded  in  i',  not  only  in  thought,  but  also  in  heart  and  experi- 
ence. With  this  preparation  a  man  may  learn  from  any  philosophical  sys- 
tem without  danger,  on  the  principle  of  Paul,  that  "  all  things  are  his." 
Here,  too,  we  may  say  :  Amicus  Plato,  amicus  Aristotcles,  sed  magis  arnica 
Veritas. 

But  when  this  mode  of  viewing  history  is  adopted,  it  cannot  fail  to  have 
its  influence  on  the  representation.     If  history  is  spirit  and  life,  and,  in 

'  Comp.  some  extracts  on  this  point  from  Herders  works,  in  my  tract  on  Historical 
Development,  p.  73  sq. 


92  §  34.       EVANGELICAL    CATHOLIC    PERIOD.  [gENER. 

fact,  rational  spirit,  the  manifestation  and  organic  unfolding  of  eternal, 
divine  ideas  ;  its  representation  must  likewise  he  full  of  spirit  and  life, 
an  organic  reproduction.  A  mechanical  and  lifeless  method,  which  merely 
accumulates  a  mass  of  learned  material,  however  accurately,  is  no  lon- 
ger enough.  The  historian's  object  now  is,  to  comprehend  truly  the  events, 
leading  ideas,  and  prominent  actors  of  the  past,  and  to  unfold  them  before 
the  eyes  of  his  readers,  just  as  they  originally  stood  ;  to  know  not  only  what 
has  taken  place,  but  also  koto  it  has  taken  place.  The  old  pragmatic 
method,  too,  of  referring  things  merely  to  accidental  subjective  and  psy- 
chological causes  and  motives,  has  become  ec^ually  unsatisfying.  A  high- 
er pragmatism  is  now  demanded,  which  has  paramount  regard  to  the  ob- 
jective forces  of  history  ;  traces  the  divine  connection  of  cause  and  effect ; 
and,  with  reverential  wonder,  searches  out  the  plan  of  eternal  wisdom  and 
love. 

2.  With  this  view  of  history,  as  an  inwardly  connected  whole,  pervad- 
ed by  the  same  life-blood  and  always  striving  towards  the  same  end,  is  uni- 
ted the  second  characteristic,  which  we  look  upon  as  the  greatest  material 
excellence  of  the  most  important  historians  of  modern  Germany  ;  viz.,  the 
spirit  of  impartiality  and  Protestant  catholicity.  Here,  also.  Herder,  with 
his  enthusiastic  natural  sensibility  to  the  beautiful  and  the  noble  in  all 
times  and  nations,  was  the  mighty  pioneer.  By  the  recent  development 
of  theology  and  religious  life  in  Germany  the  barriers  of  prejudice,  which 
separated  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  churches,  have  been,  in  a  great 
measure,  surmounted,  and  by  the  Prussian  Union,  (which,  without  such 
inward  development,  would  be  an  unmeaning  governmental  measure), 
these  barriers  have  been,  in  a  certain  degree,  also  outwardly  removed,  and 
almost  all  the  great  theologians  of  the  day  in  Germany  now  stand  essen- 
tially upon  the  basis  of  the  Evangelical  Union.  Nay  more.  Protestant- 
ism has  also  be^n  forced  to  abandon  forever  her  former  onesided  posture 
towards  Catholicism.  The  old  view  of  the  Middle  Ages  especially,  whose 
darkness  Rationalism  in  its  arrogant  pretensions  to  superior  light  and 
knowledge  (Aufklarung)  could  not  paint  black  enough,'  has  been  entirely 
repudiated,  since  the  most  thorough  research  has  revealed  their  real  signifi- 
cance in  poetry,  art,  politics,  science,  theology  and  religion.*     It  is  now 

'  In  a  rationalistic  pamphlet  on  Luther,  which  appeared  in  Berlin  as  late  as  A.  D- 
1817,  and  has  been  frequently  reprinted,  we  find  even  the  fabulous  assertion,  that  "  poor 
men  at  that  time  knew  almost  nothing  of  God."  A  certain  American  doctor  of  theology, 
whom  respect  for  his  age  and  ecclesiastical  connection  forbids  us  to  name,  seems,  even 
in  the  year  1852,  to  hold  the  same  view.  Comp.  his  "  Contrast  between  the  erroneous 
assertions  of  Prof.  Schaff  and  the  testimony  of  credible  Ecclesiastical  Historians,  (i.  e. 
Mosheim  and  Edgar) ,  in  regard  to  the  state  of  the  Christian  Church  in  the  Middle  Ages." 

*  Fr.  Galle,  a  disciple  of  Neander,  says  in  the  preface  to  his  "  Geistliche  Stimmen 
aus  dem  Mittelalter."  p.  vi.  :  "  J.ong  past  is  that  period  of  stiff  Lutheran  orthodoxy 


INTROD.]  g  34.       EVANGELICAL    CATHOLIC    PEEIOD.  93 

generally  agreed,  that  the  Middle  Ages  were  the  necessary  connecting 
link  between  ancient  and  modern  times  ;  that  this  period  was  the  cradle 
of  Germanic  Christianity  and  modern  civilization  ;  that  its  grand,  pecu- 
liar institutions  and  enterprises,  the  papacy,  the  scholastic  and  mystic 
divinity,  the  monastic  orders,  the  crusades,  the  creations  of  sacred  art, 
were  indispensable  means  of  educating  the  European  races  ;  and  that, 
without  them,  even  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century  could  not 
have  arisen.  Here,  of  course,  the  ultra-Protestant  fanatical  opposition 
to  the  Catholic  church  must  cease.  The  general  disposition  now  is  to 
break  away  from  the  narrow  apologetic  and  polemic  interest  of  a  parti- 
cular confession  or  party,  the  colored  spectacles  of  which  allow  but  a 
dim  and  partial  view  of  the  Saviour's  majestic  person.  We  wish  to  be 
guided  solely  by  the  spirit  of  impartial  truth  ;  and  truth,  at  the  same 
time,  always  best  vindicates  itself  by  the  simple  exhibition  of  its  sub- 
stance and  historical  course.  Christianity  can  never  be  absolutely  fitted 
to  the  last  of  a  fixed  human  formula,  without  losing  her  dignity  and 
majesty  ;  and  her  history  may  claim,  for  its  own  sake,  to  be  thoroughly 
investigated  and  represented,  sine  ira  et  studio,  without  any  impure  or 
loveless  designs.  The  greatest  masters  in  this  field  become  more  and 
more  convinced,  that  the  boundless  life  of  the  church  can  never  be  ex- 
hausted by  any  single  sect  or  period,  but  can  be  fully  expressed  only  by 
the  collective  Christianity  of  all  periods,  nations,  confessions,  and  indivi- 
dual believers  ;  that  the  Lord  has  never  left  himself  without  a  witness  ; 
that,  consequently,  every  period  has  its  excellencies,  and  reflects,  in  its 
own  way,the  image  of  the  Redeemer.  A  ISTeander,  for  example,  reve- 
rentially kisses  the  foot-prints  of  his  Master,  even  in  the  darkest  times, 
and  bows  before  the  most  varied  refractions  of  his  glory.  Hence,  within 
the  last  thirty  years,  almost  evexy  nook  of  church  history  has  been 
searched  with  amazing  industry  and  zeal ;  the  darkest  portions  have  been 
enlightened  ;  and  a  mass  of  treasures  brought  forth  from  primitive,  me- 
dieval, and  modern  times,  to  be  admired  and  turned  to  the  most  valuable 
account  by  present  and  future  generations. 

In  short,  the  investigations  of  believing   Germany  in  the  sphere  of 
church  history  are  inwardly  and  irresistibly  pressing  towards  an  evangeli- 

which  summarily  rejected  every  intellectual  production  in  any  sort  of  connection  with 
the  Catholic  Middle  Ages ;  already  passing  away  is  the  time  of  shallow  illuminationism 
(Aufklarung).  which  could  see  in  the  Reformation,  at  best,  the  murky  dawn  of  the 
pretended  noon-day  of  the  present ;  and  in  the  Middle  Ages,  only  a  dark,  dreary  night, 
in  which  nothing  stirred  but  the  wild  beasts  of  Obscurantism  and  barbarism.  Men 
have  begun  to  perceive,  with  all  esteem  for  the  reformation  and  its  invaluable  services, 
that  the  Lord  has  at  all  times  filled  his  church  with  his  Spirit  and  his  gifts,  and  that, 
even  where  her  skies  have  been  darkened  with  mist  and  clouds,  he  has  always  been 
near  her  with  the  light  of  his  truth." 


94  §  34.       EVAKGELICAL    CATHOLIC    PEEIOD.  [gener. 

cal  catholic,  central,  and  universal  position,  which  will  afford  a  fair  view 
of  all  parts  of  the  vast  expanse.  They  are  making  men  see,  how  the 
flood  -of  divine  light  and  life,  emanating  from  Jesus  Christ,  the  central 
sun  of  the  moral  universe,  has  been  pouring,  with  unbroken  effulgence, 
on  all  past  centuries,  and  will  continue  to  pour  upon  the  world  in  ever 
new  variegations.  For  this  reason,  the  study  of  our  science  is  continu- 
ally acquiring  a  greater  practical  importance.  Church  history  is  the 
field,  on  which  are  to  be  decided  the  weightiest  denominational  contro- 
versies, the  most  momentous  theological  and  religious  questions.  It  aims 
to  sketch  forth  from  the  old  foundations  of  the  church  the  plan  for  its 
new  superstructure.  In  truth,  the  spirit  of  the  modern  evangelical  theo- 
logy of  Germany  seems  to  have  already  risen,  in  principle,  above  the 
present  sad  divisions  of  Christendom  ;  and  to  foretoken  a  new  age  of  the 
church.  It  can  reach  its  aim,  and  find  complete  satisfaction  only  in  the 
glorious  fulfillment  of  the  precious  promise  of  one  fold  and  one  shepherd. 

Having  noticed  these  general  features,  which,  however,  as  already  in- 
timated, by  no  means  belong  to  all  the  German  church  historians  of  our 
day,  we  must  now  characterize  more  minutely  the  most  prominent 
authors  ;  and,  in  so  doing,  we  shall  have  occasion  at  the  same  time  to 
explain  our  own  relation  to  them,  especially  to  Dr.  Neander. 

Among  the  latest  German  ecclesiastical  historians,  who  stand  at  the 
head  of  their  profession,  we  must  distinguish  two  widely  different  schools, 
which,  as  to  their  philosophico-theological  basis,  attach  themselves  to  the 
names  of  the  two  greatest  scientific  geniuses  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
Schleicrmacher  and  Hegel.  They  bear  to  each  other,  in  some  respects, 
the  relation  of  direct  antagonism,  but  partly,  also,  that  of  mutual  com- 
pletion ;  and  are  well  matched  in  spirit  and  learning.  They  are  :  (1) 
The  school  of  Schleicrmacher  and  Neander,  with  Dr.  Neander  himself  at 
its  head,  as  the  "  father  of  modern  church  history."  For  Schkiermacher 
was,  properly,  no  historian  ;  and  his  posthumous  lectures  on  church  his- 
tory amount  to  no  more  than  a  loose  unsatisfactory  sketch.  But  his 
pjiilosophical  views  of  religion,  Christianity,  and  the  church,  have  indi- 
rectly exerted  a  very  important  influence  upon  this  department  of  theo- 
logy, as  well  as  upon  almost  all  others.  (2)  The  Hegelian  school.  This, 
however,  falls  again  into  two  essentially  different  branches,  viz.  ;  {a)  an 
unchurchly  and  destructive  branch,  the  Tubingen  school,  as  it  is  called, 
the  chief  representative  of  which  is  Dr.  Bauk,  of  Tubingen  ;'  and  {b)  a 
conservative  branch,  devoted  to  the  Christian  faith,  among  the  leaders 
of  which  must  be  named  with  special  prominence  Drs.  Kothe  and  Dorner. 

*  Not  to  be  confounded  with  the  half  crazy  Bruno  Bauer,  whose  blasphemous  pro- 
ductions on  the  Gospels  and  the  Acts  belong  not  to  the  literature  of  theology,  but  to 
the  history  of  insanity. 


INTROD.]  §  35,      DE.    NEAJSTDEE.  95 

Since  this  later  school,  however,  combines  with  the  objective  view  of  his- 
tory and  the  dialectic  method  of  the  Hegelian  philosophy,  the  elements, 
also,  of  the  Schleiermacherian  theological  culture,  it  may  as  well  have 
an  independent  place,  as  a  third  school,  intermediate  between  the  two 
others.' 

§  35.  Dr.  Neander  and  his  School."^ 

Dr.  Augustus  Neander  forms  an  epoch  in  the  development  of  Protes- 
tant church  historiography,  as  well  as  Flacius  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
Arnold  at  the  close  of  the  seventeenth,  Mosheim  and,  somewhat  later, 
Semler  in  the  eighteenth  ;  and  was  accordingly,  by  general  consent,  dis- 
tinguished, even  before  his  death  (1850),  with  the  honorary  title,  "  Fa- 
ther of  (Modern)  Church  History."  From  him  we  have  a  large  work, 
unfortunately  not  finished,  on  the  general  liistory  of  the  Christian  church  ; 
extending  from  the  death  of  the  Apostles  almost  to  the  Reformation.^ 
Next  a  special  work  on  the  Apostolic  period,''  which,  together  with  one 
on  the  life  of  Christ  (1837.  5th  ed.  1849),  serves  as  a  foundation  for  the 
main  work.  Then,  several  valuable  historical  monagraphs  on  Julian  the 
Apostate  (1812),  St.  Bernard  of  Clairvaux  (1813.  2nd  ed.  1849),  the 
Gnostic  Systems  (1818),  St.  John  Chrysostom  (1821.  3d  ed.  1848),  the 
Anti-Gnostic  Tertullian  (1825.  3rd  ed.  1849).  Finally  some  collections 
of  smaller  treatises,  mostly  historical,  in  which  he  presents  single  persons 
or  manifestations  of  the  Christian  life,  on  the  authority  of  original 
sources,  indeed,  but  in  a  form  better  adapted  to  meet  the  practical  reli- 
gious wants  of  the  public  generally.  The  most  important  of  these  is  his 
Denkwicrdig/ieiten  aits  der  Geschichte  des  christlichen  Lebens  (3  vols.  1822. 
3rd  ed.  1845),  a  series  of  edifying  pictures  of  religious  life  in  the  first 
eight  centuries, 

'  In  the  following  review  of  these  schools  we  will  not  forget  the  debt  of  personal  gra- 
titude we  owe  to  their  leaders,  Neander,  Baur,  and  Dorner,  who  were  our  respected  in- 
structors ;  the  first,  in  Berlin  ;  the  two  last,  previously,  in  Tubingen.  But  this  cannot 
induce  us  to  withhold  a  decided  and  uncompromising  protest  against  the  dangerous  and 
antichristian  extravagances  of  the  skeptical  school  of  Baur.  All  personal  considera- 
tions must  be  subordinated  to  the  sacred  interests  of  faith  and  the  church. 

*  Comp.  my  Recollections  of  Neander,  in  the  '•  Mercersburg  Review  "  for  January, 
18r)l ;  and  Neander  s  Jugendjahre,  in  the  "  Kirchenfreund  ''  for  1851,  p.  283  sqq. 

*  In  six  volumes,  or  eleven  parts  (1825-52) .  The  last  volume  embracing  the  period 
preparatory  to  the  Reformation,  down  to  the  council  of  Basil  (A.  D.  1430) ,  was  pub- 
lished after  the  author's  death  by  Candidate  Schneider  from  manuscripts  left  in  a  very 
fragmentary  form.  The  first  four  volumes  have  appeared,  since  1842,  in  a  second,  im- 
proved edition.  Th6  English  translation  of  this  work  by  Prof.  Torrey,  though  not  en- 
tirely free  from  errors,  may  be  pronounced,  in  general,  a  very  accurate  version. 

*  Geschichte  der  Pflanzung  und  Leitung  der  Christlichen  Kirche  durch  die  Apostel. 
2  vols.  1832.  4th  ed.  1847. 


96  §  35.       DK.    KEANDEK.  |gENER. 

Neander  was  fitted,  as  few  have  been,  for  the  great  task  of  writing 
the  history  of  the  church  of  Jesus  Christ.  By  birth  and  early  training 
an  Israelite,  and  a  genuine  Nathanael  too,  full  of  childlike  simplicity, 
and  of  longings  for  the  Messianic  salvation  ;  in  youth,  an  enthusiastic 
student  of  the  Grecian  philosoi)hy,  particularly  of  Plato,  who  became, 
for  him,  as  for  Origen  and  other  church  fathers,  a  scientific  schoolmaster, 
to  bring  him  to  Christ' — he  had,  when  in  his  seventeenth  year  he  received 
holy  baptism,  passed  through,  in  his  own  inward  experience,  so  to  speak, 
the  whole  historical  course,  by  which  the  world  had  been  prepared  for 
Christianity  ;  he  had  gained  an  experimental  knowledge  of  the  workings 
of  Judaism  and  Heathenism  in  their  direct  tendency  towards  Christiani- 
ty ;  and  thus  he  had  already  broken  his  own  way  to  the  only  proper 
position  for  contemplating  the  history  of  the  church  ;  a  position,  whence 
Jesus  Christ  is  viewed  as  the  object  of  the  deepest  yearnings  of  human- 
ity, the  centre  of  all  history,  and  the  only  key  to  its  mysterious  sense. 
Richly  endowed  in  mind  and  heart  ;  free  from  all  domestic  cares  ;  an 
eunuch  from  his  mother's  womb,  and  that  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven's 
sake  (Matt.  19  :  12)  ;  without  taste  for  the  distracting  externals  and 
vanities  of  life  ;  a  stranger  in  the  material  world,  which,  in  his  last  years, 
was  withdrawn  even  from  his  bodily  eye, — he  was,  in  every  respect,  fitted 
to  bury  himself,  during  a  long  and  uninterrupted  academical  course,  from 
1812  to  1850,  in  the  silent  contemplation  of  the  spiritual  world,  to 
explore  the  past,  and  to  make  his  home  among  the  mighty  dead,  whose 
activity  belonged  to  eternity.  In  theology,  he  was  at  first  a  pupil  of  the 
gifted  Schleiermacher,  under  whose  electrifying  influence  he  came  during 
his  university  studies  at  Halle,  and  at  whose  side  he  afterwards  stood  as 
colleague  for  many  years  in  Berlin.  He  always  thankfully  acknowledged 
the  great  merits  of  this  German  Plato,  vrlio,  in  a  time  of  general  apos- 
tacy  from  the  truth,  rescued  so  many  young  men  from  the  iron  embrace 
of  Rationalism,  and  led  them  at  least  to  the  threshold  of  the  holiest  of 
all.''     But  he  himself  took  a  more  positive  course,  rejecting  the  pantheis- 

'  Even  in  the  academical  gymnasium  at  Hamburg,  Plato  and  Plutarch  were  his 
favorite  study.  The  intimate  friend  of  his  youth,  William  Neumann — whose  surname 
he  afterwards  at  his  baptism  assumed,  in  its  Greek  form,  with  significant  reference, 
also,  to  his  own  inward  change — wrote  of  David  Mendel,  as  Neander  was  originally 
called,  in  the  year  1806,  {Chamisso^s  Works,  VI.,  p.  241  sq.)  :  "  Plato  is  his  idol  and 
his  perpetual  watchword.  He  pores  over  him  day  and  night,  and  few,  perhaps,  take 
him  in  so  entirely  or  with  such  full  reverence.  It  is  wonderful  how  he  has  become  all 
this,  so  perfectly  without  foreign  influence,  solely  by  reflection  and  honest,  pure  study. 
With  little  knowledge  of  the  Romantic  philosophy,  he  has  constructed  it  for  himself, 
getting  the  germs  of  it  from  Plato.  On  the  world  around  him  he  has  learned  to  look 
with  sovereign  contempt."  For  a  more  minute  account  of  Neander's  education,  see 
th«  "  Kirchenfreund,"  1.  c.  p.  286  sqq. 

*  Comp.  especially  Neander's  article  on  The  pa^t  half  century  in  its  relation  to  the 


INTROD.]  §  35.       DE.    NEANDER.  97 

tic  and  fatalistic  elements  which  had  adhered  to  the  system  of  his  master 
from  the  study  of  Spinoza,  and  which,  it  must  be  confessed,  bring  it,  in 
a  measure,  into  direct  opposition  to  tlie  simple  gospel  and  the  old  faith  of 
the  church.  This  was,  for  him,  of  the  greatest  moment.  For  only  in 
the  recognition  of  a  personal  God,  and  of  the  free  agency  of  individual 
men,  can  history  be  duly  apprehended  and  appreciated.  But  apart  from 
this  he  was,  in  his  own  particular  department,  entirely  independent. 
For  Schleiermacher's  strength  lay  in  criticism,  dogmatics,  and  ethics,  far 
more  than  in  church  history  ;  though,  by  his  spiritual  intuitions,  he 
undoubtedly  exerted  on  the  latter  science  also  a  quickening  influence. 

Thus,  from  the  beginning  of  his  public  labors,  Neander  appeared  as 
one  of  the  leading  founders  of  the  new  evangelical  theology  of  Germany, 
and  its  most  conspicuous  representative  on  the  field  of  church  and  doc- 
trine history. 

His  first  and  greatest  merit  consists  in  restoring  the  religious  and  prac- 
tical interest  to  its  due  prominence,  in  opposition  to  the  coldly  intellectual 
and  negfitive  critical  method  of  Rationalism ;  yet  without  thereby 
wronging  in  the  least  the  claims  of  science.  This  comes  out  very  clearly 
even  in  the  preface  to  the  first  volume  of  his  great  work,  where  he 
declares  it  to  be  the  grand  object  of  his  life,  to  set  forth  the  history  of 
Christ,  "as  a  living  witness  for  the  divine  power  of  Christianity  ;  a 
school  of  Christiaii  experience  ;  a  voice  of  edification,  instruction,  and 
warning,  sounding  through  all  ages,  for  all,  who  will  hear."  True,  he  is 
second  to  none  in  learning.  With  the  church  fathers,  in  particular, 
many  years  of  intercourse  had  made  him  intimately  familiar.  And 
though,  from  his  hearty  dislike  for  all  vanity  and  affectation,  he  never 
makes  any  parade  with  citations,  yet,  by  his  pertinent  and  conscientious 
manner  of  quoting,  he  everywhere  evinces  a  perfect  mastery  of  the 
sources  :  for  the  genuine  scholar  is  recognized,  not  in  the  number  of  cita- 
tions, which,  at  any  rate,  may  be  very  cheaply  had  from  second  or  third 
hand  ;  but  in  their  independence  and  reliability,  and  in  the  critical  dis- 
cernment, with  which  they  are  selected.  With  the  most  thorough 
knowledge  of  facts  he  united,  also,  almost  every  other  qualification  of  a 
scientific  historian  ;  a  spirit  of  profound  critical  inquiry,  a  happy  power 
of  combination,  and  no  small  talent  for  genetically  developing  religious 
characters  and  their  theological  systems.  But  he  diffuses  through  all  his 
theoretical  matter  a  pious,  gentle,  and  deeply  humble,  yet  equally 
earnest  spirit.  Like  Spener  and  Franke,  Neander  views  theology,  and 
with  it  church  history,  not  merely  as  a  thing  of  the  understanding,  but 

present  time,  in  the  "  Deutsche  Zeitschrift,"  established  by  Dr.  Miiller,  Dr.  Nitzsch,  and 
himself,  vol.  I.,  1850,  p-  7  sqq.,  where  he  gives  his  views  at  large  respecting  Schleier- 
macher. 


98  §  35.      DR.    NEANDER.  [gener. 

also  as  a  practical  matter  for  tlie  heart  ;  and  lie  has  chosen  for  his 
motto  :  Pectus  est  quod  theologum  facit.^  This  gives  his  works  a 
great  advantage  over  the  productions  of  the  modern  Tubingen  school,  as 
well  as  over  the  text  book  of  Gieselcr,  which,  in  learning  and  keen 
research,  is  at  least  of  equal  merit  ;  though  in  the  case  of  the  latter 
work  we  are  bound  to  consider,  that  the  author  pursues  a  different 
object,  and  by  his  invaluable  extracts  from  sources  compensates  in  part 
for  the  lack  of  life  in  the  dry  skeleton  of  his  text.  Neander  moves 
through  the  history  of  the  church  in  the  spirit  of  faith  and  devotion  ; 
Gieseler,  with  critical  acumen  and  cold  intellect.  The  one  lives  in  his 
heroes,  thinks,  feels,  acts,  and  suffers  with  them  ;  the  other  surveys  their 
movements  from  a  distance,  without  love  or  hatred,  without  sympathy  or 
antipathy.  The  former  reverently  kisses  the  footsteps  of  his  Lord  and 
Saviour,  wherever  he  meets  them  ;  the  latter  remains  unmoved  and  indif- 
ferent even  before  the  most  glorious  manifestations  of  the  Christian  life.'' 
This  spirit  of  Christian  piety,  which  animates  Ncander's  historical 
writings,  and  rules  his  whole  habit  of  thought,  is  further  characterized 
by  a  comprehensive  liberality  and  evangelical  catholicity.  Arnold  and 
Milner,  in  their  subjective  and  unchurchly  pietism,  had  like  regard, 
indeed,  to  practical  utility  ;  but  they  could  find  matter  of  edification,  for 
the  most  part,  only  in  heretics  and  dissenters.  From  these  historians 
Neander  differs,  not  only  in  his  incomparably  greater  learning  and  scien- 
tific ability,  but  also,  in  that  right  feeling,  by  which,  notwithstanding  his 
own  disposition  to  show  even  too  much  favor  to  certain  heretics,  he  still 
traces  the  main  current  of  the  Christian  life  in  the  unbroken  line  of  the 
Christian  church.  From  the  orthodox  Protestant,  rough,  polemical  his- 
torians of  the  seventeenth  century,  on  the  other  hand,  Neander  differs  in 
the  liberal  spirit  with  which,  though  constitutionally  inclined  rather  to 
the  German  Lutheran  type  of  religious  character  in  its  moderate, 
Melancthonian  form,'  he  rises  above  denominational  limits,  and  plants 
himself  on   the   basis  of  the   Union,  where   Lutheran   and   Reformed 

'  Those  Hegelians,  who  ridiculed  this  motto,  and  mockingly  called  Neander  a  '■'■pec- 
toral theologian,^''  only  exposed,  in  this  way,  their  own  shame.  We  can  never  make 
theology  too  earnest  or  practical  ;  for  it  has  to  do  with  nothing  less  than  the  everlast- 
ing weal  or  woe  of  undying  souls. 

"  True,  Gieseler  also  demands,  in  the  church  historian,  "the  spirit  of  Christian 
piety ;"  and  on  the  right  ground  :  "  because  we  can  never  obtain  a  just  historical  appre- 
hension of  any  foreign  spiritual  phenomenon,  without  reproducing  it  in  ourselves," 
(Einl.  §  5) .  But  in  his  own  text,  as  might  be  expected  from  his  rationalistic  position, 
there  is  certainly  little  trace  of  such  a  spirit. 

^  Among  all  the  characters  of  church  history  there  is  hardly  one,  whom  Neander 
more  resembles,  both  in  light  and  shade,  than  Mclandhon.  Both  are  of  the  Johannean 
stamp,  of  the  mild,  amiable,  peace-loving,  conciliatory,  yielding  temperament :  and 
both  are,  in  an  eminent  sense,  Praeceptores  Germaniae. 


INTROD.]  §  35.       DR.    NEANDER.  99 

Protestantism  become  only  parts  of  a  higher  whole.  But  his  sympathies 
go  far  beyond  the  Reformation,  and  take  in  also  the  peculiar  forms  of 
Catholic  piety.  With  him,  in  truth,  the  universal  history  of  the  church 
is  no  mere  fortuitous  concourse  of  outward  facts,  but  a  connected  process 
of  evolution,  an  unbroken  continuation  of  the  life  of  Christ  through  all 
centuries.  He  has  won,  in  particular,  the  priceless  merit  of  having 
introduced  a  more  correct  judgment  respecting  the  whole  church  before 
the  Reformation  ;  above  all,  of  having  presented  to  the  Protestant  mind, 
not  in  the  service  of  this  or  that  party,  but  in  the  sole  interest  of  truth, 
and  in  an  unprejudiced,  living  reproduction,  the  theology  of  the  church 
fathers  in  their  conflict  with  the  oldest  forms  of  heresy.  This  he  did 
first  in  his  monographs.  In  his  Tertullian^  he  drew  a  picture  of  the 
African  church  of  the  second  and  third  centuries,  and  taught  the  true 
value,  hitherto  so  much  mistaken,  of  this  rough,  but  vigorous  Christian, 
the  patriarch  of  the  Latin  theology.  In  his  John  Chrysostom,  he  por- 
trayed the  greatest  orator,  interpreter,  and  saint  of  the  ancient  Greek 
church.  In  his  Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  he  described  with  warm,  though 
by  no  means  blind  admiration,  the  worthiest  representative  of  monkery, 
of  the  crusades,  and  of  the  practical  and  orthodox  mysticism,  in  the 
bloom  of  the  Catholic  Middle  Ages,  previously  so  little  known  and  so 
much  decried.  He  felt  thus  at  home  in  all  periods,,  because  he  met  the 
same  Christ  in  them  all,  only  in  different  forms.  By  such  sketches, 
drawn  from  life,  and  then  by  the  connected  representation  in  his  large 
work,  he  contributed  mightily  to  burst  the  shackles  of  Protestant  preju- 
dice and  bigotry,  and  to  prepare  the  way,  in  some  measure,  for  a  mutual 
understanding  between  Catholicism  and  Protestantism  on  historical 
ground.  He  adapted  the  significant  words  of  the  Jansenist  Pascal,  one 
of  his  favorite  authors  :  "  En  Jesus-Christ  toutes  les  contradictions  sont 
accordeesP  And  in  these  great  antagonisms  in  church  history,  he  saw  no 
irreconcilable  contradiction,  but  two  equally  necessary  manifestations  of 
the  same  Christianity  ;  and  he  looked  forward,  with  joyful  hope  to  a 
future  reconciliation  of  the  two,  already  typified,  as  he  thought,  in  St. 
John,  the  apostle  of  love  and  of  the  consummation  !' 

These  large  views  of  history,  however,  and  this  candid  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  great  facts  of  the  ancient  and  medieval  church — views, 
which  may  lead,  in  the  end,  to  practical  consequences  even  more  weighty, 
than  he  himself  could  foresee  or  approve — spring,  in  Xeander's  case,  by 
no  means  from  a  Romanizing  tendency.     Such  a  disposition  was  utterly 

'  Comp.  the  closing  words  of  his  History  of  the  Apostolic  Church,  and  the  Dedication 
of  the  second  edition  of  the  first  volume  of  his  larger  work  to  Schelling,  where  he 
alludes  with  approbation  to  that  philosopher's  idea  of  three  stages  of  development  an- 
swering to  the  three  apostles,  Peter,  Paul  and  John. 


100  §  35.      DK.    NEANDEE.  [geNER. 

foreign  to  him.  His  liberality  proceeds  partly  from  his  mild,  John-like 
nature,  and  partly  from  his  genuine  Protestant  toleration  and  high  regard 
for  individual  personality  ;  or  from  such  a  subjectivity,  as  formed  a 
harrier  against  ultra-Protestant  and  sectarian  bigotry,  no  less  than 
against  Romanism,  where  individual  freedom  is  lost  in  the  authority  of 
the  general.  In  this  he  is  a  faithful  follower  of  Schleiermacher,  who, 
though  he  based  his  philosophy  on  the  pantheistic  system  of  Spinoza, 
had  nevertheless  an  uncommonly  keen  eye  and  a  tender  regard  for  the 
personal  and  individual.  What  Schleiermacher  thus  asserted  mainly  in 
the  sphere  of  speculation  and  doctrine,  Neander  carried  out  in  history. 
He  w^as  fully  convinced  that  the  free  spirit  of  the  gospel  could  never  be 
concentrated  in  any  one  given  foi'm,  but  could  be  completely  manifested 
only  in  a  great  variety  of  forms  and  views.  Hence  his  frequent  remark, 
that  Christianity,  the  leaven,  which  is  to  pervade  humanity,  does  not 
destroy  natural  capacities,  or  national  and  individual  differences,  but 
refines  and  sanctifies  them.  Hence  his  partiality  for  diversity  and  free- 
dom of  development,  and  his  enmity  to  constraint  and  uniformity. 
Hence  his  taste  for  monographic  literature,  which  sets  a  whole  age  con- 
cretely before  the  eye  in  the  person  of  a  single  representative  ;  of  which 
invaluable  form  of  church  history  Neander  is  to  be  accounted  the  proper 
father.  Hence  the  love  and  patience  and  scrupulous  fidelity  with  which 
he  goes  into  all  the  circumstances  of  the  men  and  systems  he  unfolds,  to 
whatever  nation,  time,  or  school  of  thought  they  may  belong  ;  setting 
forth  their  defects  and  aberrations,  as  well  as  their  virtues  and  merits  ; 
though  without  neglecting  the  duty  of  the  philosophical  historian,  to  col- 
lect the  scattered  particulars  again  into  one  complete  picture,  and  refer 
them  to  the  one  unchanging  idea.  Finally  this  sacred  reverence  for  the 
image  of  God  in  the  persons  of  men,  and  for  the  rights  of  individuals, 
accounts  for  the  esteem  and  popularity,  which  this  equally  pious 
and  learned  church  father  of  the  nineteenth  century  commands,  more 
than  any  other  modern  theologian,  in  almost  all  sections  of  Protestantism,' 
not  only  in  Germany,  but  also  in  France,  Holland,  England,  Scotland, 
and  America,  nay,  so  far  as  difference  of  ecclesiastical  ground  at  all 
allows,  among  liberal-minded  scholars  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church 
itself.  In  this  view  he  stands  before  us,  amidst  the  present  distractions 
of  Christendom,  as  an  apostle  of  mediation,  in  the  noblest  sense  of  the 
word  ;  and  as  such,  he  still  has,  by  his  writings,  a  long  and  exalted 
mission  to  fulfill. 

To  sum  up  what  has  now  been  said  ;  the  most  essential  peculiarity, 
the  fairest  ornament,  the  most  enduring  merit  of  Neander's  church 
history  consists  in  the  vital  imion  of  tin,  two  elements  of  science  and  Chris- 
tian piety,  and  in  the  exhibition  of  both  in  the  form,  not  of  dead  narra- 


INTEOD.]  §  35.       DR.    NEANDEB.  101 

tive,  or  mechanical  accumulation  of  material,  but  of  life  and  genetic  de- 
velopment. The  practical  element  is  not  a  mere  appendage  tO  the  subject 
in  the  way  of  pious  reflection  and  declamation,  but  grows  out  of  it  as  by 
nature.  It  is  the  very  spirit,  which  fills  and  animates  the  history  of 
Christianity  as  such.  Neander  is  Christian,  not  although,  but  because  he 
is  scientific  ;  and  scientific,  because  he  is  Christian.  This  is  the  only  form 
of  edification  which  can  be  expected  in  a  learned  work  ;  but  such  must 
be  expected,  where  the  work  has  to  do  with  Christianity  and  its  history. 
And  this  gain,  therefore,  ought  never  to  be  lost.  A  church  historian 
without  faith  and  piety  can  only  set  before  us,  at  best,  instead  of  the 
.living  body  of  Christ,  a  cold  marble  statue,  without  seeing  eye  or  feeling 
heart. 

But  a  perfect  church  history  calls  for  more  than  this.  While  we  re- 
spect and  admire  in  Neander  the  complete  blending  of  the  scientific  ele- 
ment with  the  Christian,  we  miss,  on  the  other  hand,  its  union  with  the 
churchly.  By  this  we  mean,  first,  that  he  lacks  decided  orthodoxy.  In  his 
treatment  of  the  life  of  Jesus  and  the  Apostolic  period,  we  meet  with  views 
respecting  the  Holy  Scriptures,  their  inspiration  and  authority,  together 
with  doubts  respecting  the  strictly  historical  character  of  certain  sections 
of  the  gospel  history,  and  the  genuineness  of  particular  books  of  the  sacred 
canon  (the  First  Epistle  to  Timothy,  the  Second  Epistle  of  Peter,  and 
the  Apocalypse),  which,  though  by  no  means  rationalistic,  are  yet  rather 
too  loose  and  indefinite,  and  involve,  in  our  judgment,  too  many  and 
sometimes  too  serious  concessions  to  modern  criticism.  Of  all  his  works, 
bis  Lehen  Jesiu  is,  perhaps,  in  this  respect,  the  farthest  from  satisfying  the 
demands  of  sound  faith,  however  highly  we  must  esteem  the  honesty  and 
tender  conscientiousness,  which  usually  give  rise  to  his  critical  scruples 
and  doubts.  There  is,  it  is  true,  in  this  difficult  field,  a  skepticism  more 
commendable  than  that  hasty  and  positive  dogmatism,  which,  instead  of 
seriously  laboring  to  untie  the  Gordian  knot,  either  refuses  to  see,  or 
carelessly  cuts  it.  But  the  full  and  uncanditional  reverence  for  the  holy 
word  of  God,  in  which  the  whole  Schleiermacherian  school  is  more  or 
less  deficient,  requires,  wherever  science  cannot  yet  clear  away  the  dark- 
ness, an  humble  submission  of  reason  to  the  obedience  of  faith,  or  a  pre- 
sent suspension  of  decisive  judgment,  in  the  hope,  that  farther  and  deeper 
research  may  lead  to  more  satisfactory  results. 

Again,  Neander  must  be  called  unchurchly  in  his  views  of  theology 
and  history,  on  account  of  his  comparative  disregard  for  the  objective  and 
realistic  character  of  Christianity  and  the  church,  and  his  disposition, 
throughout  his  writings,  to  resolve  the  whole  mystery  into  something 
purely  inward  and  ideal.  In  this  respect  he  appears  to  us  quite  too  little 
Catholic,  in  the  real  and  historical  sense  of  the  word.    True,  he  is  neither 


102  §  35.       DK.    NEAJSIDER.  [gENER. 

a  Gnostic,  nor  a  Baptist,  nor  a  Quaker  ;  though  many  of  his  expressions, 
sundered  from  their  connection,  sound  very  favorable  to  these  hyper- 
spiritualistic  sects.  He  by  no  means  mistakes  the  objective  forces  of  his- 
tory, and  can  readily  appreciate  the  realistic  element  in  such  men  as 
Tertullian,  Athanasius,  Aug-ustine,  Bernard,  and  even  in  the  popes  and 
schoolmen,  up  to  a  certain  point.  He,  in  fact,  speaks  frequently  of  gen- 
eral directions  of  mind,  which  embody  themselves  in  individuals  ;  and 
the  antitheses  of  idealism  and  realism,  rationalism  and  supranaturalism, 
logical  intelligence  and  mystic  contemplation,  and  the  various  combina- 
tions of  these  tendencies,  belong  to  the  standing  categories  of  his  treat- 
ment of  history.  But,  in  the  first  place,  he  refers  these  differences  them- 
selves, for  the  most  part,  to  a  merely  psychological  basis,  to  the  differences 
of  men's  constitutions,  that  is,  to  a  purely  subjective  ground.  His  pre- 
vailing view  is,  that  the  kingdom  of  God  forms  itself  from  individuals, 
and  therefore,  in  a  certain  sense,  from  below  upwards  ;  that,  as  Schleier- 
macher  once  said,  "  the  doctrinal  system  of  the  church  takes  its  rise  from 
the  opinions  of  individuals."  Then,  in  the  next  place,  it  is  plain,  that 
Neauder  himself  is  of  the  spiritualistic  and  idealistic  turn,  and  does  not 
always  succeed  in  avoiding  the  dangers  to  which  this  tendency,  in  itself 
needful  and  legitimate,  is  exposed.  Hence  his  predilection  for  the  Alex- 
andrian fathers,  Clement  and  Origen.  Hence  his  too  favorable  repre- 
sentation, as  it  appears  to  us,  of  Gnosticism,  especially  of  Marcion, 
whose  pseudo-Pauline  hostility  to  the  Catholic  tradition  he  even  makes  to 
be  a  presage  of  the  Reformation — which,  if  true,  would  do  the  Reforma- 
tion poor  service.  Hence  his  overstrained  love  of  equity  towards  all 
heretical  and  schismatical  movements,  in  which  he  almost  always  takes 
for  granted  some  deep  moral  and  religious  interest,  even  where  they 
clearly  rest  on  the  most  willful  insurrection  against  lawful  authority  ;  the 
love  of  justice,  with  him,  though  by  no  means  so  abused  as  by  that 
patron  of  sects,  the  pietistic  Arnold,  still  often  running  into  injustice  to 
the  historical  church.  Hence  his  undisguised  dislike  for  all  that  he  com- 
prehends under  the  phrase,  re-introdvxtion  of  the  legal  Jewish  ideas  into 
the  Catholic  church,  including  the  special  priesthood  and  outward  ser- 
vice ;  this  he  thinks  to  be  against  the  freedom  advocated  by  St.  Paul 
and  the  idea  of  the  universal  priesthood,  (which,  however,  even  under  the 
Old  Testament,  had  place  along  with  the  special  ;  comp.  1  Pet.  2  :  9 
with  Ex.  19  :  6)  ;  though  he  is  forced  to  concede  to  this  Catholic  legal- 
ism at  least  an  important  office  in  the  training  of  the  Teutonic  nations.' 

'  Dr.  Baur.  in  his  Epochen,  p.  218.  remarks,  that  this  favorite  category  of  a  transfer 
of  Old  Testament  institutions  to  Christian  soil,  which  Neander  applies  to  episcopacy, 
Montanism,  and  especially  to  the  papacy  of  the  Middle  Ages,  amounts  to  nothing; 
since  what  is  past,  never  returns  in  history,  without  becoming,  at  the  same  time,  some- 
thing entirely  new. 


INTKOD.]  §  35.       DR.    NEAKDEE.  103 

Hence  his  indifiference  to  fixed  ecclesiastical  organization,  and  his  aver- 
sion to  all  restriction  to  confessions  in  the  Protestant  church  •  this,  to 
him,  savors  of  "  bondage  to  the  letter,"  "  mechanism  of  forms,"  "  sym- 
bol-worship." On  this  latter  point  we  must,  indeed,  regard  him  as  mainly 
in  the  right  against  those,  who  would  absolutely  repristinate  some  parti- 
cular confession  of  the  past — the  Form  of  Concord,  perhaps,  with  its 
rigid  Lutheranism — utterly  regardless  of  the  enlarged  wants  of  the  pre- 
sent. There  was  still  more  ground,  also,  for  his  zeal  against  the  philoso- 
phical tyranny  of  the  Hegelian  intellectualists  and  pantheists,  who,  in 
the  zenith  of  their  prosperity,  aimed  to  supplant  a  warm,  living  Christi- 
anity by  dry  scholasticism  and  unfruitful  traffic  in  dialectic  forms.'  Still 
the  theological  school  now  in  hand  is  plainly  wanting  in  a  just  apprecia- 
tion of  the  import  of  law  and  authority  in  general — a  defect,  closely 
connected  with  the  false  view  taken  of  the  Old  Testament  in  Schleier- 
macher's  theology  and  philosophy  of  religion,  and  with  his  half-Gnostic 
ultra  Rationalism.  The  freedom,  for  which  Neander  so  zealously  con- 
tends, is  of  quite  a  latitudinarian  sort,  running,  at  times,  into  indefiuite- 
ness  and  arbitrariness,  and  covering  Sabellian,  Semiarian,  Anabaptist, 
Quakerish,  and  other  dangerous  errors  with  the  mantle  of  charity.  Much 
as  we  respect  the  noble  disposition,  from  which  this  wsprings,  we  must  still 
never  forget  the  important  principle,  that  true  freedom  can  thrive  only  in 
the  sphere  of  authority  ;  the  individual,  only  in  due  subordination  to  the 
general ;  and  that  genuine  catholicity  is  as  rigid  against  error,  as  it  is 
liberal  towards  the  various  manifestations  of  truth. 

Neander  views  Christianity  and  the  church,  not,  indeed,  as  necessarily 
opposed  to  each  other,  yet  as  two  separate  and  more  or  less  mutually 
exclusive  spheres.  In  the  mind,  at  least,  of  the  whole  ancient  Eastern 
and  "Western  church,  these  two  conceptions  virtually  coincide,  or,  at  all 
events,  are  as  closely  related  as  soul  and  body  ;  and  the  one  is  always  the 
measure  of  the  other.  This  is  abundantly  proved  by  the  examples  of 
Irenaeus,  Tertullian,  Cyprian,  Ambrose,  Augustine,  Athanasius,  Chry- 
sostom,  Anselm,  Bernard,  &c.,  even  according  to  Neander's  own  repre- 
sentations of  them.  But  the  very  title  of  his  large  work  :  "  General 
History  of  the  Christian  Religion  and  Church,"  seems  to  involve  the  idea, 
to  which  a  one-sided  Protestant  view  of  the  world  may  easily  lead,  that 
there  is  a  Christian  religion  out  of  and  beside  the  church.  On  this  point 
we  venture  no  positive  decision  ;  but  we  think  that  such  a  separation  can 

*  In  this  war  with  the  Hegelian  philosophy  and  its  panlogism,  he  frequently  gave 
way,  occasionally  in  his  prefaces,  but  oftener  in  private  conversation,  to  an  impatience 
and  vehemence,  which  seemed  inconsistent  with  his  usual  calmness  and  gentleness. 
But  hatred,  in  this  case,  was  only  inverted  love.  We  remember  the  polemic  zeal 
of  St-  John  against  the  Gnostics  of  his  day. 


104:  §   35.       DR.    NEANDEK.  [OENER. 

hardly  be  reconciled  with  Paul's  doctrine  of  the  church,  as  the  "  body 
of  Jesus  Christ,"  "  the  fulness  of  him,  that  fiUeth  all  in  all."  The  future 
must  reveal,  whether  Christianity  can  be  upheld,  without  the  divine 
institution  of  the  church  ;'  that  is,  whether  the  soul  can  live  without  the 
body  ;  whether  it  will  not,  at  last,  resolve  itself  into  a  ghost  or  Gnostic 
phantom,  as  certainly  as  the  body  without  the  soul  sinks  into  a  corpse. 
Meanwhile  we  hold  to  the  maxim  :  Where  Christ  is,  there  also  is  the 
chtirchj  his  body;  and  ivherethe  c/mrchis,  there  also  is  Christ,  her  head,  and 
all  grace  ;  and  u-hat  God  hath  joined  together,  let  not  man  put  asitnder.^ 

With  these  principal  faults  of  Neander's  Church  History,  which  we 
have  comprehended  under  the  term,  "  unchurchliness,"  in  the  wide  sense  ; 
though,  on  the  other  hand,  with  its  above  named  merits  too,  are  more  or 
less  closely  connected  several  other  subordinate  defects.  Neander  is 
pre-eminently  the  historian,  so  to  speak,  of  the  invisible  church,  and  has, 
therefore,  exhibited  the  development  of  Christian  aoctrine  and  Christian 
life,  especially  so  far  as  these  express  themselves  in  single  theologians 
and  pious  men,  in  the  most  thorough  and  original  way.  In  this  he  has, 
in  general,  surpassed  all  his  predecessors.  On  the  contrary,  in  what  per- 
tains more  to  the  outward  manifestation  of  the  church,  to  its  bodily  form, 
his  contemplative,  idealistic  turn  allows  him  less  interest.  This  appears 
at  once  in  his  sections  on  the  constitution  of  the  church,  where  the  subject 
is  treated,  even  in  the  first  period,  in  a  very  unsatisfactory  manner,  and 
under  the  influence  of  his  antipathy  to  the  hierarchical  element  ;  which, 
we  may  here  remark,  undeniably  made  its  appearance  as  early  as  the 
second  century,  in  the  Epistles  of  Ignatius,  too  groundlessly  charged  by 
him  with  interpolation,  even  in  their  shorter  form.  For  the  worldly  and 
political  aspect  of  church  history,  with  which  the  department  of  ecclesi- 
astical polity  has  chiefly  to  do  ;  the  connection  of  the  church  with  the 
state  ;  the  play  of  human  passions,  which,  alas  !  are  perpetually  intrud- 
ing even  into  the  most  sacred  affairs,  the  godly  man,  in  his  guileless, 
childlike  simplicity  and  his  recluse  student  life,  had,  at  any  rate,  no  very 
keen  eye.'     But  while  he  takes  little  notice  of  small  and  low  motives, 

^  In  which  case  the  Bible  and  Tract  Societies,  for  example,  (or,  according  to  Dr. 
Rothe,  the  State),  would  assume  the  functions  of  the  ministry,  and  instead  of  being  in 
the  church,  as  auxiliary  associations,  would  usurp  its  place,  and  make  it  no  longer  neces- 
sary. We  are  of  opinion,  however,  that  Tract  Societies  and  other  such  voluntary  asso- 
ciations, in  proportion  as  they  should  go  beyond  their  original  sphere,  and  seek  to  put 
themselves  in  the  place  of  the  church  of  God,  would  lose  the  confidence  of  the  sound 
Christian  public  and  the  blessing  of  heaven. 

^  Coleridge  somewhere  remarks  :  "  Christianity,  without  a  church  exercising  spirit- 
ual authority,  is  vanity  and  delusion." 

^  Dr.  Hagcnbach,  in  his  fine  article  on  Neander  in  the  "  Studien  und  Kritiken,"  1851, 
p.  5SS,  likewise  notices  this  honorable  defect  of  his  character,  and  adds  :  "  The  other 


INTKOD.]  §  35.       DE.    NEANDEK.  105 

he  enters  the  more  carefully  into  the  deeper  and  nobler  springs  of  actions 
and  events.  For  the  superficial  pragmatism  of  his  instructor,  Planck, 
who  often  derives  the  most  important  controversies  from  the  merest  acci- 
dents and  the  most  corrupt  sources,  he  thus  substitutes  a  far  more  spirit- 
ual and  profound  pragmatism,  which  makes  the  interest  of  religion  the 
main  factor  in  church  history.  If  he  sometimes  causes  us  almost  to  for- 
get, that  the  kingdom  of  God  is  in  the  world  ;  it  is  only  to  bring  out  the 
more  forcibly  the  great  truth  of  that  declaration  of  Christ,  which  he  has 
characteristically  taken  as  a  motto  for  each  volume  of  his  larger  work  : 
"  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world." 

Equally  lacking  was  the  excellent  Neander  in  a  cultivated  sense  for  the 
esthetic  or  artistic  in  church  history  ;  though  this  defect,  again,  appears  as 
the  shadow  of  a  virtue,  arising  from  the  unworldly  character  of  his  mind. 
Had  he  lived  in  the  first  centuries,  he,  with  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Ter- 
tuUian,  and  others,  would  have  looked  upon  art,  so  prostituted  to  the 
service  of  heathen  idolatry,  as  a  vain  ^ow,  inconsistent  with  the  humble 
condition  of  the  church,  if  not  as  an  actual  ponipa  diaboli.  This,  indeed, 
is  by  no  means  his  view.  He  is  not  puritanically,  from  principle,  opposed 
to  art.  The  all-pervading,  leavenlike  nature  of  the  gospel  is  one  of  his 
favorite  thoughts.  He  advocates  even  the  use  of  painting  "for  the  glo- 
rifying of  religion  ;  agreeably  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  which  should 
reject  nothing  purely  human,  but  appropriate,  pervade,  and  sanctify 
all ;"'  and  in  his  account  of  the  image  controversies,  he  approves  the  mid- 
dle course  between  the  two  extremes  of  worship  of  images  and  war  upon 
them.  But  a  full  description  of  the  influence  of  Christianity  upon  this 
sphere  of  human  activity,  a  history  of  church  sculpture,  painting,  archi- 
tecture, music,  and  poetry,  as  well  as  of  all  that  belongs  to  the  symbolic 
show  of  the  medieval  Catholic  worship,  is  not  to  be  looked  for  in  his 
work.  In  this  respect  he  is  far  surpassed  by  the  spirited,  though  much 
less  spiritual  Hasc,  who  was  the  first  to  interweave  the  history  of  Chris- 
tian art  into  the  general  body  of  church  history,  with  his  elegant  taste, 
in  short,  but  expressive  and  pointed  sketches.  But  Neander's  iudiiference 
to  the  beautiful  as  such,  is  fairly  balanced,  to  a  great  extent,  by  his 
merit,  in  not  allowing  himself  to  be  repelled,  like  polite  wits  and  world- 
lings, by  the  homely  and  poor  servant-form,  in  which  the  divine  on  earth 
is  often  veiled ;  in  discerning  the  real  worth  of  the  heavenly  treasure  in 
earthen  vessels,  of  the  rich  kernel  even  under  a  rough  shell  ;  or,  as  he 

extreme  is  found,  perhaps  in  Gfrorer^  who  takes  delight  in  tracing  the  intricacies  of  in- 
trigue and  chicanery,  but,  in  so  doing,  leaves  the  religious  agency  out  of  view.  See, 
for  example,  the  notice  of  the  Got.teschalk  controversy  in  his  history  of  the  Carlovin- 
gians." 

^  Kirchengeschichte,  III.  p.  400. 


106  §  35.       DK.    NEANDEE.  [OENER. 

himself  says  of  Tertullian,  in  "recognizing,  and  bringing  out  from  be- 
neath its  temporal  obscurity,  the  stamp  of  divinity  in  real  life.'" 

From  the  same  point  of  view  must  we  judge,  finally,  Neander's  style. 
His  writing  moves  along  with  heavy  uniformity  and  wearisome  verbosity, 
without  any  picturesque  alternation  of  light  and  shade,  without  rhetorical 
elegance  or  polish,  without  comprehensive  classification  ;  like  a  noiseless 
stream  over  an  unbroken  plain.  Thus  far  it  can  by  no  means  be  recom- 
mended as  a  model  of  historical  delineation.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  by 
its  perfect  naturalness,  its  contemplative  unction,  and  its  calm  presenta- 
tion of  the  subject  in  hand,  it  appeals  to  sound  feeling,  and  faithfully 
reflects  the  finest  features  of  the  great  man's  character,  his  simpliciiy  and 
his  humility.  The  golden  mean  here  appears  to  us  to  lie  between  the 
unadorned  and  uncolored  plainness  of  a  Neander  and  the  dazzling  brillian- 
cy of  a  Macaulay. 

But,  in  spite  of  all  these  faults,  Neander,  still  remains,  on  the  whole, 
beyond  doubt  the  greatest  churclf  historian  thus  far  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. Great,  too,  especially  in  this,  that  he  never  suffered  his  renown  to 
obscure  at  all  his  sense  of  the  sinfulness  and  weakness  of  every  human  work 
in  this  world. °  With  all  his  comprehensive  knowledge,  he  justly  regard- 
ed himself  as,  among  many  others,  merely  a  forerunner  of  a  new  creative 
epoch  of  ever-young  Christianity  ;  and  towards  that  time  he  gladly  stretch- 
ed his  vision,  with  the  prophetic  gaze  of  faith  and  hope,  from  amidst  the 
errors  and  confusion  around  him.  "We  stand,"  says  he,'  on  the  line 
between  an  old  world  and  a  new,  about  to  be  called  into  being  by  the  ever 
fresh  energy  of  the  gospel.  For  the  fourth  time  an  epoch  in  the  life  of 
our  race  is  in  preparation  by  means  of  Christianity.  We,  therefore,  can 
furnish,  in  every  respect,  hut  pioneer  work  for  the  period  of  the  new  creation, 
when  life  and  science  shall  be  regenerated,  and  the  wonderful  works  of 
God  proclaimed  with  new  tongues  of  fire." 


To  the  school  of  Schleiermacher  and  Neander,  in  the  wide  sense,  belongs 
the  majority  of  the  latest  theologians  of  Germany,  who  have  become 

'  Preface  to  the  second  edition  of  his  Antigiiosticus^  Geist  des  Tertullian,  p.  XL  Comp. 
the  striking  remarks  of  Hagenbach,  1.  c.  p.  589,  who  rightly  demands,  for  the  perfection 
of  historical  science,  that  it  "  should  catch  upon  the  mirror  of  the  fancy,  from  real  life, 
the  most  different  impressions  of  all  limes  ;  copy  the  past  with  artistic  freedom ;  create 
it,  as  it  were,  anew ;  breathe  into  the  conditions  of  by-gone  days  a  fresh  life,  yet,  with- 
out allowing  itself  to  be  blinded  by  their  charms.  This  is  the  union  of  poetry  with 
history,  towards  which  the  modern  age  is  striving." 

*  Comp.  the  touching  words  at  the  close  of  his  Dedication  to  his  friend,  Dr.  Julius 
Miiller,  in  the  second  edition  of  his  Tertullian,  written  a  year  before  his  death :  "Although 
like  you,  I  well  know,  that  no  man  is  worthy  of  celebrity  and  vftneration  ;  that  in  all 
we  know  or  do,  we  are,  and  must  ever  be,  beggars  and  sinners." 

*  Preface  to  his  Leben  Jesu,  1st  ed.  p.  ix.  sq. 


INTROD.]  §  35.       NEANDEE   AND    HIS    SCHOOL.  107 

known  in  the  field  of  church  and  doctrine  history,  by  larger  or  smaller 
general  or  monographic  works  ;  Hossbach,  Rheinwald,  Vogt,  Semisch, 
Piper,  Jacobi,  Bindemann,  Schliemann,  Herzog,  Henry,  Erbkam,  Guer- 
ICKE,  Lindner,  and  Kurtz,   (the  last  three  having,  however,  a  decided 
leaning  to  strict  Lutheran  orthodoxy)  ;  but  especially  Lehnerdt,  Schen- 
KEL,  Hundeshagen,  Hagenbach,  and  Ullmann,  who  are,  perhaps,  the 
most  learned  and  original  of  all  here  named.     The  compends  of  Jacobi, 
Guericke,  Lindner  and  Kurtz  have  already  been  mentioned ;  the  others 
have  written  valuable  contributions  to  various  branches  of  historical  litera- 
ture, particularly  biography.     From  Hagenbach  for  instance  w^e  have  a 
Doctrine  History,  and,  in  more  popular  style  for  the  general  reader,  au 
interesting  work  on  Protestantism,  and  another  on  the  first  three  centur- 
ies ;  which,  by  their  simple,  clear  vivacity,  and  freedom  from  technical 
pedantry,  commend  themselves  even  to  English  taste.     Hundeshagen  and 
Schenkel  have  likewise  bestowed  their  chief  strength  upon  the  nature  and 
history  of  German  Protestantism  ;  the  former,  at  the  same  time,  touching, 
with  the  soundest  discernment,  upon  many  of  its  weaknesses,  and  the  bad 
effects  of  a  disproportionate  literary  activity,  from  which  Germany  has 
long  suffered.     But  still  more  distinguished  is  Ullmann,  Prof,  in  Heidel- 
berg, whom  we  consider,  next  to  Neander,  the  most  eminent  church  his- 
torian of  Schleiermacher's  school.     His  monograph  on  Gregory  Nazian- 
zen  (A.  D.  1825),  and  still  more  his  work  on   the  Reformers  hefore  the 
Reforiimtlon,   (two  volumes,  1841-2),  are,  for  thorough,  learning,   calm 
clearness,   and  classic  elegance,  real  master-pieces  of  church  historiogra- 
phy.    From  this  mild  and  amiable  author  we  may,  perhaps,  still  look  for 
a  general  church  history,  which,  as  to  form,  and  style,  would  undoubtedly 
greatly  surpass  that  of  Neander. 

Among  the  historians,  who,  though  not  professional  theologians,  have 
yet  made  church  history  the  subject  of  their  study,  we  cannot  omit  to 
mention,  in  this  connection,  the  celebrated  Leo-pold  Rankc,  Prof,  in  Ber- 
lin, and  author  of  the  History  af  the  Popes  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
Centuries,  and  of  German  History  in  the  Age  of  the  Reformation.  He  is 
not  a  man  of  system,  and  seldom  rises  to  general  philosophical  views  ;  but 
he  has  an  uncommonly  keen  eye  for  details  and  individuals,  and  is,  in  this 
respect,  akin  to  the  school  of  Schleiermacher,  and  still  more  to  Dr.  Hase. 
With  this  he  combines  fine  diplomatic  tact  and  shrewdness  ;  the  power 
to  reveal  the  most  secret  springs  of  historical  movements,  and  that,  too, 
in  part  from  original  unprinted  sources,  especially  from  accounts  of  embass- 
ies, and  private  correspondence.  And  he  can  present  the  results  of  his 
thoroughly  original  investigations  with  graphic  perspicuity  and  lively  ele- 
gance, affording  his  readers,  at  the  same  time,  instruction  and  delightful 
entertainment.  He  might  be  termed,  in  many  respects,  the  German 
Mucaulay. 


108  §  36.     DE  BAUE.  [genee. 

§  3G.  Dr.  Barir.     Pantheistic  Ratio7iaIism  and  Modern  Gnosticism. 

In  direct  opposition  to  the  Neandriau  style  of  cliurcli  history  stands 
the  new  Tuhinp;en  school,  in  close  connection  with  the  Hegelian  philoso- 
phy. This  philosophy  carries  out  in  all  directions,  and  brings  into  well- 
proportioned  shape  the  fundamental  views  of  Schelling  ;*  though,  at  the 
same  time,  it  is,  in  a  high  degree,  independent,  and  a  wonderful  monu- 
ment of  comprehensive  knowledge,  and  of  the  power  of  human  thought. 
Its  original  peculiarity,  which  distinguished  it  from  the  systems  of  Fichte 
and  Schleiermacner,  was  its  objective  and  so  far  historical  spirit.  It  was, 
in  a  certain  sense,  ar  philosophy  of  restoration,  in  rigid  antagonism  to  the 
revolutionary,  self-sufficient  Illuminationism  of  the  last  century.  To  arbi- 
trary self-will  it  opposed  stern  law  ;  to  private  individual  opinion,  the 
general  reason  of  the  world  and  the  public  opinion  of  the  state.  II 
regarded  history,  not  as  the  play  of  capricious  chance,  but  as  the 
product  of  the  necessary,  eternal  laws  of  the  spirit.  Its  maxim  is  •* 
Everything  reasoualjle  is  actual,  and  evei'y  thing  actual,  (all  that  truh 
exists),  is  reasonable.  It  sees,  in  all  ages  of  history,  the  agency  of  highei 
powers  ;  not,  indeed,  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  Biblical  sense  ;  yet  of  a 
rational  world-spirit,  which  makes  use  of  individual  men  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  its  plans.  Hegel  acknowledges  Christianity  as  the  absolute 
religion,  and  ascribes  to  the  ideas  of  the  Incarnation  and  the  Trinity, 
though  in  a  view  very  different  from  that  of  the  church  doctrine,  a  deep 
philosophical  truth  ;  carrying  the  idea  of  trinity  into  his  view  of  the 
whole  universe,  the  world  of  matter  as  well  as  of  mind. 

But  these  general  principles  were  capable,  in  theology,  of  leading  to 
wholly  opposite  views,  according  as  the  objective  forces,  by  which  Hegel 
conceived  the  process  of  history  to  be  started  and  ruled,  were  taken  to 
be  real  existences  or  mere  abstract  conceptions  ;  according  as  the  mind 
was  guided  by  a  living  faith  in  Christianity,  or  by  a  purely  speculative 
and  scientific  interest.  Thus  arise  from  the  Hegelian  philosophy  two 
very  different  theological  schools  ;  a  positive  and  a  negative  ;  a  churchly 
and  an  antichristian.  They  are  related  to  one  another  as  the  Alexan- 
drian fathers,  Clement  and  Origcn,  who  brought  the  Hellenistic,  partic- 
ularly the  Platonic  philosophy  into  the  service  of  Christianity,  were 
related  to  the  Gnostics,  who  by  the  same  philosophy,  caricatured  the 
Christian   religion,  and  to  the  Neo-Platonists,    who   arrayed   themselves 

'  Hegel  bears  the  same  relation  to  Schelling,  as  Aristotle  to  Plato,  as  Wolf  to  Leib- 
nitz. What  the  latter  have  produced,  the  former  have  systematized  and  logically  com- 
pleted. That  such  a  relation  of  dependence  is  consistent  with  uncommon  metaphysical 
talents  and  the  most  comprehensive  learning,  is  strikingly  seen  in  Aristotle,  and  in  the 
kindred  and  equally  gifted  mind  of  Hegel. 


INTROD.]  §  36.       DE.    BAUE.  109 

directly  against  it.  The  notorious  Strauss,  one  of  tlie  infidel  Hegelians, 
has  applied  to  these  parties  the  political  terms,  right  wing,  and  left  wing, 
calling  the  neutral  and  intermediate  party  the  centre.  The  leaders  of 
the  Right  are  Marheineke,  Daub,  and  Goschel,  (the  last  two,  however, 
having  nothing  to  do  with  church  history) ;  of  the  Left,  Baur,  and  his 
disciples,  Strauss,  Zeller,  and  Schwegler,  all  from  Wiirttemberg,  and 
all  students  and  afterwards  teachers  in  Tubingen  ;  so  that  they  may  be 
called  the  Tubingen  school.  As  the  Tubingen  theologians  have  paid 
more  attention  to  historical  theology  than  the  older  Hegelians,  who 
devoted  themselves  almost  exclusively  to  systematic  divinity,  we  turn  our 
eye  first  to  them,  and  more  particularly  to  Baur,  on  whom  they  all 
depend. 

Dr.  Ferdinand  Christian  Baur,  Professor  of  Historical  Theology  in 
Tubingen,  is  a  man  of  imposing  learning,  bold  criticism,  surprising  power 
of  combination,  and  restless  productiveness  ;  but,  properly,  too  philo- 
sophical to  be  a  faithful  historian,  and  too  historical  to  be  an  original 
philosopher  ;  a  pure  theorist,  moreover,  and  intellectualist,  destitute  of 
all  sympathy  with  the  practical  religious  interests  of  Christianity  and  the 
church.  He  has  founded,  since  the  appearance  of  his  article  on  the 
Christ-jparty  in  Corinth,^  a  formal  historical,  or  rather  unhistorical, 
school,  which  in  the  negation  of  everything  positive,  and  in  destructive 
criticism  upon  the  former  orthodox  views  of  primitive  Christianity,  has 
ifar  outstripped  Semler  and  his  followers.  We  might,  therefore,  have 
placed  it  in  the  fourth  period,  as  a  new  phase  of  the  Rationalistic  mode 
of  treating  history.  But,  in  the  first  place,  this  would  too  much  inter- 
rupt the  chronological  order  ;  and  then  again,  there  is,  after  all,  a  con- 
siderable scientific  difference  between  the  older  and  the  later  Rationalism  ; 
although,  in  their  practical  results,  when  consistently  carried  out,  they 
come  to  the  same  thing,  namely,  the  destruction  of  the  church,  and  Of 
Christianity.'^  The  vulgar  Rationalism  proceeds  from  the  common 
human  understanding,  (whence  its  name,  rationalismus  comnmnis  or  vul- 
garis), and  employs,  accordingly,  a  tolerably  popular,  but  exceedingly 
dry,  spiritless  style.  The  more  refined  Rationalism  deals  with  the  specu- 
lative reason,  and  clothes  its  ideas  in  the  stately  garb  of  a  high-soundin"" 
scientific  terminology  and  dexterous  logic.  The  former  is  deistic, 
abstractly  sundering  the  divine  and  the  human,  so  as  to  allow  no  real 

^  Die  Christuspartei  in  der  korinthischcn  Gcmeinde,  der  Gegensatz  des  petrinischcn  unci 
paulinischen  Christcnthums  in  der  Sltestcn  Kirche,  in  the  "  Tiibinger  Zeitschrift  fur  The- 
ologie,"  1831,  No.  4. 

^  Just  in  proportion  as  the  speculative  Rationalism  is  popularized,  it  sinks  to  the  level 
of  the  vulgar.  It  ill  becomes  the  Hegelians,  therefore,  to  look  down,  with  their  super- 
cilious scientific  contempt,  upon  the  latter. 


110  §  36.      DB.    BAUK.  [gener. 

intercommunion  of  both.  The  latter  is  pantheistic,  confounding  God  and 
the  world,  and  deifying  the  human  Pi)irit.  The  one  is  allied  to  the 
Ebionistic  heresy  ;  the  other,  to  the  Gnostic.  The  first  holds  fast  the 
ideas  of  so-called  natural  religion,  God,  freedom,  and  immortality,  and 
endeavors  to  keep  on  some  sort  of  terms  with  the  Bible.  The  last  recog- 
nizes neither  a  personal  God,  nor  a  personal  immortality  of  man  ;  denies 
the  apostolic  authorship  of  almost  all  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  ; 
and  resolves  the  most  important  historical  statements  of  the  Bible  into 
mythological  conceits  or  even  intentional  impositions.  Both  give  them- 
selves out  for  legitimate  products  of  the  Protestant  principle  of  free 
inquiry  and  resistance  to  human  authority  ;  but  both  keep  entirely  to  the 
negative,  destructive  side  of  the  Reformation  ;  have  no  concern  for  its 
positively  religious,  evangelical  character  ;  and  must,  in  the  end,  destroy 
Protestantism  itself,  as  well  as  Catholicism. 

Baur,  in  virtue  of  his  predominant  turn  for  philosophy,  has  applied 
himself,  with  particular  zest,  to  the  most  difficult  parts  of  doctrine 
history.  These  suit  him  much  better  than  biographical  monographs, 
which  require  a  lively  interest  in  individual  persons.  The  extent  of  his 
productions  since  1831  is  really  astonishing.  Besides  a  small  text-book 
of  doctrine  history  and  several  treatises  in  various  journals,  we  have  from 
him  a  number  of  larger  works,  of  which  we  may  mention  particularly 
those  on  the  Gnosis  (1835),  in  which  he  wrongly  and  somewhat  arbitra- 
rily includes,  not  only  the  proper  Gnosticism  of  antiquity,  but  also  all 
attempts  at  a  philosophical  apprehension  of  Christianity  ;  on  Maniche- 
ism  (1831)  ;  on  the  Historical  Development  of  the  Doctrine  of  the 
Atonement  (1838),  and  of  the  Dogma  of  the  Trinity  and  Incarnation 
(three  stout  volumes,  1841-3)  ;  all  characterized  by  extensive,  thorough, 
and  well-digested  learning,  great  philosophical  acumen,  freshness  of  com- 
bination, and  skillful  description  ;  forming  epochs  in  their  kind  ;  but  too 
much  under  the  influence  of  his  own  false  preconceptions,'  to  claim  justly 
the  praise  of  invariable  objective  fidelity.. 

The  Tubingen  school,  however,  has  made  most  noise  with  its  investiga- 
tions respecting  the  history  of  primitive  Christianity ;  seeking  to  over- 
throw, in  due  form,  the  old  views  on  this  subject.     This  operation  was 

*  True,  this  school,  especially  Strauss  in  his  "  Leben  Jesu,"  boasts  of  fieedom  from 
all  philosophical  or  doctrinal  prepossession.  But,  with  Strauss,  this  consists  in  freedom 
from  all  leaning  towards  the  Christian  faith,  and  a  full  bias  towards  unbelief,  which 
wholly  unfits  him  for  any  right  apprehension  or  representation  of  the  life  of  Jesus. 
Absolute  freedom  from  prepossession,  in  an  author  of  any  character,  is  a  sheer  impossi- 
bility and  absurdity.  The  grand  requisite  for  the  theologian  is,  not  that  he  have  no 
preconceptions,  but  that  his  preconceptions  be  just,  and  such  as  the  nature  of  the  case 
demands.  Without  being  fully  possessed,  beforehand,  with  the  Christian  faith,  a  man 
can  rightly  understand  neither  the  Holy  Scriptures  nor  the  history  of  the  church. 


INTROD.]  §  36.       DE.    BAUR.  Ill 

publicly  commencea  oy  Dr.  David  Frederick  Strauss — a  younger  pupil 
of  Baur's,  but  rather  more  dariug  and  consistent  than  his  master — iu  his 
Lcben  Jesw,  which  astounded  the  world  in  1835.  In  this  book,  he  reduces 
the  life  of  the  Godman,  with  icy,  wanton  hand,  to  a  dry  skeleton  of 
everyday  history,  and  resolves  all  the  gospel  accounts  of  miracles,  partly 
on  the  ground  of  pretended  contradictions,  but  chiefly  on  account  of  the 
oifensiveness  of  their  supernatural  character  to  the  carnal  mind,  into  a 
mythical  picture  of  the  idea  of  the  Messiah,  as  it  grew  unconsciously 
from  the  imagination  of  the  first  Christians  ;  thus  sinking  the  gospels, 
virtually,  to  the  level  of  heathen  mythology.  This,  of  course,  puts  an 
end  to  the  idea  of  a  divine  origin  of  Christianity,  and  turns  its  apolo- 
getic history  of  eighteen  hundred  years  into  an  air-castle,  built  on  pare 
illusions  ;  a  pleasing  dream  ;  a  tragi-comedy,  entitled  :  "  Much  ado 
about  nothing." 

The  same  crafty,  sophistical  criticism,  which  Strauss  did  not  hesitate 
to  employ  upon  the  inspired  biographies  of  the  Saviour,  Baur  and  several 
of  his  younger  disciples  have  applied  to  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  and  to 
the  whole  Christian  literature  of  the  first  and  second  centuries,  gradually 
constructing  an  entirely  peculiar  view  of  early  Christianity.  This  philo- 
sophico-critical  construction  is  most  completely  exhibited  in  Baur's 
Paalus,  der  Apostel  Jesii  Christ i  (1845),  and  Schwegler's  JVackapostol- 
ischer  Zdtalttr  (two  volumes,  1846).  It  makes  Christianity  proper  only 
a  product  of  the  catholic  church  in  the  middle  of  the  second  century. 
In  the  minds  of  Jesus,  of  the  twelve  apostles,  and  of  the  first  Christian 
community,  Christianity  was  only  a  perfected  Judaism,  and  hence  essen- 
tially the  same  as  the  Ebionism  afterwards  condemned  as  heresy.  Paul, 
the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles, — no  one  knows  how  he  came  to  be  an 
apostle  of  Jesus  Christ, — was  the  first  to  emancipate  it  from  the  bond- 
age of  Jewish  particularism,  and  to  apprehend  it  as  a  new  and  peculiar 
system  ;  and  that  too,  in  violent,  irreconcilable  opposition  to  the  other 
apostles,  particularly  to  Peter,  the  leading  representative  of  Jewish 
Christianity.  Of  this  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  and  the  well-known 
collision  at  Antioch,  (Gal.  2  :  11  sqq.),  give  authentic  proof;  while  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles  throughout,  and  especially  in  its  description  of  the 
apostolic  council  at  Jerusalem,  intentionally  conceals  the  difference. 
This  latter  production,  falsely  attributed  to  Luke,  was  not  written  till 
towards  the  middle  of  the  second  century  ;  and  then,  not  from  a  purely 
historical  interest,  but  with  the  twofold  apologetic  object  of  justifying 
the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  against  the  reproaches  of  the  Judaizers,  afid 
reconciling  the  two  parties  of  Christendom.  These  objects  the  unknown 
author  accomplished  by  making  Peter,  in  the  first  part,  come  as  near  as 
possible  to  Paul  in  his  sentiments,  that  is,  approach  the  free.  Gentile- 


112  §  36.      DE.    BAUK.  [gener. 

Christian  position  ;  and  in  the  latter  part,  on  the  contrary,  assimilating 
Paul  as  much  as  possible  to  Peter,  or,  which  is  the  same  thing,  to  the 
Ebionites  and  Judaizers.  A  similar  pacific  design  is  ascribed  to  the 
epistles  of  Peter  and  the  later  epistles  of  Paul,  which  all  come  from  the 
second  century  ;  for,  of  all  the  epistles  of  the  New  Testament,  Baur 
holds  as  genuine  only  those  of  Paul  to  the  Galatians,  Corinthians,  and 
Romans  ;  and  even  from  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  he  rejects  the  last 
two  chapters.  At  length,  after  a  long  and  severe  struggle,  the  two 
violent  antagonists,  Petrinism  and  Paulinism,  or  properly,  Ebionism  and 
Gnosticism,  became  reconciled,  and  gave  rise  to  the  orthodox  catholic 
Christianity.  The  grand  agent  in  completing  this  mighty  change  was  the 
fourth  Gospel  ;  which,  however,  is,  of  course,  not  the  work  of  the  apos- 
tle John — though  the  author  plainly  enough  pretends  to  be  that  apostle, 
— ^but  of  an  anonymous  writer  in  the  middle  of  the  second  century. 
Thus  the  most  profound  and  spiritual  of  all  productions  comes  from  an 
obscure  nobody  ;  the  most  sublime  and  ideal  portrait  of  the  immaculate 
Redeemer,  from  an  impostor  !  !  And  it  is  not  a  real  history,  but  a  sort 
of  philosophico-religious  romance,  the  offspring  of  the  speculative  fancy 
of  the  Christians  after  the  time  of  the  apostles  !  !  Here  this  panlogis- 
tic  school,  with  its  critical  acumen  and  a  priori  construction,  reaches  the 
point,  where,  in  its  mockery  of  all  outward  historical  testimony,  its  pal- 
pable extravagance,  and  violation  of  all  sound  common  sense,  it  confutes 
itself.  "  Professing  themselves  to  be  wise,  they  became  fools."  The 
notion,  in  itself  true  and  important,  of  a  difference  between  the  Jewish 
Christianity  of  Peter  and  the  Gentile  Christianity  of  Paul,  is  pushed  so 
far,  that  it  becomes  a  caricature,  a  Gnostic  fable.  The  process  of  sound 
criticism  is  tasked  to  its  utmost  by  the  Tiibiugen  school.  The  most 
genuine  and  reliable  testimony  of  the  apostolic  and  old  catholic  church  is 
rejected  or  suspected  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  self-contradictory, 
heretical  productions  of  the  second  century,  Ebionistic  and  Gnostic 
whims  and  distortions  of  history,  are  made  the  sources  of  the  knowledge 
of  primitive  Christianity  !  Such  a  procedure  can,  of  course,  amount  to 
nothing  but  theological  romancing,  a  venturesome  traffic  in  airy  hypothe- 
ses. And,  in  fact,  the  books  of  Baur  and  Schwegler  form,  in  this 
respect,  fit  counterparts  to  the  pseudo-Clementine  Homilies  and  Recogni- 
tions, which  charge  the  ajDOstles  James  and  Peter  with  a  Gnostic  Ebion- 
ism, and  bitterly  attack  the  apostle  Paul  under  the  name  of  Simon 
Magus  ;  clothing  their  theory  in  the  dress  of  a  historical  romance. 

Generally  speaking,  this  whole  modern  construction  of  primitive  Chris- 
tianity is,  substantially,  but  a  revival,  with  some  modification,  of  the 
ancient  Gnosticism ;  and  of  that,  too,  mainly  in  its  heathen,  pseudo- 
Pauline  form.     In  truth,  Baur  and  his  followers  are,  in  the  principles  of 


INTROD.j  §  36.       DE.    BAUE.  113 

their  philosophy  and  criticism,  tl\e  Gnostics  of  German  Protestantism/ 
The  only  difference  is,  that  they  are  pure  theorists  and  scholars  of  the 
study  ;  while  at  least  the  more  earnest  of  their  predecessors  joined  with 
their  fantastic  speculations  a  rigid  asceticism — seeking,  by  an  unnatural 
mortification  of  the  body,  to  work  out  the  salvation  of  the  soul.  It  was 
not,  therefore,  a  mere  accident,  that  Baur,  in  the  very  beginning  of  his 
theological  course,  paid  so  much  attention  to  the  Gnostic  and  Manichean 
systems.  His  affinity  with  the  anti-Judaistic  and  pseudo-Pauline  fanatic, 
Blarcion,  is  particularly  striking.  In  criticism,  he  seems  to  have  taken 
this  man  for  his  model,  only  going  beyond  him.  Marcion  retained  in  his 
canon  at  least  ten  of  Paul's  epistles  and  the  Gospel  of  Luke  ;  though  he 
mutilated  the  latter  in  a  very  arbitrary  way,  to  cleanse  it  of  pretended 
Jewish  interpolations.  But  Baur  rejects  all  the  Gospels,  the  Acts,  all 
the  General  Epistles,  and  all  but  four  of  Paul's  ;  and  then  these  four  he 
either  arbitrarily  clips  (condemning,  for  instance,  the  last  two  chapters 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  as  a  later  addition  by  another  pen),  or 
wrests,  to  suit  his  own  preconceived  hypotheses.  This  Tubingen  school 
will,  no  doubt,  meet  the  fate  of  the  old  Gnostic  heresies.  Its  investiga- 
tions will  act  with  stimulating  and  fertilizing  power  upon  the  church, 
calling  forth,  especially,  a  deeper  scientific  apprehension  and  defense  of 
the  historical  Christianity  of  antiquity  ;  and,  for  itself,  it  will  dry  up  like 
the  streams  of  the  desert,  and  figure  hereafter  only  in  the  history  of  hu- 
man aberrations  and  heresies. 

The  fundamental  defect  of  this  destructive  method  is  the  entire  want 
of  faith,  without  which  it  is  as  impossible  duly  to  understand  Christiani- 
ty, its  inspired  records,  and  its  inward  history,  as  to  perceive  light  and 
color  without  eyes.     Here  this  school  is  on  the  same  footing  with  the 
older  Rationalism.     But  it  differs  from  the  latter  in  having  a  philosophi- 
cal ground-work.    It  rests  not,  like  t!ie  works  of  Semler,  Heuke,  Gibbon, 
&c.,  on  an  abstract  Deism,  which  denies  the  presence  of  God  in  history  ; 
but  upon  a  logical  Pantheism,  or  a  denial  of  the  personality  of  God,  which 
necessarily  brings  with  it  an  enth'e  misconception  of  the  personality  of 
man.     Baur  finds  fault  with  Neander  for  recognizing  merely  the  indivi- 
dual, nothing  general,  in  doctrine  history  ;   and  claims  for  himself  the 
merit  of  having  advanced  this  branch  of  history  from  the  empiric  method 
to  the  speculative,  and  of  having  found,  in  the  idea  of  the  spirit,  the 
motive  power  of  history.*     What,  then,  is  this  "  spirit,"  this  "  dogma," 

'  Had  the  late  Dr.  Mohler  lived  to  see  the  subsequent  course  of  his  former  colleague 
and  opponent  in  Tubingen,  he  would  have  found  in  him  a  strong  confirmation  of  the 
parallel  between  Protestantism  and  Gnosticism,  which  he  draws  in  his  able  Syinbolik, 
§  27,  p.  245  sqq.,  (6lh  ed)  . 

"  Baur :  Lehrbuch  der  christlichen  Dogmengeschichte,  pp.  52  and  53.      Comp.,  also 


114:  §  36.       DK.    BAIJK.  [gENEE. 

which,  according  to  his  ever  recurring  high  sounding,  but  pretty  empty 
terminology,  "comes  to  terms  with  itself,"  "  unfolds  itself  in  the  bound- 
less multiplicity  of  its  predicates,  and  then  gathers  itself  up  again  into 
the  unity  of  self-consciousness  ?"  Is  it  the  personal,  living  God,  the  Fa- 
ther of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  ?  Of  this  that  philosophy  has,  at  best, 
but  the  name,  making  it  the  vehicle  of  an  entirely  different  conception. 
The  objective  forces,  which  Baur  justly  declares  to  be  the  factors  of  his- 
tory— are  they  substantial  things,  living  realities  ?  No  !  They  amount 
to  nothing,  but  bare  formulas  of  the  logical  understanding,  abstract  cate- 
gories, Gnostic  phantoms.  The  entire  history  of  doctrines  is,  according 
to  this  school,  a  mere  fruitless  process  of  thinking,  which  thinks  thought 
itself  ;  a  tedious  mechanism  of  dialectic  method  ;  the  "reeling  off  of  a 
fine  logical  thread  ;"  which  invariably  runs  out,  at  last,  into  Hegelian 
pantheism.  The  labor  of  the  most  profound  and  pious  minds  for  centu- 
ries upon  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation,  the  Trinity,  the  Atonement, 
results  merely  in  the  philosophical  formula  of  the  identity  of  thought  and 
being,  the  finite  and  the  infinite,  the  subject  and  the  object  !  Thus  withers, 
beneath  the  simoom  of  a  purely  dialectic  process,  that  glorious  garden 
of  the  Lord,  the  history  of  the  church  and  her  doctrines,  with  its  bound- 
less wealth  of  flowers,  with  its  innumerable  fruits  of  love,  of  faith,  of 
prayer,  of  holiness.  All  becomes  a  sandy  desert  of  metaphysics,  without 
a  green  oasis,  without  a  refreshing  fountain.'  This  method  fails  most, 
of  course,  in  those  parts  of  church  history,  where  the  leading  interest  is 
that  of  practical  religion  ;  as  in  the  apostolic  period,  and  the  one  imme- 
diately following.  Here,  under  the  pretence  of  objective  treatment, 
it  falls  into  the  most  wretched  subjectivity  of  a  hyper-criticism,  which 
has  no  solid  ground,  and  sets  at  defiance  all  the  laws  of  history.  But 
even  the  purely  doctrinal  investigations  of  Baur,  highly  as  we  are  willing 
to  rate  their  other  scientific  merits,  need  complete  revision.  For,  in- 
terested only  in  speculation,  he  turns  even  the  church  fathers,  the  school- 
men of  the  Middle  Ages,  Calvin  and  Schleiermacher,  into  critics  and 
speculators  "  upon  the  arid  heath  ;"  sunders  their  thinking  from  its 
ground  in  their  religious  life  ;  and  hence  frequently  loads  them  with 
opinions,  of  which  they  never  dreamed. 

This  is  true  even  of  his  celebrated  reply  to  Mohler's  Symbolik  (1834), 
though  written  before  his  Gnosticism  had  fully  developed  itself.     The 

the  conclusion  of  his  latest  work :  Die  Epochen  dcr  kirklivhe.n  Geschkfitschreibung, 
p.  247  sqq. 

'  Here  apply,  in  their  full  force,  the  words  of  the  poet : 
"Ich  sag'  es  dir:  ein  Kerl,  der  speculirt, 
1st  wie  ein  Thier,  auf  diirrer  Heide 
Von  einenri  bosen  Geist  im  Kreis  herum  gefiihrt, 
Und  rings  umher  liegt  schone  griine  Weide." 


INTROD.]  §  36.       DB.    BAUK.  115 

Protestantism  which  he  seeks  to  guard  from  the  ingenious  assaults  of 
Mohler,  is  by  no  means  the  faith  of  the  Reformers  in  its  purity,  but  cor- 
rupted by  elements  of  modern  pantheism  and  fatalism.  Such  assistance 
the  true  evangelical  Christian  is  compelled  to  decline  ;  and  he  often  feels 
tempted  to  join  hands  with  the  pious  Catholic,  in  common  opposition  to 
modern  skepticism  and  infidelity.  Baur  has  since  gone  much  farther 
from  the  proper  ground  and  limits  of  history.  He  justly  regards  the 
grand  antagonists,  Catholicism  and  Protestantism,  as  the  two  poles, 
around  which  the  entire  history  of  the  church  now  turns.  But  he  looks 
at  Protestantism  almost  exclusively  in  its  negative  aspect.  "  Protestant- 
ism," says  he,  "  is  the  principle  of  individual  freedom,  freedom  of  faith  and 
conscience,  in  which  the  person  is  a  law  unto  himself,  in  opposition  to  all 
the  outward  authority  involved  in  the  Catholic  idea  of  the  church.'" 
Catholicism,  he  owns,  was  indispensable,  as  the  only  basis,  on  which  this 
freedom  could  arise  f  and,  so  far,  has  great  significance  and  full  histori- 
cal authority  ;  but  only  for  the  past.  "  The  Reformation  is  the  grand 
turning-point  whence  the  whole  tendency  of  the  idea  of  the  church  seems 
to  be,  to  unravel  again  the  web,  which  itself  had  woven.  If  the  deve- 
lopment of  the  church  previously  moved  only  forward,  it  now  appears  to 
have  suddenly  veered,  to  have  turned  backwards,  and  to  have  bent  back 
into  itself.  Opposition  and  protestation,  hostility,  negation  of  what 
exists  ;  this  is  the  spirit,  which  now  animates  the  church,"  (p.  255). 
Though  he  immediately  adds,  that  this  negation  is,  on  the  other  hand,  a 
deepening,  which  will  lead  to  a  new  affirmation  of  what  is  true  and  per- 
manent ;  yet,  in  his  system,  this  is  saying  very  little  or  nothing.  Ac- 
cording to  the  whole  texture  of  his  views,  as  above  explained,  the  history 
of  Protestantism  is  a  progressive  dissolution  of  the  church,  as  such  ;  till, 
at  last,  even  the  Holy  Scriptures,  on  which  the  Reformers  planted  them- 
selves in  protesting  against  human  additions,  are,  by  a  shameless,  pro- 
fane, conceited  hyper-criticism,  snatched  from  under  our  feet,  and  nothing 
is  left  us,  but  our  own  natural,  helpless  selves,  with  that  empty  notion 
of  likeness  to  God,  with  which  the  fearful  tragedy  of  the  fall  began. 
This  is^the  legitimate  and  necessary  result  of  this  negative  Protestantism 
of  the  extreme  Left. 

This  extensive  literature  of  modern  philosophical  and  critical  antichrist- 
ianity  would  be  absolutely  disheartening,  and  would  awaken  the  most 
gloomy  anticipations  for  Protestantism,  which  imbosoms  it,  and  even  toler- 
ates some  of  its  champions  in  her  chairs  of  theology,  were  we  not  assured, 

*  Die  Epochen  der  kirchl.  Geschichtschreibung,  p.  257. 

'  P.  260  :  "  Protestantism  must  itself  remain  an  inexplicable  riddle,  if,  to  be  what 
it  has  become,  it  could  think  of  itself  in  any  other  way,  than  by  having  its  consciousness 
of  itself  mediated  by  papacy  and  Catholicism." 


116  §  37.      MAKHEmEKE.  [gener. 

by  the  cheering  testimony  of  many  centuries  of  history,  that  God,  in  his 
infinite  wisdom  and  love,  can  bring  good  out  of  all  evil,  and  make  all  the 
aberrations  of  the  human  mind  aid  the  triumph  of  the  truth.  Like  all 
previous  enemies  of  Christianity,  this  most  learned,  most  ingenious,  and 
therefore  most  dangerous  form  of  ultra,  false,  infidel  Protestantism,  which 
appears  in  the  exegetical  and  historical  productions  of  the  Tubingen  school, 
will  also  surely  miss  its  aim.  Nay,  it  has  already  involuntarily  given,  a 
mighty  impulse  to  the  productive  energy  of  the  positive,  evangelical, 
churchly  theology.  As  Strauss'  "Leben  Jesu"  has  already  been  philoso- 
phically refuted  by  the  counter  productions  of  Tholmk,  Neandcr,  Lange, 
Ehrard,  Hoffmann,  Lucke,  Ullmann,  &c.  ;  so  also  the  speculations  of 
Baur,  Schwegler,  and  Zeller  on  the  age  of  the  apostles  and  the  succeeding 
period,  have  been  directly  or  indirectly  assailed  with  the  invincible  weap- 
ons of  thorough  learning,  and  their  inward  weakness  exposed,  by  the 
investigations  of  Dormr,  (in  his  History  of  Christology),  Lechhr,  (on  the 
Apostolic  and  Postapostolic  Periods),  Weitzd,  (on  the  Paschal  Contro- 
versies of  the  First  Three  Centuries),  Wiesekr,  (on  the  Chronology  of  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles),  Neander,  (in  the  last  edition  of  his  History  of  the 
Planting  and  Training  of  the  Church),  i?7i«sm  (on  the  Ignatian  epistles, 
and  on  Hippolytus),  Thier$,ch,  (on  the  Formation  of  the  New  Testament 
Canon,  and  on  the  Apostolic  church),  and  others.  But  certainly  no  work 
has  yet  appeared,  which  fully  sets  forth  the  whole  history  of  the  early 
church  in  its  organic  connection,  with  steady  reference  to  these  modern 
errors. 

§  37.  Markeineke.     Leo.      Rothe.     Dorner       Thiersch.      Recapitulation. 

The  right  or  conservative  wing  of  the  Hegelian  school  sought  to  recon- 
cile this  philosophical  system  with  the  faith  of  the  Bible  and  the  church  ; 
though  it  must  be  confessed,  that,  in  so  doing,  they  often  too  much  spirit- 
ualized the  articles  of  faith,  and  unwittingly  did  them  more  or  less  vio- 
lence by  their  logic,  resolving  them  pretty  much  into  unsubstantial  notions 
and  metaphysical  abstractions.  Their  case  was  even  worse  than  that  of 
Origen,  in  whom  Platonism,  instead  of  always  bending  to  Christianity, 
sometimes  gained  the  mastery  over  it.  The  older  Hegelians  of  this  class, 
moreover,  have  confined  their  labors  almost  entirely  to  the  philosophical 
and  systematic  branches  of  theology.  Marheineke  alone,  (f  184t),  was, 
at  the  same  time,  a  historian.  His  General  Church  History  of  Christ- 
ianity, (First  Part,  1806),  is  the  first  attempt  to  construct  a  history  on 
the  basis  of  the  modern  speculations,  and  to  set  up  a  more  objective 
method  against  the  rationalistic  subjectivism.  But  the  work  is  very 
defective,  and,  at  all  events,  unfinished.  Of  far  more  permanent  value  is 
his  History  of  the  German  Reformation,^  drawn  from  the  sources,  and 
^  4  volumes,  2nd  ed.  Berlin,  1851-'34. 


INTROD.]  §   37.        LEO.  117 

presented  in  a  purely  objective  way,  but  without  the  learned  apparatus, 
and  intended  more  for  the  general  reader.  This  work,  unsurpassable  in 
its  kind,  is  fortunately  free  from  all  that  heavy  dialectic  accoutrement, 
in  which  his  "Dogmatik"  is  clothed,  and  is  distinguished  for  its  genuine 
national,  old  German  style  and  spirit,  peculiarly  appropriate  to  the  charac- 
ter of  its  leading  hero,  the  thoroughly  German  Luther.  Marheineke  has 
also  won  laurels  in  doctrine  history  and  symbolism,  and  especially  by  his 
extended  and  on  the  whole  faithful  exhibition  of  the  system  of  Catholicism, 
(3  vols.  1810-13). 

As  to  orthodoxy,  this  theologian,  though  a  member  and  advocate  of 
the  United  Evangelical  Church  of  Prussia,  was  predominantly  of  the 
Lutheran  doctrinal  stamp.  This  confession  with  its  closer  affinity  to  Cath- 
olicism, speculation  and  mysticism,  suited  the  Hegelian  mode  of  treating 
history  better,  than  the  genius  of  the  Reformed  church,  which  recedes 
farther  from  the  previous  traditions,  gives  larger  scope  to  subjectivity, 
and  concerns  itself  more  with  practice  than  with  theory.  With  the 
younger  WiGGERS,  author  of  a  work  on  Ecclesiastical  Statistics,  (1842-3); 
still  more  with  Martensex,  a  Danish  divine,  but  of  purely  German  educa- 
tion, and  a  very  spirited,  original  theologian  ;  with  Theodore  Kliefoth, 
the  excellent  author  of  an  extended  philosophical  introduction  to  doctrine 
history  ;  with  Kahnis,  who  has  published  a  work  on  the  history  of  the 
doctrine  concerning  the  Holy  Ghost,  (184*1),  and  another  on  the  doctrine 
of  the  eucharist,  (1851)  ;  and  with  the  jurist,  Goschel,  only  an  amateur, 
however,  in  theology,  a  confused  compound  of  heterogeneous  elements, 
Hegel,  Gothe,  and  Christianity  ; — with  all  these  the  Hegelian  philosophy 
has  become  a  bridge  to  strict  symbolical  Lutheranism. 

But  on  the  same  ground  the  method  of  history,  started  by  Hegel,  may 
be  considered  as  involving  also,  to  some  extent,  a  tendency  towards 
Catholicism.  By  its  objective  character  it  is  better  fitted  than  the  more 
subjective  method  of  the  school  of  Schleiermacher  and  Neander,  to 
appreciate  and  do  full  justice  to  the.  heroes  of  the  Roman  church,  and 
especially  to  the  Middle  Ages.  We  have  an  example  of  this  in  F.  R. 
Hasse's  monograph  on  Anselm  of  Canterbury  ;'  a  model  of  purely 
objective  and  minute,  yet  living  and  clear  historical  representation,  supe- 
rior to  Neander's  Bernard. 

This  Catholicizing  tendency  is  still  more  visible  in  Heinrich  Leo,  and 
assumes  with  him  an  almost  Romanizing  form.  Though  not  a  theologian, 
he  has  yet,  in  his  Universal  History,  carefully  noticed  religion  and  the 

'  The  first  volume,  which  appeared  in  1843,  exhibits  the  life,  the  second,  1852,  the 
doctrine  of  the  great  father  of  the  medieval  scholasticism.  The  author  holds  up  his 
hero  with  evident  love  and  admiration,  though  without  obtruding  his  own  opinions, 
except  in  the  introductory  sections. 


118  §  3T.      KOTHE.  [genER. 

church  ;  and  we  canuot  here  omit  his  name.  Leo,  a  man  of  great  orig- 
inality and  native  force,  but  rough,  unsparing,  and  prone  to  extravagance, 
altogether  threw  off,  it  is  true,  in  later  life,  the  strait-jacket  of  the 
Hegelian  logic  and  dialectics  ;  but  the  influence  of  this  philosophy  still 
appears  in  his  making  the  subject  entirely  subordiiiate  to  the  objective 
powers  ;  the  individual,  to  the  general.  Since  he  exchanged  his  youth- 
ful free-thinking,  however,  which  vented  itself  in  his  worthless  History 
of  the  Jewish  Commonwealth,  for  positive  Christianity,  he  has  meant  by 
these  objective  forces,  not  dialectic  forms  and  notions,  but  concrete  reali- 
ties, laws  and  institutions  of  the  personal,  Christian  God,  which  to  resist 
is  sin  and  guilt,  which  to  obey  is  man's  true  freedom,  honor,  and  glory. 
He  regards  history  as  proceeding  from  above  ;  the  will  of  God,  not  the 
popular  will,  and  least  of  all  the  individual,  as  its  motive  power.  Hence 
his  favorable  view  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  his  unfavorable,  nay,  one- 
sided and  unjust  judgment  of  the  Reformation  ;  though  his  fault  here 
may  well  be  excused  as  a  reaction  against  the  blind  eulogies  of  that 
movement.  Leo's  view  of  history  is  thoroughly  ethical,  churchly,  con- 
servative, absolutely  anti-revolutionary,  even  to  the  favoring  of  despo- 
tism. He  feels  it  to  be  his  duty,  amidst  the  distractions  and  instability 
of  modern  Europe,  to  lay  the  strongest  emphasis  on  law,  the  necessity  of 
the  principle  of  authority  and  the  general  will.  In  this  respect  he  goes 
undoubtedly  too  far  ;  he  overlooks  the  real  wants  of  the  people  and  gets 
into  conflict  with  the  progressive  spirit  of  the  age.  Yet  in  a  polemical 
character  so  harsh,  violent,  irritable  and  uncompromising  as  Leo,  who 
often  falls  like  a  bull-dog  on  what  displeases  him,'  we  cannot  always  take 
single  expressions  in  their  strict  sense,  any  more  than  in  the  case  of 
Luther,  whom  he  much  resembles  in  temperament,  though  his  wrath  is 
directed  towards  entirely  different  enemies.  Hence,  we  are  not  to  under- 
stand from  his  catholicizing  tendency,  that  he  would  hold  the  restoration 
of  an  antiquated  state  of  things — say  of  the  Middle  Ages,  as  possible, 
or  even  desirable  ;  but,  with  many  of  the  profoundest  minds  of  our 
time,  he  doubtless  has  in  his  eye  a  new  age,  which  will  embody  what  is 
true  in  the  past,  and  yet,  at  the  same  time,  stand  on  peculiar  and  higher 
ground. 

Anticipations  of  such  an  advancement  appear,  also,  in  the  works  of 
the  two  professors  of  theology  in  Bonn,  Dr.  R.  Rothe,  and  Dr.  J.  A. 
DoRNER,  whom  we  consider  the  most  important  speculative  divines  of  the 

'  Particularly  in  his  occasional  articles  in  the  "  Evang.  Kirchenzeitung"  of  his  friend 
Hengstenherg,  who  is,  like  himself,  completely  an ti -democratic,  anti-republican  and 
absolutistic  in  his  views  of  both  church  and  state,  and,  in  this  respect,  wholly  at  vari- 
ance with  the  Anglo-American  taste,  with  which,  in  other  points,  in  his  orthodoxy, 
especially  his  views  of  inspiration  and  his  exegesis,  he  accords  better  than  most  other 
German  theologians. 


INTROD.]  §  37.       EOTHE.  119 

day.  They  have  confined  themselves  chiefly,  it  is  true,  to  the  dogmatic 
and  ethical  fields,  (especially  Rothe)  ;  but  they  merit  the  most  honora- 
ble mention,  also,  as  historians.  The  philosophical  principles  of  their 
theology,  and,  through  these,  their  conceptions  of  history,  have  plainly 
received  powerful  impulse  and  direction  from  the  philosophy  of  Hegel. 
But,  at  the  same  time,  they  have  appropriated  all  the  elements  of 
Schleiermacher's  theology.  These  two  ingredients  they  have  compound- 
ed with  genuine  originality,  and  wrought  into  a  peculiar  shape.  Rothe's 
"  Theological  Ethics"  stands  forth  as  a  thoroughly  original  work,  and,  in 
fact,  as  a  master-piece  of  speculative  divinity,  with  which  very  few 
works  of  ancient  or  modern  times  can  compare.  On  account  of  this 
relation  of  both  Rothe  and  Dorner  to  Hegel  and  Schleiermacher,  and 
their  essential  agreement  in  a  positively  Christian,  and  yet  genuinely 
speculative  theology,  we  here  put  the  two  together  ;  though  in  many 
other  respects  they  differ. 

Dr.  Rothe,  in  1837,  published  the  first  volume  of  a  work  on  the  Be- 
ginnings of  the  Christian  church,  and  its  Constitution,^  which,  in  our  view 
has  not  yet  received  the  attention  it  merits.  It  consists  chiefly  of  an 
exceedingly  thorough  and  acute  investigation  of  the  origin  and  develop- 
ment of  the  episcopal  constitution,  and,  (what  is  closely  connected  with 
this),  of  the  Catholic  doctrine  concerning  the  historical,  visible  church, 
its  unity,  holiness,  catholicity,  apostolicity,  and  exclusiveness.  It  comes 
to  the  conclusion,  that  the  episcopate,  as  a  necessary  substitute  for  the 
apostolate  in  maintaining  and  promoting  unity,  reaches  back  even  to  the 
days  of  St.  John,  and  thus  has  the  apostolic  sanction  ;  and  that  the 
above-named  idea  of  the  church  arose  by  an  inward  necessity  in  the  first 
centuries,  particularly  through  the  influence  of  Ignatius,  Irenaeus, 
Cyprian  and  Augustine,  and  lay  at  the  bottom  of  the  whole  conception 
of  Christianity  in  those  days.'^  This  conclusion,  if  true,  must  have  a 
powerful  bearmg  on  the  final  solution  of  the  church  question,  which  is 
now  pressing  so  heavily  on  Protestant  Christendom.  But  while  Rothe 
puts  the  whole  weight  of  antiquity  into  the  scale  of  Catholicism,  where 
all  the  church  fathers,  in  their  prevailing  spirit,  belong,  he  is,  in  so  doing, 
far  from  giving  up  Protestantism.     His  position,  in  this  respect,  he  sets 

^  The  continuation  he  has  unfortunately  been  obliged,  thus  far,  to  withhold  from  the 
public,  on  account  of  the  almost  universal  opposition  to  his  view  of  the  relation  of 
church  and  state. 

"  Hence  Rothe  not  improperly  terms  his  vi^ork,  (Pref.  p.  ix.) ,  a  Protestant  counterpart 
to  Mohlers  "  Unity  of  the  Church,"  a  production,  "  to  which,"  says  he  with  noble  im- 
partiality, "I  never  return  without  joyfully  admiring  its  original,  profound,  and,  in  the 
main,  true  conception  of  the  inmost  self-consciousness  of  the  primitive  church.  Per- 
haps this  expression  is  not  the  only  one,  which  might  draw  upon  me  the  charge  of 
Catholicizing.     I  will  never  allow  myself  to  be  intimidated  by  such  a  report." 


120  §  37.     KOTHE.  [gener. 

forth  in  language,  which  we  particularly  commend  to  the  consideration 
of  our  fanatical  anti-Catholics  :  "  There  is  no  more  effectual  way  of 
defending  Protestantism,  than  by  just  acknowledging,  nay,  expressly 
asserting,  that,  in  the  past,  Catholicism  ?iad,  in  its  essence,  full  historical 
reality  and  authority  ;  that  it  contained  deep  inward  truth,  high  moral 
glory  and  power."  He  also  supposes,  however,  that  the  Reformation  of 
the  sixteenth  century  was  a  shock  to  the  whole  institution  of  the  church 
in  its  previous  form,  a  serious  breach  in  its  unity  and  catholicity  ;  and,  at 
the  same  time,  he  rejects  the  distinction  of  a  visible  and  invisible  church, 
as  a  mere  shift  of  the  older  Protestant  theologians,  to  save  the  catholic 
idea  of  the  church,  whose  visible,  historical  reality  had  disappeared.' 
He,  therefore,  vindicates  Protestantism  on  the  hypothesis,  which  he 
unfolds  at  large  in  his  philosophical  introduction,  that  the  church  is  but 
a  temporary  vehicle  and  a  transient  form  of  Christianity,  through  which 
it  passes  into  the  more  perfect  form  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  that  is, 
according  to  Rothe,  an  ideal  siate,  a  theocracy.  This  result,  moreover, 
is  not  fully  attained  till  the  end  of  the  historical  development  ;  and  thus 
the  institution  of  the  church  is  still,  for  a  time,  even  in  Protestantism,  of 
relative  authority  and  necessity  along  with  the  state,  in  its  present  imper- 
fect form,  until  the  latter  shall  become  wholly  penetrated  and  transform- 
ed by  Christianity.  Rothe  here  starts  from  Hegel's  overstrained  idea  of 
the  state  ;  idealizing  it,  however,  even  far  more  than  Hegel  ;  consider- 
ing it,  not  indeed  as  it  now  is,  but  as  it  will  one  day  be,  (?)  the  most 
suitable  form  of  moral  society  ;  and  identifying  it  with  the  idea  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  itself.  This  is  not  the  place  to  go  more  mhiutely  into 
this  remarkable  theory.  But  we  must  here  repeat  the  observation,  pre- 
viously made  respecting  N eander,  that  such  a  separation  between  the 
kingdom  of  God  and  the  church  seems  to  us  to  have  sufficient  ground 
neither  in  exegesis  nor  in  history  ;  and  that  we  very  much  doubt  whether 

^  "  In  consequence  of  the  Reformalion,"  says  Rothe,  1.  c.  p.  103,  ''  the  visible  church, 
i.  e.  the  church,  properly  so  called,  (which  is,  in  fact,  essentially  the  body  of  Christ, 
therefore  visible),  had  been  lost.  For  though  even  the  evangelical  party  did  not  dis- 
pense v»^ith  an  outward  religious  union,  yet  it  had  no  longer  a  church  ;  its  union  was  not 
really  churchly ;  because  it  had  to  give  up  the  element  of  catholicity,  i.  e.  universality 
and  unity,  which  is  absolutely  essential  to  the  church."  But  the  Protestants,  Rothe 
goes  on  to  say,  being  unwilling  to  relinquish  entirely  this  old  hallowed  notiop  of  a 
church  and  communion  of  saints,  sought  a  substitute  for  it,  and  thus  hit  upon  the  idea 
of  an  invisible  church  ;  to  this  they  transferred  all  those  glorious  predicates  of  unity, 
universality,  holiness,  and  apostolicity,  which  they  denied  to  the  historical  and  visible 
Roman  Catholic  church.  This  whole  Protestant  conception  of  an  invisible  church, 
Rothe  calls,  p.  109,  ''a  mere  hypothesis,  a  pure  fiction,  a  notion  involving  a  contradic- 
tion;" and,  in  the  introduction  to  his  work,  he  brings  forth  arguments  against  it,  which 
are  ingenious,  and  which,  in  fact,  it  is  not  so  easy  satisfactorily  to  refute,  although  there 
is,  as  we  believe,  a  very  important  truth  at  the  bottom  of  that  old  protestant  distinction. 


INTROD.]  §  37.       DORNEE.  121 

Christianity  could  perpetuate  itself  without  the  church,  which,  St.  Paul 
tells  us,  is  the  body  of  Christ,  the  fulness  of  him  that  filleth  all  in  all. 
True,  we  too  believe,  that  Catholicism  in  its  former  condition  can  never 
be  restored,  that  Protestantism  is  preparing  the  way  for  a  new  outward 
form  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  that  church  and  state  will,  at  last,  be 
united  in  one  theocracy  ;  not,  however,  by  the  church  merging  in  the 
state,  but  rather  conversely,  by  the  state  being  taken  up  and  glorified  in 
the  church,  as  art  in  worship,  as  science  in  theosophy,  as  nature  in  grace, 
as  time  in  eternity.  Of  the  indestructible  permanence  of  the  church  we 
are  assured  by  the  express  promise  of  our  Lord,  that  the  gates  of  hell 
shall  not  prevail  against  her.'  Even  from  her  present  shattered  and 
apparently  ruined  condition,  therefore,  she  will  rise,  phenix-like,  in  loftier 
beauty  and  new  power  ;  convert  the  whole  world  to  Christ  ;  and  thence- 
forth, as  his  bride,  reign  blissfully  over  the  new  heavens  and  new  earth 
forever. 

From  Dr.  Dorner  we  have  a  very  valuable,  (but,  in  its  new^  enlarged 
form,  not  yet  finished),  history  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation  of  God 
and  the  Person  of  Christ,  (1845).  He  here  traces  the  development  of 
this  central  doctrine  of  Christianity,  on  which  the  solution  of  all  other 
theological  problems  depends,  and  which  is  justly,  therefore,  again  claim- 
ing the  serious  attention  of  our  age.  He  sets  forth  the  history  with 
exemplary  thoroughness,  keen  penetration,  perfect  command  of  the 
copious  material,  and  in  dignified,  happy  language,  though  not  entirely 
without  a  certain  scientific  pretension  and  stiffness.  At  the  same  time  he 
makes  it  bear  throughout,  and  triumphantly,  against  Baur's  investigations 
on  the  same  subject.  He  is  not  a  whit  behind  his  opponent  in  specula- 
tive talent,  while  he  far  excels  him  in  sound  comprehension,  and  writes, 
in  the  service  not  merely  of  science,  but  also  of  the  church.  Similar  in 
spirit  and  contents,  but  not  so  full  and  satisfactory,  is  the  work  of 
George  Augustus  Meier  on  the  history  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity, 
(1844),  in  part,  also,  a  successful  positive  refutation  of  Baur's  work  on 
the  Trinity  and  Christology. 

In  this  connection  we  must  mention,  finally,  a  younger  theologian, 
Dr.  Henry  W.  J.  Thiersch,  one  of  the  most  learned  opponents  of  Dr. 

'  This  is  the  natural  sense  of  the  well-known  prophecy,  Matt.  16  :  18,  and  of  many 
other  passages  of  Scripture.  Here  also,  indeed,  Rothe.  p.  93,  proposes  to  distinguish 
EKKT-Tjata  from  j3aai7i,ELa  ■&eoi\  and  to  refer  the  promise  :  7rv?.ai  d(hv  ov  KavLaxvoovciv 
avT^g,  merely  to  the  time  of  conflict.  But  this  borders  on  sophistry,  and  has  all  exeget- 
ical  tradition  against  it.  According  to  Rothe's  view,  we  should  have  to  expect  from 
our  Lord  the  declaration,  that  the  church,  founded  by  him  upon  a  rock,  will  gradually 
perish,  to  make  room  for  the  kingdom  of  God,  or  the  ideal  universal  state.  Comp.  our 
remarks  on  this  important  book  of  Rothe's,  in  the  "  Deutsche  Kirchenfreund,"  Vol.  V., 
p.  171  sqq. 


122  §  37.       THIEESCH.  [gENER. 

Baur  and  the  Tiibingen  school.  He  has  already  written  several  interest- 
ing works  ; — Liciures  on  Cal/wlicism  and  Frolestantism,  a  kind  of  conci- 
liatory symbolism  (1846)  ;  a  book  on  the  Formation  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment Canon,  against  the  modern  hyper-critics  and  dealers  in  hypotheses 
(1845)  ;  and  a  History  of  the  Christian  Church  in  rrimitive  Times,  the 
first  volume  of  which,  embracing  the  apostolic  period,  appeared  in  1852.' 
Thiersch  has  no  sympathy  whatever  with  the  Hegelian  philosophy,'^  and 
as  little  with  Schleiermacher's  theology  ;  but  fights  against  both  with  a 
zeal,  which  reminds  one  of  Tertullian's  war  against  Gnosticism.  In 
his  doctrinal  persuasion,  he  was  at  first  decidedly  Lutheran,  with  a  strong 
leaning  to  an  ascetic  pietism.  But  of  late  he  has  fallen  out  with  the 
present  state  of  Protestantism  at  large,  and,  in  honorable  disinterested- 
ness and  impatient  haste,  has  resigned  his  professorship  at  Marburg  and 
joined  the  Irvingites.  Of  all  Protestant  sects,  this  is  the  most  churchly, 
catholic,  hierarchical,  sacramental,  and  liturgical.  It  arose  in  England 
A.  D.  1831,  and  has  of  late  made  some  little  progress  also  in  Germany 
and  in  the  United  States.  It  has  in  view  the  restoration  of  the  apostolic 
church,  with  its  peculiar  supernatural  offices,  particularly  the  apostolate, 
and  with  its  miraculous  powers,  as  speaking  with  tongues  and  prophecy  ; 
the  collection  of  all  the  vital  forces  of  the  Catholic  and  Protestant 
churclies  into  this  community,  to  save  them  from  the  approaching  judg- 
ment ;  and  preparation  for  the  glorious  return  of  the  Lord.  Thiersch  is 
related  to  this  so-called  "Apostolic  Community,"  as  the  essentially 
catholic  and  orthodox,  and  yet  schismatic  Tertullian  was  to  the  kindred 
sect  of  the  Montanists  in  the  second  and  third  centuries.^  He  is  the 
theological  representative  of  Irvingism,  and  stands  mediating  between 
it  and  Protestantism,  especially  in  Germany.  But  the  proper  value  of 
his  historical  works  depends  not  so  much,  or  not  exclusively,  on  these 
Irvingite  peculiarities  and  extravagances.  It  consists,  rather,  in  his 
clear,  elegant,  and  noble  style,  which  everywhere  evinces  the  classical 
scholar  and  worthy  son  of  the  celebrated  Greek  philologian  of  Munich  ;  in 

*  This  work  has  been  already  translated  into  English  by  an  Irvingite  :  The  History 
cf  the  Christian  Church.  Vol.  I.  The  Church  in  the  Apostolic  Age.  By  Henry  W.  J. 
Thiersch,  Dr.  of  Phil,  and  Theol-  Translated  from  the  German  by  Thomas  Carlyle.  Lmi- 
don.  Bosworth.  1852.  The  work  seems  designed  for  general  circulation,  and  is  clothed, 
therefore,  in  quite  a  popular  dress.  It  is  the  intention  of  the  author,  according  to  his 
preface,  to  bring  down  the  history  to  the  tinne  of  Leo  the  Great  and  the  Courcil  of 
Chalcedon.  A.  D.  451. 

^  So  iar  as  he  speculates  at  all,  he  leans  towards  the  later  views  of  Schelling  and  the 
philosophy  of  Von  Schaden. 

Comp.  our  articles  on  Irvingism  and  the  church  question,  in  the  February,  March, 
May,  and  June  numbers  of  the  "Deutsche  Kirchenfreund  "  for  1850,  where  we  have 
taken  particular  notice  of  our  esteemed  and  beloved  friend  and  fellow-student.  Thiersch, 
and  of  his  spirited  and  suggestive  Lectures  on  Catholicism  and  Protestantism. 


INTROD.]  §  37.      THIEKSCH.  123 

his  extensive  and  thorough  acquai^ntance  with  patristic  literature  ;  in  the 
lovely  spirit  of  deep  and  warm,  though  sometimes  enthusiastic  and  visionary 
piety,  which  breathes  in  all  his  writings  ;  and  in  his  mild,  irenic,  concili- 
atory posture  towards  the  great  antagonism  of  Catholicism  and  Protest- 
antism. Even  his  latest  work,  the  history  of  the  Apostolic  Church,  is, 
as  he  himself  says,  "  not  a  part  of  his  new  activity,  as  pastor  in  the 
Apostolic  Community,  but  a  sequel  to  his  former  labors  as  teacher  of 
theology."  Besides,  Irvingism  contains  many  elements  of  truth,  well 
worthy  of  the  most  serious  consideration  ;  and  it  is  to  be  expected,  that, 
through  the  writings  of  Thiersch,  it  will  exert  some  influence  on  German 
theology.  So  Montanism  wrought,  through  Tertullian,  on  the  catholic 
church,  though  the  system  itself  shared  the  inevitable  fate  of  sects,  death, 
without  the  hope  of  resurrection.  Only  the  universal,  historical  church 
has  the  promise,  that  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  her. 


We  have  now  traced  the  history  of  our  science  down  to  the  labors  of 
our  contemporaries.  It  runs  parallel  with,  and  reflects,  in  an  interesting 
manner,  the  development  of  the  church  itself  in  its  different  ages.  We 
have  seen,  how,  in  the  abounding  historical  literature  of  Germany,  since 
the  appearance  of  Neander,  is  mirrored  the  whole  confused  diversity  of  the 
elements  of  modern  culture  ;  now  repelling,  now  attracting  one  another, 
and  now  striving  towards  a  higher  position  of  union  ;  at  one  time  bound, 
entirely  or  in  part,  in  the  fetters  of  a  philosophical  system  ;  at  another, 
with  free,  untrammelled  spirit,  endeavoring  to  apprehend  and  do  justice 
to  every  thing,  according  to  its  own  peculiar  nature.'  We  have  observ- 
ed, too,  that  the  most  profound  and  earnest  students  in  this  department 
become  more  and  more  convinced  of  the  high  practical  office  of  this 
science,  to  set  forth  faithfully  and  candidly  the  whole  undivided  fulness 
of  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  it  has  continuously  unfolded  itself  in  time  ; 
to  aid  thereby  in  understanding  the  present  ;  to  animate  for  the  work  of 
the  future  ;  and  gradually  to  effect  the  final,  satisfactory  solution  of  the 
question  of  all  questions,  that  of  Christ  and  his  church,  in  relation  as 
well  to  the  unbelieving  world,  as  to  the  various  parties  in  Christendom 
itself,  especially  to  the  colossal,  all-comprehending  antagonism  of  Catho- 
licism and  Protestantism. 

Unite,  now,  the  most  extensive  and  thorough  learning  with  the  simple 
piety  and  tender  conscientiousness  of  a  Neander,  the  speculative  talent  and 
combining  ingenuity  of  a  Rothe  and  a  Dorner,  the  lovely  mildness  and 
calm  clearness  of  an  UUmann,  the  sober  investigation  of  a  Giescler,  the 

'  Nothing,  therefore,  can  be  more  shallow  and  unjust,  than  to  dismiss  the  entire  Ger- 
man theology  with  a  few  vague  expressions  and  magisterial  judgments,  as  we  regret 
to  see  still  done  by  many  of  our  American  journals. 


124  §  38.      LATEST   PEOTESTAIiirT   CHUKCH   HISTORIANS.  [gener. 

fine  diplomatic  wisdom  of  a  Ranhe,  the  energetic  decision  of  a  Leo,  the 
vivacity  and  elegant  taste  of  a  Hase  ; — unite  all  these,  we  say,  in  one 
person,  free  from  all  slavery  to  philosophy,  yet  not  disdaining  to  employ  it 
thankfully  in  the  service  of  Scriptural  truth  ;  pervaded  and  controlled  by 
living  faith  and  genuine,  ardent  love  ;  and  working,  not  for  himself,  nor 
for  a  party,  but  wholly  in  the  spirit  and  service  of  the  Godman,  Jesus 
Christ,  the  life-giving  sun  of  history,  and  for  the  interests  of  His  bride, 
the  one,  Holy,  Catholic,  Apostolic  Church  ;  weaving  into  a  crown  of 
glory  for  the  Saviour  all  the  flowers  of  sanctified  thought,  faith,  life,  and 
sufi'ering,  from  every  age  and  clime  ; — and  we  have,  so  to  speak,  the 
ideal  of  a  Christian  church  historian  in  full  form  before  us  ;  an  ideal, 
which,  indeed,  may  never  be  realized  on  earth  in  any  one  individual,  but 
to  which  all,  who  are  called  to  labor  in  this  most  interesting  and  impor- 
tant field  of  theology,  should  honestly  strive  to  conform. 

§  38.    The  latest  Protestant  Church  Historians  in  France,  England,  and 

America. 

While  Germany  has  displayed,  since  Mosheim,  an  uncommon  and  un- 
interrupted activity  in  the  field  of  historical  theology,  the  other  Protes- 
tant countries,  on  the  contrary,  have  been,  till  very  lately,  remarkably 
inactive  in  this  department.  Guizot  in  France,  Ma caulay  in  England, 
and  Frescott  in  America,  have,  indeed,  treated  several  portions  of  secular 
history  with  talents  of  rare  brilliancy.  But  church  history,  since  the  end 
of  the  last  century,  has  plainly  been  neglected.  It  is  now,  however, 
beginning  to  receive  renewed  attention  in  these  countries  ;  partly,  on 
account  of  the  need  which  the  various  churches  and  their  theological 
institutions  begin,  of  themselves,  to  feel  ;  and  partly,  on  account  of  the 
direct  or  indirect  influence  of  German  literature.  The  interest  in  the 
study  of  history,  for  scientific  and  practical  purposes,  is  evidently  growing 
every  year,  especially  in  England  and  North  America,  and  will,  in  time, 
undoubtedly,  produce  abundant  fruit.  Such  a  result  is  the  more  desira- 
ble, since  the  German  church  historians  in  general,  with  all  their  exten- 
sive and  varied  knowledge,  have  but  a  viery  superficial  acquaintance  with 
the  religious  world  of  the  English  tongue  ;  have  given  it  far  less  than 
its  share  of  attention  ;  and  cannot  duly  appreciate  its  vast  present  and 
future  importance  for  the  kingdom  of  ^God.  A  general  church  history, 
which  does  full  justice  to  the  English  and  Anglo-American  portions  of 
Christendom,  would,  therefore,  fill  an  important  vacancy  m  this  branch 
of  theological  literature. 

1.  Erance.  The  later  theological  productions  of  the  French  Reformed 
church  are  almost  entirely  dependent,  in  the  sphere  of  science,  on  the 


INTROD.]  USr   FRANCE.  125 

Germans,  and  in  the  practical  department,  on  the  English.'  The  only- 
prominent  works  on  church  history,  besides  a  translation  of  Neauder's 
History  of  the  Apostolic  Church,  are  those  of  Matter  in  Strasburg,  and 
of  Merle  in  Geneva.  'The  former  has  written  a  general  history  of  the 
church  in  four  volumes  ;^  a  history  of  Gnosticism,  and  a  history  of  the 
Alexandrian  school,  each  in  two  volumes.  They  are,  however,  scarcely 
more  than  compilations  from  German  works,  and  belong  to  the  scliool  of 
the  older  Rationalism. 

Merle  d'Aubigne,  undoubtedly  one  of  the  most  gifted  French  authors 
of  our  day,  is  decidedly  evangelical,  and,  with  Gaussen,  the  author  of  a 
defense  of  the  old  Protestant  doctrine  of  inspiration,  stands  at  the  head 
of  the  orthodox  party,  which  seceded  from  the  established  church  of 
Geneva  on  account  of  its  apostasy  to  Socinianism  and  Rationalism,  and 
which,  by  its  theological  seminary  in  Geneva,  by  colportage,  and  by 
theological  publications,  is  seeking  to  evangelize  France  in  the  sense  and 
spirit  of  Calvinism.  Merle's  yet  unfinished  History  of  the  Reformation^ 
claims  our  notice  here  the  more,  because  it  has  attained  an  almost  un- 
precedented celebrity  and  circulation,  especially  in  England  and  America 
(far  more  than  in  France  or  Germany),  and,  by  its  popular  and  elegant 
style,  has  spread  a  knowledge  of  the  subject,  where  it  would  not  other- 
wise have  gone.*  As  to  its  matter,  the  first  four  volumes  of  the  work, 
containing  the  history  of  the  Reformation  in  Germany  and  Switzerland, 
are  almost  entirely  drawn  from  German  works,  especially  those  of  Mar- 
heineke,  Ranke,  and  Hagenbach,  in  this  field.  They  present,  therefore, 
nothing  new  ;  which,  in  fact,  it  would  be  very  difficult  to  do  in  this 
thoroughly  explored  section  of  history.  Merle  d'Aubigne's  peculiar  ex- 
cellence and  chief  merit  lies  in  his  extraordinary  power  of  spirited, 
dramatic,  and  picturesque  representation,  by  which  he  makes  the  reading 
of  history  a  real  pleasure.  Yet  it  may  not  unjustly  be  said,  that,  in  his 
zeal  to  make  all  the  fortunes  and  deeds  of  his  heroes  as  interesting  as 
possible,  and  to  keep  the  mind  of  the  reader  continually  at  a  pleasing 
tension  by  brilliant  pictures  and  eloquent  declamation,  he  not  seldom  im- 
pairs the  simplicity  and  truthfulness  of  his  narrative  ;  gives  many  facts 
and  persons  an  undue  importance,  as  though  on  each  one  of  them  hung 
the  whole  future  of  humanity  ;  and  thus  too  much  confounds  the  task  of 

•*  The  learned  Strasburg  theologians,  Bruch,  Reuss,  Schmidt,  and  Baum,  commonly 
write  in  German,  and  hence  do  not  come  into  view  here. 

^  Histoire  universelle,  de  I'eglise  chretienne.  Strasb.  1829.  II  vols. — Vols.  Ill  and 
IV,  1840. — The  work  of  the  Hollander,  P.  Hofsteede  de  Groot :  Institutiones  hist.  eccl. 
Gronov.,  1835,  we  know  only  by  name. 

^  Histoire  de  la  reformation  du  16  siecle.  Paris,  1835  sqq. 

*  The  author  himself  tells  us  in  the  Preface  to  the  fourth  volume,  that  from  150,000 
to  200,000  copies  of  his  work  have  been  sold  in  the  English  language  alone. 


126  §  38.      LATEST   PROTESTANT   CIIUKCn   HISTORIANS  [gener. 

the  earnest  historian  with  that  of  the  novelist.  Another  characteristic 
of  Dr.  Merle,  which  gives  him  so  great  popularity',  especially  with  ultra- 
Protestants,  is  his  enthusiasm  for  the  cause  of  the  Reformation,  and  his 
polemic  zeal  against  the  ancient  and  modern  papacy,  which  vents  itself 
on  almost  every  page  of  his  book  in  exclamations,  apostrophes,  and 
tirades.  On  this  point,  of  course,  persons  of  different  ecclesiastical  rela- 
tions and  views,  will  judge  very  differently.  But  from  any  point  of  view, 
a  polemical  spirit  so  prominent,  whether  m  the  service  of  Catholicism  or 
Protestantism,  seems  to  us  hardly  consistent  with  the  dignity  and  imparti- 
ality of  a  historian.  The  true  historian  may  oppose  or  defend  only  indi- 
rectly, by  faithfully  presenting  the  objective  course  of  the  matter  itself, 
and  perhaps  by  comprehensive  philosophical  introductions  and  reviews  ; 
and  in  this  case  he  works  with  the  greater  effect,  the  more  he  keeps  clear 
of  all  the  influences  of  personal  feeling  and  party  interest.  Dr.  Merle  has 
evidently  written  the  history  of  the  Reformation  not  for  its  own  sake  and 
sine  ira  et  studio,  but  for  the  sake  of  combatting  Catholicism  ;  and  hence 
his  work,  with  all  its  brilliant  style  and  other  excellencies,  can  never 
entirely  satisfy  one,  who  is  concerned  simply  for  the  pure,  naked  truth, 
and  who  subordinates  his  Protestant  sympathies  to  love  for  the  universal 
kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 

2.  In  England  and  America,  the  theological  schools  have  contented 
themselves,  strange  to  say,  for  a  whole  century,  with  Mosheim,  who  has 
attained  much  greater  authority  in  these  countries,  than  in  his  own  ;  and, 
by  way  of  practical  complement  to  his  learning,  they  have  added  the 
work  of  the  pious  Milner.  Yet  we  must  certainly  admit,  that  Mosheim's 
Church  History,  as  a  text-hook  for  use  in  lectures,  has  great  formal  excel- 
lencies, which  the  later  works  of  Neander  and  Gieseler  do  not  possess. 
Leaving  out  of  view  the  translations  of  Neander  by  Rose  and  Torrey, 
and  of  Gieseler  by  Davidson,  there  have  appeared  in  the  English  lan- 
guage, since  Gibbon,  only  three  works  on  the  general  history  of  the 
church,  which  can  lay  claim  to  learned  scholai-ship  ;  and  these  are  writ- 
ten, also,  in  a  much  better  spirit,  (that  is,  the  Christian),  though  certainly 
with  far  less  brilliant  talent,  than  the  illustrious  production  of  the  Eng- 
lish Tacitus.^ 

*  The  well-known  convert.  Dr.  John  Henry  Newman,  before  his  transition  to  Rome, 
passed  a  very  unfavorable,  perhaps  too  unfavorable,  judgnnent  on  his  countrymen  in 
reference  to  their  knowledge  of  church  history,  when  he  remarked  :  "  It  is  melancholy 
to  say  it,  but  the  chief,  perhaps  the  only  English  writer,  who  has  any  claim  to  be  con- 
sidered an  ecclesiastical  historian,  is  the  infidel  Gibbon."  Essay  on  the  Development  o 
Christian  Doctrine,  p.  12,  (ed.  Appleton).  The  ground  of  this  he  finds  in  the  unhistori- 
cal  character  of  Protestantism,  (which,  however,  cannot  include  Germany) :  "  Our  pop- 
ular religion,"  says  he,  "scarcely  recognizes  the  fact  of  the  twelve  long  ages,  which  lie 
between  the  councils  of  Nicaea  and  Trent,  except  as  affording  one  or  two  passages  to 
illustrate  its  wild  interpretations  of  certain  prophecies  of  St.  Paul  and  St.  John  " 


INTROD.J  IN   ENGLAND   AND    AMERICA.  127 

We  mean,  first,  the  Church  History  of  Waddington,'  extending  from 
the  apostolic  age  to  the  Reformation.  This  work  is  founded  on  indepen- 
dent study,  but,  in  general,  treats  its  subject  in  quite  an  outward  mechan- 
ical way,  and  does  not  rise  above  the  position  of  Mosheim.  It  abandons, 
however,  the  centurial  division,  and  substitutes  for  it  a  much  more  natu- 
ral division  of  the  history  before  the  Reformation  into  five  periods  :  the 
first,  to  Constantine  the  Great  ;  the  second,  to  Charlemagne  ;  the  third, 
to  the  death  of  Gregory  VII.  ;  the  fourth,  to  the  death  of  Boniface 
YIII.  ;  the  fifth,  to  the  Reformation.  The  second  English  work,  to  which 
we  refer,  is  the  History  of  Christianity  by  Milman.''  It  comprises  only 
the  first  five  centuries,  but  contains,  at  the  same  time,  an  extended 
account  of  the  life  of  Christ,  (ch.  2-7),  with  reference  partly  to  Strauss' 
work.  Its  plan,  also,  is  new.  Its  principal  object  is  to  describe  "  the 
recipi'ocal  influence  of  civilization  on  Christianity,  of  Christianity  on 
civilization."  This  draws  into  it  much  that  belongs  more  to  the  history 
of  general  culture,  than  to  proper  church  history  ;  while,  on  the  contrary, 
the  history  of  theology  and  doctrine  is  very  imperfectly  and  unsatisfacto- 
rily treated.  Milmau,  moreover,  has  an  advantage  over  Waddington,  in 
being  extensively  acquainted  with  the  modern  German  investigations  in 
heathen  and  Christian  antiquity.'     The  third  work  we  have  here  to  men- 

'  A  History  of  the  Church  from  the  earliest  ages  to  the  Reformation.  Second  ed.  3 
vols.  London,  1S3.5.  In  1841,  Dr.  Waddington,  (Dean  of  Durham),  published  a  His- 
tory of  the  Reformation  on  the  Continent,  likewise  in  three  volumes.  This  work  gives  a 
very  favorable  representation  of  the  Reformation  on  the  European  continent,  and  shows 
more  admiration  of  Luther,  than  we  can  commonly  expect  in  an  Anglican  theologian, 
since  the  person  of  the  German  reformer  is,  in  many  respects,  not  at  all  to  English  and 
Episcopal  taste. 

^  The  History  of  Christianity,  from  the  Birth  of  Christ  to  the  Abolition  of  Pagan- 
ism in  the  Roman  Empire ;  by  the  Rev.  H.  H.  Milman,  Prebendary  of  St.  Peter's  and 
Minister  of  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster.  Reprinted  by  Harper  and  Brothers.  New 
York,  1844.  The  continuation,  promised  in  the  preface,  has  not,  to  our  knowledge,  ap- 
peared. Milman,  who,  like  Waddington,  belongs  to  the  established  church  of  England, 
had  previously  become  known  by  a  History  of  the  Jews,  (2nd  ed.  London,  1830  ;  also  re- 
printed by  the  Harpers),  and  by  an  edition  of  Gibbon's  History  of  the  Decline  and  Fall, 
&c.,  with  notes ;  in  commendation  of  which  the  London  Quarterly  Review  says : 
'•  There  can  be  no  question  that  this  edition  of  Gibbon  is  the  only  one  extant  to  which 
parents  and  guardians  and  academical  authorities  ought  to  give  any  measure  of  counte- 
nance." 

'  Milman  says  in  his  preface  :  "  In  these  animadversions,  and  in  some  scattered  ob- 
servations which  I  have  here  and  there  ventured  to  make  in  my  notes  on  foreign,  chiefly 
German  writers,  I  shall  not  be  accused  of  that  narrow  jealousy,  and,  in  my  opinion, 
unworthy  and  timid  suspicion,  with  which  the  writers  of  that  country  are  proscribed 
by  many.  I  am  under  too  much  obligation  to  their  profound  research  and  philosophi- 
cal tone  of  thought  not  openly  to  express  my  gratitude  to  such  works  of  German 
writers  as  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  which  have  had  any  bearing  on  the  subject  of  my 
inquiries.     I  could  wish  most  unfeignedly  that  our  modern  literature  were  so  rich  in 


128  §  38.      LATEST   PROTESTANT    CHrRCH   HISTORIAJSTS.  [geneE. 

tion,  is  that  begun  by  Dr.  Jarvis,  "  historiographer  of  the  church"  (as 
he  styles  himself  on  the  title  of  his  book),  which  means  of  the  Protest- 
ant Episcopal  church  of  the  United  States,  but  interrupted  by  his  death 
in  1851.  Its  plan  is  unfortunately  very  defective,  and  injudicious,  and 
its  execution  by  no  means  answers  the  demands  of  modern  science.  For 
the  first  volume'  is  taken  up  entirely  with  a  very  learned  and  very  dry 
mathematical  and  astronomical  calculation  of  the  true  dates  of  Christ's 
birth  and  death  ;  and  the  second  goes  back  to  give  the  history  from  the 
fall  to  the  seventieth  week  of  Daniel  1  The  whole  would  have  wound  up 
probably  with  a  pedantic  vindication  of  high-church  Anglicanism  audits 
singular  unhistorical  pretentious. 

The  study  of  church  history  shared  in  the  impulse  given  to  English 
theology  in  general  within  the  last  twenty  years  by  the  important  Anglo- 
Catholic  movement  of  Puseyism  or  Tradarianism,  which  originated  in 
the  University  of  Oxford  in  1833,  and  in  a  short  time  spread  through 
the  whole  Episcopal  church  of  England  and  America,  and  brought  per- 
haps half  her  clergy  to  the  brink  of  Romanism.  The  study  of  the 
church  fathers  was  revived.  Translations  of  them  and  compilations  from 
them,  and  even  a  translation  of  Fleury's  Church  History,  were  prepared, 
and  the  history  of  the  first  five  centuries  variously  elucidated  in  the  cele- 
brated "  Tracts  for  the  Times,"  and  also  in  larger  works,  but  for  the 
most  part  under  a  bias  in  favor  of  this  semi-Romish  system.''  But  this 
very  study  of  ecclesiastical  antiquity,  and  the  discovery,  that  its  prevail- 
ing spirit  was  far  more  akin  to  Catholicism,  than  to  Protestantism,  con- 
tributed greatly  towards  the  final  transition  of  the  theological  leader  of 

writings  displaying  the  same  universal  command  of  the  literature  of  all  ages  and  all 
countries,  the  same  boldness,  sagacity  and  impartiality  in  historical  criticism,  as  to  ena- 
ble us  to  dispense  with  such  assistance.  Though,  in  truth,  with  more  or  less  of  these 
high  qualifications,  German  literature  unites  religious  views  of  every  shade  and  char- 
acter, from  the  Christliche  Mystik  of  Goerres,  which  would  bring  back  the  faith  of 
Europe  to  the  Golden  Legend  and  the  Hagiography  of  what  we  still  venture  to  call  the 
dark  ages,  down,  in  regular  series,  to  Strauss,  or,  if  there  be  anything  below  Strauss,  in 
the  descending  scale  of  Christian  belief" 

'  j1  Chronological  Introduction  to  the  History  of  the  Church,  etc.  New  York,  1845. 
pages  618.  Dr.  Jarvis  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  Christ  was  born  six  years  before 
the  common  Christian  era,  and,  in  all  probability,  on  the  25th  of  Dec,  and  that  he  was 
thirty-three  years  and  three  months  old,  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

^  One  of  the  most  industrious  of  the  Puseyite  divines,  William  Palmer,  (of  Worcester 
College,  Oxford) ,  has  written  also  A  Compendious  Ecclesiastical  History,  from  the  earliest 
period  to  the  present  time,  (5th  ed.  1844) ;  but  it  is  merely  a  conden.sed  review  of  the 
great  field,  and  has  no  claim  to  importance  for  science.  More  learned  and  comprehen- 
sive are  the  Origines  Liturgicae,  or  the  Antiquities  of  the  English  Ritual,  (2  vols.  4th  ed. 
London,  1845  ,  and  A  Treatise  on  the  Church  of  Christ,  (likewise  in  2  vols.)  by  the  same 
author. 


INTROD.]  IN   ENGLAND   AND   AMERICA,  129 

the  movement,  Dr.  John  Henry  Newman,  and  a  considerable  number  of 
like-minded  and  distinguished  clergymen  from  the  Anglican  to  the  Roman 
church  ;  and  the  remarkably  ingenious  and  learned  work  of  Neioman  on 
the  Development  of  Christian  Doctrine,*  which  he  wrote  immediately 
before  his  decisive  step,  shows  us  the  logical  course  from  Anglo-Catholi- 
cism to  the  more  consistent  Roman  Catholicism. 

On  the  other  hand,  however,  Puseyism  has  roused  also  the  zeal  and 
literary  activity  of  the  low-church  party  in  the  Episcopal  body,  and  has 
called  forth,  in  particular,  a  historical  work,  which  we  must  not  fail  to 
mention  here,  on  account  of  its  extensive  patristic  learning  and  skillful 
representation.  We  mean  Isaac  Taylor's  Ancient  Christianity.^  In 
this  work  the  author  adduces  the  writings  of  the  most  distinguished 
church  fathers,  especially  their  eulogies  on  the  martyrs,  their  enthusiasm 
for  the  monastic  and  unmarried  life,  their  extravagant  veneration  of 
Mary,  and  of  the  saints  and  their  wonder-working  relics,  together  with 
the  extremely  unfavorable,  though  certainly  over-wrought  pictures, 
which  Salvian,  a  presbyter  of  Marseilles,  drew  about  A.D.  440,  of  the 
moral  condition  of  the  church  in  his  time  ;  and  from  these  he  attempts 
to  show,  that  the  Nicene  age,  which  the  present  Puseyites  hold  up  as  a 
model,  and  would  fain  reproduce,  was  already  suffering  under  almost  all 
the  errors  and  moral  infirmities  of  Romanism  ;  nay,  that  the  latter  was 
in  many  respects  an  improvement , on  the  old  Catholic  church."  Assured- 
ly the  facts,  which  this  original,  vigorous,  and  earnest  writer  combines 
from  the  sources,  form  an  incontrovertible  argument  against  Puseyism, 
which  rests  to  a  considerable  extent  on  illusions,  and  against  that  undis- 
cerning  and  extravagant  admiration  of  the  ancient  church,  which  makes 
it  the  golden  age  of  Christianity  and  the  model  for  our  own.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  must  also  be  affirmed,  that  Taylor  gives  the  dark  side 
of  the  picture  very  disproportionate  prominence  ;  erroneously  derives  the 
peculiar  Catholic  doctrines  and  usages  of  that  period,  especially  the 
whole  ascetic  system,  from  the  Gnostic  ajid  Manicheau  heresies,  and 
regards  them  as  the  apostacy,  the  mystery  of  iniquity,  the  antichrist, 
predicted  in  the  New  Testament  ;  instead  of  recognizing  the  Christian 
element  at  the  bottom  of  them,  and  appreciating  their  beneficent  influ- 
ence on  the  history  of  missions,  for  example,  and  the  civilization  of  the 

^  An  Essay  on  the  Development  of  Christian  Doctrine.     1845.     Comp.  §  27,  Supra. 

"■  Ancient  Christianity  and  the  Doctrines  of  the  Oxford  Tracts  for  the  Times.     By 
the  author  of  "  Spiritual  Despotism."     2  vols,  4th  ed.  London,  1844. 

^  "  I  firmly  believe,"  says  Taylor,  "that  it  were  on  the  whole  better  for  a  community 
to  submit  itself,  without  conditions,  to  the  well-known  Tridentine  Popery,  than  to  take 
up  the  Christianity  of  Ambrose,  Basil,  Gregory  Nyssen,  Chrysostom,  Jerome,  and  Au- 
gustine. Personally,  I  would  rather  be  a  Christian  after  the  fashion  of  Pascal  and 
Arnold,  than  after  that  of  Cyprian  or  Cyril." 
9 


130  §  38.      LATEST   PEOTESTANT   CHURCH   HISTOEIAJSTS        [geneb. 

nations  in  the  Middle  Ages.  He,  moreover,  involves  himself  in  a  strik- 
ing and  irreconcilable  contradiction.  Such  men  as  Athanasius,  Ambrose, 
Augustine,  Chrysostom,  he,  on  the  one  hand,  greatly  admires,  for  their 
learning,  virtue,  and  piety,  regarding  the  church  fathers  in  general  as  the 
main  bearers  and  heroes  of  Christianity  in  their  day  ;  and  yet,  on  the 
other,  he  makes  them  the  originators  and  grand  promoters  of  the  anti- 
christian   apostasy.'      Hence,    notwithstanding    all    his   beautiful    and 

*  Read,  for  instance,  the  following  representation  of  the  fathers,  in  opposition  to 
those,  who  depreciate  them.     Vol.  I.  p.  34,  Taylor  says  :  "  These  '  fathers,'  thus  group- 
ed as  a  little  band  by  the  objectors,  were  some  of  them  men  of  as  brilliant  genius  as 
any  age  has  produced ;  some,  commanding  a  flowing  and  vigorous  eloquence,  some,  an 
extensive   erudition,  some,  conversant  with  the  great  world,  some,  whose  meditations 
had  been  ripened  by  years  of  seclusion,  some  of  them  the  only  historians  of  the  times 
in  which  they  lived,  some,  the  chiefs  of  the  philosophy  of  their  age  ;  and  if  we  are  to 
speak  of  the  whole,  as  a  body  of  writeis,  they  are  the  men  who,  during  a  long  era  of 
deepening  barbarism,  still  held  the  lamp  of  knowledge  and  learning,  and  in  feet  afford 
us  almost  all  that  we  can  now  know,  intimately,  of  the  condition  of  the  nations  sur- 
rounding the  JVTediterranean,  from  the  extinction  of  the  classic  fire,  to  the  time  of  its 
rekindling  in  the  fourteenth  century.     'J'he  church  vvas  the  ark  of  all  things  that  had 
life,  during  a  deluge  of  a  thousand  years."     He  further  says,  p.  36  sq.  :  "  It  will  pre- 
sently be  my  task — a  task  not  to  be  evaded,  to  adduce  evidence  in  proof  of  the  allega- 
tion that  extensive  and  very  mischievous  illusions  affected  the  Christianity  of  the 
ancient  church  ;  nevertheless,  the  very  men,  whose  example  must  now  be  held  up  as  a 
caution,  were  many  of  them,  Christians  not  less  than  ourselves,  nay,  some  of  those 
who  were  most  deluded  by  particular  errors,  were  eminent  Christians.     Nothing  is 
easier  (or  more  edifying,  in  the  inference  it  carries)  than  to  adduce  instances  of  exalted 
virtue,  piety,  constancy,  combined  with  what  all  must  now  admit  to  have  been  an  in- 
fatuated attachment  to  pernicious  errors.     Our  brethren  of  the  early  church  challenge 
our  respect,  as  well  as  affection  ;  for  theirs  was  the  fervor  of  a  steady  faith  in  things 
unseen  and  eternal ;  theirs,  often,  a  meek  patience  under  the  most  grievous  wrongs; 
theirs  the  courage  to  maintain  a  good  profession  before  the  frowning  face  of  philosophy, 
of  secular  tyranny,  and  of  splendid  superstition ;  theirs  was  abstractedness  from  the 
world,  and  a  painful  self-denial ;  theirs  the  most  arduous  and  costly  labors  of  love ; 
theirs  a  munificence  in  charity,  altogether  without  example ;  theirs  was  a  reverent  and 
scrupulous  care  of  the  sacred  writings ;  and  this  one  merit,  if  they  had  no  better,  is  of 
a  superlative  degree,  and  s.hould  entitle  them  to  the  veneration  and  grateful  regards  of 
the  modern  church.     How  little  do  many  readers  of  the  Bible,  now-a-days,  think  of 
what  it  cost  the  Christians  of  the  second  and  third  centuries,  merely  to  rescue  and  hide 
the  sacred  treasure  from  the  rage  of  the  heathen  !"'     And  yet,  in  spite  of  this  well- 
merited  acknowledgment  respecting  the  church  fathers,  it  belongs  to  the  object  of  the 
whole  book,  not  merely  to  reduce  within  proper  limits,  but  formally  to  undermine, 
confidence  in  the  ancient  church,  which  they  represented.     After  all  this,  he  calls  these 
same  fathers  "  either  the  authors  or  the  zealous  promoters  of  the  predicted  apostasy,*' 
and  "the  most  dangerous  of  guides  in  theology  !"    (Vid.  Supplement  to  N.  5,  Vol.  II.) 
How  these  two  diametrically  opposite  views  logically  agree,  we  must  leave  to  the 
author  of  '•  Ancient  Christianity"   to  show.     Undoubtedly  the  church  fathers,  with 
their  great  virtues,  had  also  many  defects  ;  but  they  cannot  possibly  have  been  at  once 
the  bearers  of  true  Christianity  and  the  progenitors  of  Antichrist.     The  "  great  apos- 
tasy" must  be  looked  for  somewhere  else,  than  in  them. 


INTROD.]  IN    ENGLAJSTD   AND    AMEEICA.  131 

•poiuted  remarks,  in  the  beginning  of  his  work,  respecting  the  importance 
and  necessity  of  church  history,  he  himself  lacks  the  great  requisite  for 
the  proper  study  of  it,  the  true  historical  standpoint. 

The  Puseyite  and  anti-Puseyite  literature,  especially  this  work  of 
Taylor,  and  other  valuable  monographs  of  later  date,  as  bishop  Kaye's 
TerluUian,^  proves  that  England,  particularly  the  Episcopal  church, 
which  has  always  laid  great  stress  on  its  real  or  supposed  agreement 
with  the  Niceue  and  aute-Nicene  age,  and  hence  has  far  more  interest  in 
history  and  antiquities,  than  the  dissenters  and  Presbyterians,^  is  by  no 
means  lacking  in  thorough  knowledge  of  single  sections  of  church  his- 
tory, which  bear  upon  special  denominational  or  party  objects,  as  also  in 
distinguished  power  of  historical  criticism  and  representation  ;  though 
her  most  prominent  talents,  certainly,  as  in  Macaulay,  Grote,  and 
Thirlwall,  have  been  devoted  chiefly  to  the  history  of  modern  England 
and  ancient  Greece. 

3.  America,  in  her  langua'ge,  culture,  and  literature,  is  so  interwoven 
with  England  and  Scotland,  that  we  have  already  included  her  in  the 
foregoing  remarks  on  general  church  histories  in  the  English  language. 
To  speak  now  more  particularly  of  this  country  ;  it  cannot  be  denied, 
that  the  new  world,  in  its  youthful  buoyancy,  undervaluing  the  past, 
reaching  restlessly  into  the  future,  disposed  rather  to  make  than  contem- 
plate history,  is  by  no  means  favorable  to  historical  studies  in  general  ;^ 
and  the  lamentable  division  of  the  church  into  denominations  and  sects, 

*  The  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  Second  and  Third  Centuries  illustrated  from  the 
Writings  of  Tertullian.  By  John  Kaye,  D.  D.,  Lord  Bishop  of  Lincoln.  3rd  ed. 
London,  1845. 

*  Yet  even  here  there  are  exceptions ;  especially  do  the  thorough  monographs  of  the 
Scotch  Presbyterian  divine.  Thomas  M^Crk,  on  John  Knox  and  Melville,  and  on  the 
Reformation  in  Spain  and  Italy,  merit  very  honorable  mention- 

'  Of  this  the  most  eminent  American  theologians  are  well  aware.  The  Puritan 
divine,  Henry  B.  Smith.  Prof,  of  Church  History  in  Union  Theol.  Seminary,  N.  York, 
in  his  excellent  Inaugural  Address,  entitled  :  Nature  and  Worth  of  the  Science  of  Church 
History  Andover,  1851,  (which  evinces  a  clear  insight  into  the  nature  and  mission  of 
this  science,  and  commits  itself,  in  general,  to  Neander's  conception),  very  justly 
remarks  of  the  Americans,  p.  5  :  "  As  a  people  we  are  more  deficient  in  historical 
training  than  in  almost  any  other  branch  of  scientific  research.  We  live  in  an  earnest 
and  tumultuous  present,  looking  to  a  vague  future,  and  comparatively  cut  off  from  the 
prolific  past^-which  is  still  the  mother  of  us  all.  We  forget  that  the  youngest  people 
are  also  the  oldest,  and  should  therefore  be  most  habituated  to  those  '  fearless  and  rev- 
erent questionings  of  the  sages  of  other  times,  which,'  as  Jeffrey  well  says,  '  is  the 
permitted  necromancy  of  the  wise.'  We  love  the  abstractions  of  political  theories  and 
of  theology  better  than  Ave  do  the  concrete  realities  of  history.  Church  history  has 
been  studied  from  a  sort  of  general  notion  that  it  ought  to  be  very  useful,  rather  than 
from  a  lively  conviction  of  its  inherent  worth.  History  is  to  us  the  driest  of  studies  • 
and  the  history  of  the  church  is  the  driest  of  the  dry— a  collection  of  bare  names  and 


132  §  38.       LATEST   PKOTESTANT    CHUKCH   HISTOKIANS  [genEB. 

which,  in  this  country,  under  the  protection  of  an  unbounded  freedom  of 
conscience,  is  more  consistently  carried  out  than  in  Europe,  calls  forth, 
in  itself  considered,  investigations  of  merely  sectional  and  local  interest, 
and  party  representations,  and  these,  it  is  true,  in  abundance  ;  while  it 
contracts  and  damps  all  sympathy  with  the  one  universal  kingdom  of 
God,  the  communion  of  the  saints  of  all  ages  and  climes.  Our  popular 
Protestant  theology,  from  its  predominantly  Puritanic  character,  is  espe- 
cially strongly  prejudiced  against  the  Middle  Ages,  and,  in  fact,  against 
the  whole  church  before  the  Reformation  back  to  the  second  century,  on 
account  of  its  deep  Catholic  hue  ;  and  holds  it,  therefore,  hardly  worth 
while  to  trouble  itself  with  this  portion  of  history,  save  perhaps  for  the 
purpose  of  combatting  Rome  and  finding  a  solution  for  some  dark 
prophecies  of  Paul  and  John  respecting  the  anti-christian  apostasy.  It 
takes  the  Bible  with  private  judgment  as  an  all-sufficient  guide  ;  forget- 
ting, in  the  first  place,  that  the  revelation  of  God  is  itself  historical ;  in 
the  next  place,  that  the  history  of  the  church,  from  the  time  of  the 
apostles  to  our  own,  exhibits,  according  to  our  Lord's  unfailing  promise, 
Matt.  16  :  18.  28  :  20,  the  perpetual  presence  and  control  of  Christ  and 
his  Spirit,  in  the  lives  and  actions  of  his  people,  so  as  to  be  itself  the 
best  commentary  on  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;  and  finally,  that  in  proportion 
as  we  despise  and  reject,  in  false  independence,  the  experience  of  eight- 
een centuries  and  the  voice  of  universal  Christendom,  we  rob  the  pres- 
ent, also,  and  private  judgment,  of  all  claim  to  our  confidence,  and  that, 
as  we  shake  the  authority  of  history,  in  which  we  all  strike  root,  Ave  cut 
off  the  sources  of  our  own  life  ;  for  the  individual  believer  is  just  as 

facts,  and  lifeless  dates.  It  is  learned  by  rote,  and  kept  up  by  mnennonic  helps,"  &c. 
And  in  an  article  on  the  History  of  Doctrines^  by  the  Presbyterian  divine,  Dr.  J.  A. 
Alexander^  in  the  "Biblical  Repertory  and  Princeton  Review."  for  January,  1S47,  p. 
10.5,  we  find  several  striking  remarks  on  this  point.  "Our  national  tendency,"  says 
this  highly-gifted  writer,  "  so  far  as  we  have  any,  is  to  slight  the  past  and  overrate  the 
present.  This  unhistorical  peculiarity  is  constantly  betraying  itself  in  various  forms, 
but  it  is  nowhere  more  conspicuous  and  more  injurious  than  in  our  theology.  Hence 
the  perpetual  resuscitation  of  absurdities  a  thousand  times  exploded,  the  perpetual 
renewal  of  attempts,  which  have  a  thousand  times  been  proved  abortive.  Hence  the 
false  position  which  religion  has  been  forced  to  assume  in  reference  to  various  inferior 
yet  important  interests,  to  science,  literature,  art,  and  civil  government.  Hence,  too, 
the  barrenness  and  hardness  by  which  much  of  our  religious  literature  is  distinguished, 
because  cut  off  from  the  inexhaustible  resources  which  can  only  be  supplied  by  history. 
The  influence  of  this  defect  upon  our  preaching  is  perhaps  incalculable.  But  instead 
of  going  on  to  reckon  up  the  consequences  of  the  evil  now  in  question,  let  us  rather 
draw  attention  to  the  fact  that  it  is  not  of  such  a  nature  as  to  be  corrected  by  the  lapse 
of  time,  but  must  increase  with  the  increase  of  ignorance  and  lazy  pride,  especially 
when  fostered  by  a  paltry  national  conceit,  and  flattered  by  those  oracles  of  human 
progress,  who  declare  that  history  is  only  fit  for  monks.  To  counteract  this  tendency 
we  need  some  influence  ab  extra,  some  infusion  of  strange  blood  into  our  veins." 


IXTROD.]  IN   EKGLAND    A:sT>    AMEEICA.  133 

dependent  on  the  whole  church  and  her  history,  as  the  branch  on  the 
tree,  or  the  arm  on  the  body. 

In  spite  of  these  obstacles,  however,  there  has  been,  of  late  years,  a 
considerable  awakening  of  interest  and  neal  in  the  study  of  church  history  ; 
partly  through  the  influence  of  German  literature,  the  fruits  of  which, 
both  good  and  evil,  are  assuming  more  and  more  importance  as  elements 
of  our  higher  literary  and  scientific  culture  ;  partly  through  the  moment- 
ous practical  significance  of  the  church  question,  and  the  growing  serious- 
ness of  the  contest  between  Romanism  and  Protestantism,  which  must 
evidently  be  decided  not  merely  on  dogmatical  and  exegetical  grounds,but 
also  on  the  field  of  history.  A  remarkable  example  of  an  altogether 
peculiar  and  powerful  union  of  the  scientific  interest  in  church  history 
communicated  from  Germany,  and  the  practical  interest  proceeding  from 
the  English  national  character  and  the  American  church  relations,  we 
have  in  the  historico-dogmatic  and  polemic  treatises  of  the  pious  and  learn- 
ed Dr.  John  W.  Nevin,  some  on  the  Eucharistic  controversy  of  the  Re- 
formation, in  opposition  to  the  latent  and  open  Rationalism  of  modern 
times,  which  degrades  the  Lord's  Supper  into  an  empty  sign  ;^  and  some 
on  the  difference  between  early  Christianity  and  the  various  forms  of  exist- 
ing Protestantism.'  The  latter  productions  take  a  still  bolder  stand 
against  the  Rationalism  and  Sectarianism  of  our  age,  than  the  former,  and 
possess,  at  the  same  time,  a  more  general  interest.  They  are  intended 
to  show,  that  the  ancient  church,  the  Christianity  of  the  Apostles'  Creed, 

'  The  Mystical  Presence.  A  Vindication  of  the  Reformed  or  Calvinistic  Doctrine 
of  the  Holy  Eucharist.  Philadelphia,  1846.  With  this  must  be  compared  his  defence 
of  it  in  the  "  Mercersburg  Review,"  1850.  p.  421-548,  against  the  review  of  Dr.  Hodge. 
Dr.  Nevin's  smaller  tracts  on  the  History  and  Genius  of  the  Heidelberg  Catechism 
(1847),  and  on  the  Life  of  Zacharias  Ursimis  (1851),  have  special  reference  to  the  de- 
nominational interests  of  the  German  Reformed  Church  in  the  United  States,  and  have 
done  very  much  to  awaken  in  this  branch  of  the  church  a  clear  consciousness  of  its  origin, 
and  of  its  character  as  a  Melancthonian,  conciliatroy  medium  between  Lutheranism 
and  Calvinism. 

"  Here  belong  particularly  his  spirited  and  uncommonly  earnest,  we  may  say,  alarm- 
ingly solemn  articles  on  the  Apostles'  Creed.,  Early  Christianity.,  and  the  Life  and  Theology 
of  Cyprian  and  his  Times,  in  the  first,  third,  and  fourth  volumes  of  the  ''Mercersburg 
Review,"  (1849,  51,  and  52) ,  which  have  filled  many  with  the  apprehension,  that  Dr. 
Nevin  will  ultimately  despair  of  Protestantism  and  go  over  to  Rome  This,  however 
he  cannot  consistently  do,  so  long  as  he  holds  his  theory  of  development,  which  makes 
room  for  different  forms  and  phases  of  Christianity  in  the  progressive  march  of  the 
church.  Those  articles  in  the  Mercersburg  Review  form  an  interesting  parallel  to  Isaac 
Taylor's  "Ancient  Christianity,"  with  which  they  agree  in  most  of  the  historical  positions- 
but  they  follow  a  different  tendency,  and  evince  a  grow  ing  sympathy  with  the  primitive 
church,  and  with  Catholicism,  for  which  the  Protestant  press  of  this  country  has  raised 
an  almost  universal  cry  against  them. 


134  §  38.       LATEST   PROTESTANT    CinJKCn    HISTOKIANS.  [oEXER. 

of  the  martyrs,  confessors,  and  church  fathers  of  the  first  five  centurie.:<, 
is  essentially  diff"erent  from  Anglicanism  and  Puseyism,  on  the  one  hand, 
which  form  the  extreme  right  wing  of  orthodox  Protestantism,  and  still 
more  from  modern  Puritanism,  on  the  other,  which  forms  the  extreme 
left ;  that  it  is,  on  the  contrary,  in  its  light  and  shade,  evidently  very 
closely  allied  to  the  Roman  Catholic  system  ;  that  Protestantism,  there- 
fore, can  be  scientifically  vindicated  only  on  the  theory  of  development, 
as  a  new  phase  of  Christianity  in  the  course  of  its  history  ;  but  that  Pro- 
testantism must,  for  this  very  reason,  acknowledge  the  historical  author- 
ity, necessity,  and  moral  glory  of  Catholicism,  as  the  other  and  older  grand 
form  of  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  if  it  would  not  in  the  end  destroy  itself  as 
a  church  by  giving  up  the  Biblical  doctrine  of  a  supernatural  and  unbro- 
ken historical  church,  without  which  Christianity  itself  could  not  exist. 
With  these  views,  however,  he  thus  far  stands  almost  solitary  and  alone. 
The  prevailing  tone  of  Protestant  theology  in  America  is  radically  anti- 
Catholic,  but  on  this  very  account  fitted  to  call  forth,  sooner  or  later,  a 
mighty  reaction  in  favor  of  the  oj^posite  extreme. 

The  close  connection,  in  this  country,  between  theory  and  practice, 
theology  and  the  church,  gives  historical  studies  and  their  results  a  much 
greater  practical  importance,  than,  for  example,  in  Germany.  Hence  the 
high  office  and  heavy  responsibility  of  those,  who  are  called  to  labor  in 
this  sphere,  in  a  land,  which  gives  free  play  to  all  parties  of  Christendom, 
developes  itself  with  unexampled  rapidity,  and  to  all  appearance,  accord- 
ing to  the  maxim  :  "  Westward  the  star  of  Empire  takes  its  way,"  is  des- 
tined to  be  the  main  theatre  of  the  future  history  of  the  world  and  the 
church. 


HISTORY 


OP   THE 


APOSTOLIC    CHURCH. 

A.  D.  30-100. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHURCH, 

A.  D.  30-100. 


INTRODUCTION. 

THE  PREPARATION  FOR  CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE 
WORLD,  AND  THE  MORAL  AND  RELIGIOUS  CONDITION  OF  HU- 
MANITY AT  THE  TIME  OF  ITS  APPEARANCE. 

§  39.  Position  of  Christianity  in  the  History  of  the  World. 

To  form  a  just  view  of  the  historical  significance  of  Christianity,  and 
of  its  vast  influence  upon  the  human  race,  we  must  consider  how  the  way 
was  prepared  for  it  by  the  previous  development  of  Judaism  and  Hea- 
thenism, and  form  a  clear  idea  of  the  outward  and  inward  posture,  and 
especially  the  moral  and  religious  condition,  of  the  age  in  which  it 
appeared. 

Our  religion,  indeed,  like  its  founder,  is  of  strictly  divine  origin.  It 
is  a  new,  supernatural  creation  ;  a  miracle  in  history.  Yet  its  entrance 
into  the  world  is  historically  connected  with  the  whole  preceding  course 
of  events.  It  took  four  thousand  years  to  prepare  humanity  to  receive 
it.  The  Saviour  could  be  born  only  in  the  Jewish  nation,  and  at  that 
particular  time.  "  Salvation  is  of  the  Jews,"  (John  4  :  22)  ;  and,  ac- 
cording to  St.  Mark  (1  :  15),  Christ  commenced  his  preaching  with  the 
declaration  :  "  The  time  is  fulfilled,  and  the  kingdom  of  God  is  at  hand." 
"When  the  fulness  of  the  time  was  come,"  says  the  Apostle,  "  God  sent 
forth  his  Son,  made  of  a  woman,"  "  made  under  the  law."'  God  is  a 
God  of  order  ;  and  since  Christianity  is  designed  for  man,  to  transform, 
to  sanctify,  to  perfect  him,  it  must  have,  like  Christ  himself,  a  nature  not 
only  eternal  and  divine,  but  also  temporal  and  human.  With  its 
heavenly  Father,  it  must  have  an  earthly  mother,  and  must  consequently 
be  subject  to  the  laws  of  historical  growth.  That  it  might  bring  forth 
*  Gal.  4  :  4  {pTs  8i  fjl-Q-e  rd  n7i^pu/ia  tov  x^ovov)  ;  comp.  Eph.  1 :  10. 


138  §  39.         POSITION    OF    CHRISTIANITY   IN    HISTOEY.  [sPEC. 

fruit,  when  it  fell  into  the  soil  of  humanity,  that  soil  must  first  be  tilled 
and  properly  prepared. 

This  historical  preparation  for  Christianity  we  must  look  for  mainly, 
but  not  entirely,  in  the  Jewish  nation  and  its  sacred  records.  Christ  is 
the  centre  and  turning-point,  as  well  as  the  key,  of  all  history.  The  en- 
tire development  of  humanity,  especially  of  the  religious  ideas  of  all 
natioris,  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  must  be  viewed  as  an  introduction  to 
this  great  event  ;  as  the  voice  of  one  crying  in  the  wilderness  :  "  Pre- 
pare ye  the  way  of  the  Lord,  make  straight  in  the  desert  a  highway 
for  our  God."  And  all  history  after  his  coming  is,  in  its  ultimate  im- 
port, the  extension  of  his  kingdom  and  the  glorifying  of  his  name.  Around 
this  central  sun  of  the  moral  universe,  which  has  risen  in  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth, all  nations,  created  for  him  as  their  common  Saviour,  all  significant 
movements  and  truly  historical  events  are  revolving,  at  various  distances, 
and  must,  directly  or  indirectly,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  aid  in 
building  up  his  glorious  kingdom.  Only  by  such  a  view  as  this  is  it  pos- 
sible to  reach  any  truly  profound  and  complete  understanding  either  of 
the  old  world,  which  Christianity  overthrew,  or  of  the  new  one,  which  it 
built  upon  the  ruins.  Every  religion,  so  far  as  it  is  religion  at  all,  is  a 
longing  and  struggling  after  religatio,  the  re-union  of  fallen  man  with 
God.  And  as  this  reconciliation  can  be  effected  only  through  Christ, 
the  sole  Mediator,  all  ante-Christian  history  may  be  considered,  con- 
sciously in  Judaism,  unconsciously  in  Heathenism,  a  prophecy  of  Christ. 

This  position  of  Christ,  as  the  centre  of  the  world's  history,  as  well 
as  of  the  yearnings  of  every  individual  heart,  which  has  become  sensible 
of  its  deepest  wants,  is  one  of  the  strongest  arguments  for  the  divinity 
of  our  Saviour,  and  an  unanswerable  apology  for  Christianity,  as  the 
only  true  religion  for  men. 

The  chief  agent,  besides  the  people  of  Israel,  in  paving  the  way  for 
the  new  dispensation,  was  the  classic  Heathenism.  There  were,  so  to 
speak,  three  chosen  nations  in  ancient  history,  the  Jeios,  the  Greeks,  and 
the  Romans ;  and  three  cities  of  special  importance,  Jerusalem,  Athens, 
and  Rome.  The  Jews  were  chosen  with  reference  to  eternal  things  ;  the 
Greeks  and  Romans,  with  reference  to  temporal  ;  but  time  must  serve 
eternity,  and  earth  carry  out  the  designs  of  heaven.  "  Greek  cultiva- 
tion," says  Dr.  Thomas  Arnold,  "and  Roman  polity  prepared  men  for 
Christianity."  The  great  historian  of  Switzerland,  John  von  Miiller, 
confessed  towards  the  close  of  his  life,  after  repeated  and  most  careful 
study  of  ancient  literature:  "When  I  read  the  classics,  I  observed 
everywhere  a  wonderful  preparation  for  Christianity  ;  everything  was 
exactly  fitted  to  the  design  of  God,  as  made  known  by  the  apostles." 


INTROD.]  §  40.       JUDAISM    AND    HEATHENISM.  139 

§  40.  Judaism  mid  Heathenum  in  their  Relation  to  Christianity. 

But  though  both  the  great  religions  of  antiquity  served  to  prepare  the 
world  for  Christianity,  they  did  it  iu  diiferent  ways.  And  of  this  differ- 
ence we  must  first  take  a  general  view. 

Judaism  is  the  religion  of  positive,  direct  revelation,  in  word  and 
action  ;  a  communication  not  only  of  divine  doctrine,  but  also  of  divine 
life  ;  a  gradual  condescension  and  self-manifestation  of  the  only  true  God 
to  his  chosen  people  in  laws,  prophecy,  and  types,  which  all  testified  of 
Christ.  Here,  therefore,  the  process  was  from  above  downward.  God 
comes  gradually  into  nearer  relation  to  men,  till  finally  he  becomes  him- 
self man,  and,  in  Christ,  takes  our  whole  nature,  body,  soul,  and  spirit, 
into  intimate  and  eternal  union  with  his  divinity. 

Not  so  with  Heathenism.  We  here  refer  mainly  to  the  religions  of 
Greece  and  Rome,  with  which  Christianity,  in  its  first  age,  came  more 
especially  into  contact.  This  is,  generally  speaking,  the  spontaneous  de- 
•veloTj^ment  0^  nature  ;  religion  in  its  tvild  growth  (comp.  Rom.  11  :  24)  ; 
the  evolution  of  fallen  humanity  in  groping  after  God,  under  the  general 
guidance  of  Providence,  indeed,  yet  without  the  aid  of  a  special  revelation, 
or  of  a  communication  of  divine  life  and  truth.  This  the  Apostle  seems  to 
intimate,  when  he  says  of  the  heathen,  that  God,  in  times  past,  suffered 
them  "to  walk  in  their  own  ways,"  (Acts  14  :  16).  The  same  idea  he 
expresses  more  definitely  in  Acts  11  :  26,  21  :  God  "hath  made  of  one 
blood  all  nations  of  men,  for '  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the  earth,  and 
hath  determined  the  times  before  appointed,  and  the  bounds  of  their 
habitation  ;  that  they  should  seek  the  Lord,  if  haply  they  wight  feel 
after  him,  and  find  him,  though  he  be  not  far  from  every  one  of  us." 
Here,  then,  the  preparation  for  the  Christian  religion  proceeded  from 
below,  from  the  wants  and  powers  of  man,  as  he  gradually  awoke  to  a 
sense  of  his  own  helplessness  and  the  need  of  revelation.  In  Greece  and 
Rome  humanity  was  to  show,  what  it  could  accomplish  in  its  fallen  state, 
with  simply  the  natural  gifts  of  the  Creator,  in  science,  in  art,  in  politi- 
cal and  social  life.  There  was  it  to  be  proven,  that  the  highest  degree 
of  natural  culture  cannot  satisfy  the  infinite  desires  of  the  mind  and 
heart,  but  only  serves  to  make  them  more  painfully  felt,  and  to  show  the 
absolute  need  of  a  supernatural  redemption.  Thus  Heathenism,  at  the 
summit  of  its  exaltation,  confesses  its  own  helplessness,  and  cries  dcvspair- 
ingly  for  salvation. 

Hence  another  distinction  between  these  two  systems  of  religion. 
Judaism  was  more  a  positive,  Heathenism,  a  negative  preparation  for 
Christianity.  Judaism  was  the  only  true  religion  before  Christ  ;  and 
could,  therefore,  be  abolished  only  in  its  temporal,  national,  and  exclusive 


140  §  40.      JUDAISM    AND   HEATHENISM.  [spec. 

form,  while  its  divine  substance  was  preserved  and  more  fully  unfolded  in 
the  Gospel.  The  Saviour  came  not  to  destroy  the  law  and  the  prophets, 
but  to  fulfill  them  (Matt.  5  :  11).  Heathenism  is  essentially  a  corrup- 
tion of  man's  original  consciousness  of  God  ;  (Rom.  1:19  sqq.),  a  dei- 
fication of  nature  and  of  man  ;  hence  a  religion  of  error.  Christianity 
is,  therefore,  opposed  to  it  in  principle,  as  a  specifically  different  system.' 
The  old  dispensation,  when  it  passed  into  the  new,  only  reached  the  com- 
pletion, for  which  it  was  inwardly  destined.  But  Heathenism  must  un- 
dergo a  radical  revolution  ;  it  must  abandon  itself,  before  it  can  receive 
the  truth,  as  it  is  in  Jesus. 

To  cover  the  whole  ground,  however,  we  must  add  to  this  view 
another,  apparently  opposite. 

In  the  first  place,  we  find  that  Judaism,  along  with  the  pure  develop- 
ment of  divine  revelation,  embodied,  also,  more  or  less  human  error  and 
corruption.  This  appears  especially  after  the  cessation  of  prophecy, 
and  quite  generally  at  the  time  of  Christ's  birth,  in  the  sects  of  the 
Pharisees,  Sadducees,  and  Essenes.  In  this  form  Judaism  was,  also,  a 
'negative  preparation  for  Christianity  ;  and  to  this  part  of  it,  therefore, 
we  find  Christ  and  the  apostles  as  decidedly  opposed,  as  to  Heathenism. 

Then,  on  the  other  hand.  Heathenism  was  not  absolutely  without  God, 
not  jiure  error.  In  its  darkness  there  shone  some  sparks  of  truth,  which 
were,  also,  elements  of  a  positive  preparation  for  Christianity.  The  heathen 
mind  still  retained,  though  in  a  degenerate  form,  some  consciousness  of  a 
supreme  being,  which  is  always  a  manifestation,  and,  so  far  as  this  goes, 
a  presence  of  God  in  man.  It  had  a  sense  of  want,  a  religious  suscepti- 
bility, which  made  it  accessible  to  the  influences  of  the  gospel.  On  this 
point  Plutarch,  himself  a  heathen  and  a  disciple  of  Plato,  remarks  with 
much  truth  and  beauty;^  "There  has  never  been  a  state  of  Atheists, 
If  you  wander  over  the  earth,  you  may  find  cities  without  walls,  without 
king,  without  mint,  without  theatre  or  gymnasium  ;  but  you  will  never 
find  a  city  without  God,  without  prayer,  without  oracle,  without  sacrifice. 
Sooner  may  a  city  stand  without  foundations,  than  a  state  without  belief 
in  the  gods.  This  is  the  bond  of  all  society  and  the  pillar  of  all  legisla- 
tion." In  all  public  enterprises,  in  war,  and  in  peace,  the  heathens,  with 
conscientious  fear,  were  accustomed,  first  of  all,  to  consult  the  oracles  to 
secure  the  favor  and  assistance  of  their  gods  ;  and,  oppressed  with  the 
consciousness  of  guilt,  they  continually  sought,  by  prayers,  penances,  and 

*  Comp.,  for  instance,  Matt.  6  :  7,  8,  32.  Rom.  1  :  18-32.  Eph.  2  :  11-13,  where 
the  heathen  are  represented  as  without  hope,  and  without  God  in  the  world ;  Eph. 
4  :  17-19.  Gal.  4  :  8.  Acts  26  :  18,  where  the  condition  of  the  heathen  is  declared 
to  be  one  of  darkness  and  of  the  power  of  Satan ;  also  Acts  17  :  30.     1  Pet.  4  :  3-5 

^  Adv.  Colotenn  (an  Epicurean),  c.  31. 


IXTKOD.]  §  40.      JUDAISM   AJSTD   HEATHENISM.  141 

Ijloody  sacrifices,  to  appease  the  divine  wrath.'  Beneath  the  ashes  of 
pagan  superstition  there  glowed  a  feeble  spark  of  faith  in  the  "  unknown 
God."  Behind  the  veil  of  the  slavish  fear  of  idols  was  hid  the  feeling 
of  reverence  for  the  divine  Being,  which  is  the  foundation  of  all  religion. 
Through  the  dark  labyrinth  of  mythological  tales  and  traditions,  we  can 
trace  the  golden  thread  of  a  deep  desire  for  re-union  with  God.  The 
story  of  the  prodigal  son,  who  wandered  away  from  his  father's  house, 
but  retained,  even  in  his  lowest  degradation,  a  painful  remembrance  of 
his  native  home,  and  at  last  resolved  to  return  to  it  as  a  penitent  sinner, 
is  a  true  picture  of  the  heathen  world.  In  paganism  are  found  relics 
of  the  divine  image,  in  which  man  was  created  ;  glimmerings  of  that 
general  revelation,  which  preceded  the  calling  of  Abraham  ;  as  well  as 
faint  types  and  unconscious  prophecies  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ. 
The  myths  of  the  Avatars  ;  of  the  descent  of  the  gods  to  the  earth  ; 
of  their  union  and  intermarriage  with  mortal  men  ;  of  the  fall  and  suf- 
fering of  Prometheus,  and  of  his  final  deliverance  by  Hercules,  the  son 
of  a  divine  father  and  a  human  mother — all  are  rude  anticipations  of  the 
mystery  of  the  Incarnation  and  Atonement.  Instead  of  invalidating  the 
leading  truths  of  Christianity,  they  rather  confirm  them,  by  showing, 
that  the  gospel  meets  the  deepest  wants  of  human  nature,  as  they 
appear  in  all  nations  and  times.  The  noblest  and  most  effectual  way  of 
defending  Christianity,  is  not  to  condemn  every  thing  which  preceded  it, 
to  turn  all  the  virtues  of  distinguished  heathens  into  splendid  vices,  but 
rather  to  make  them  testify  in  its  favor.''  All  the  scattered  elements  of 
truth,  beauty,  and  virtue,  in  the  religion,  science,  and  art  of  ancient 
Greece  and  Rome,  we  must  refer,  with  the  Greek  Fathers,  to  the  work- 
ing of  the  divine  Word  before  his  incarnation  ;'  and,  at  the  same  time, 

'  Prayer  and  sacrifice  are  purely  religious  acts,  springing  from  a  need  and  desire  of 
re-union  and  reconciliation  with  Deity.  But  these  are  found  everywhere  annongst  the 
ancient  heathens.  Plutarch  relates  even  of  Pericles,  the  distinguished  .state.sman  of 
Athens  (Vita  Pericl.  c.  8) ,  that,  whenever  he  had  tt»  speak  in  public,  "  he  alw:i3rs  first 
addressed  a  prayer  to  the  gods,  that  not  a  word  unsuitable  to  the  occasion  might  escape 
hinn."  This  is  confirmed  by  Quintilian,  and  by  Suidas,  who  tells  us,  that  Pericles 
wrote  down  his  orations  before  pronouncing  them  in  public.  Volumnia,  the  mother  of 
Coriolanus,  beautifully  said  (Plutarch,  Vita  Coriol.  c  35) :  "  Prayer  to  God  is  comfort 
in  all  need  and  tribulation."  In  times  of  great  danger  to  the  state,  the  Roman  women, 
of  their  own  accord,  made  processions  to  the  temples,  and  day  and  night  implored  the 
gods  to  protect  their  native  land. 

"^  So  the  best  defense  of  the  Reformation  consists  not  in  a  wholesale  denunciation  of 
Medieval  Catholicism,  as  most  of  our  radical  anti-popery  men  believe  ;  but  in  showing, 
that  the  whole  Middle  Age  looked  towards  the  Reformation  as  the  necessary  result  of 
its  labors  and  fulfillment  of  its  desires.  We  are  far  more  likely  to  gain  our  enemies  by 
giving  them  their  due,  than  by  indiscriminately  condenaning  them. 

*  Loyof  affcp/iOf,  Tioyog  arepfia-LKoc. 


142  §  40.      JUDAISM   AND   HEATHENISM.  [sPEC. 

regard  them,  with  the  African  Father,  Tertullian,  as  the  "testimonies  of 
a  soul  naturally  Christian,"'  a  soul  leaning,  in  its  deepest  instincts  and 
noblest  desires,  towards  Christianity,  and  predestined  for  it,  as  the  ful- 
fillment of  its  wants  and  hopes.  For  man  is  truly  made  for  Christ,  and 
his  heart  is  restless,  till  it  rests  in  him. 

This  view  of  Heathenism,  particularly  that  of  Greece  and  Rome,  to 
which,  again,  that  of  the  East  was  preparatory — is  clearly  expressed  and 
confirmed  in  various  passages  of  Scripture.  Our  Lord  himself  acknow- 
ledges the  religious  susceptibility  of  the  heathen,  and  sometimes  shames 
the  Jews  by  comparing  them,  in  ttts  respect,  with  the  less  favored  Gen- 
tiles, lie  tells  them,  that  the  men  of  Kineveh,  of  Tyre,  and  of  Sidon 
shall  rise  up  in  judgment  and  condemn  the  unbelieving  generation  of 
Chorazin,  Bethsaida,  and  Capernaum  (Matt.  11  :  21-24.  12  :  41,  42). 
Of  the  heathen  centurion  at  Capernaum,  he  says  :  "  Verily  I  say  unto 
you,  I  have  not  found  so  great  faith,  no,  not  in  Israel,"  (Matt.  8  :  10. 
Luke  *r  :  9)  ;  and  to  the  woman  of  Canaan,  who  cried  so  urgently  and 
yet  so  humbly  for  help  :  "0  woman,  great  is  thy  faith  :  be  it  unto  thee 
even  as  thou  wilt,"  (Matt.  15  :  28).*  According  to  St.  John,  the  Logos, 
even  before  his  incarnation,  "  shone  in  the  darkness,"  that  is,  in  the  whole 
of  humanity  lying  in  sin  and  error  ;  and  "  lighteth  every  man  that 
cometh  into  the  \Aorld,"  (John  1  :  6,  9,  10).  According  to  St.  Paul, 
God  has  never  left  himself  "  without  witness,"  (Acts  14  :  16,  It).  He 
has  revealed  himself  even  to  the  heathen  ;  externally,  in  the  works  of 
nature,  where  the  reflecting  mind  can  and  should  discern  "  his  eternal 
power  and  Godhead  ;  so  that  they  are  without  excuse,"  (Rom.  1:19- 
21)  ;  and  hiternally,  in  their  reason  and  conscience,  so  that  the  Gentiles, 
having  not  the  written  law  of  Moses,  "  are  a  law  unto  themselves  ; 
which  show  the  work  of  the  law  written  in  tlieir  hearts,  their  conscience 
also  bearing  witness,  and  their  thoughts  the  meanwhile  accusing  or  else 
excusing  one  another"  (Rom.  2  :  14,  15).  Hence  the  same  apostle,  when 
proclaiming  to  the  Athenian^  the  "  unknown  God,"  to  whom  they  had 
built  an  altar  in  testimony  of  their  unsatisfied  religious  wants,  hesitates 
not  to  quote,  with  approbation,  a  passage  from  a  heathen  poet  (Aratus), 
on  the  indwelling  of  God  in  man,  and  to  adduce  it  as  proof  of  the  pos- 
sibility of  seeking  and  finding  God,  (Acts  IT  :  21,  28).  St.  Peter  dis- 
covered in  Cornelius  the  marks  of  preparing  grace,  and  acknowledged, 
that  there  are  in  every  nation  such  as  "  fear  God  and  work  righteous- 
ness," (Acts  10  :  35).     Of  course  he  does  not  mean  by  this,  that  man 

^"Testimonia  animae  naturaliter  chrislianae." 

'  Com  p.  the  parable  of  the  good  Samaritan,  by  which  our  Lord  intended  to  humble 
the  Jews,  who  be'ieved  themselves  to  be  the  only  pious  people,  Luke  10  :  30  sqq. 
Also  si:ch  passages  as  Matt.  8  :  1],  12.    John  10  :  16.     11  :  52.    12  :  32.  cf  20,21. 


INTKOD.]         §  41.       GREEK    CIVILIZATION    AISTD    CHIilSTIANITT.  143 

can  at  all  fulfill  the  divine  law,  and  be  saved  without  Christ  ;  for  then 
Cornelius  need  not  have  been  baptized  ;  he  might  have  remained  a 
heathen.  But  the  apostle  does  mean,  that  there  are  everywhere  gentiles, 
with  honest  and  earnest  longings  after  salvation,  who,  like  Cornelius, 
will  readily  receive  the  gospel,  as  soon  as  it  is  brought  within  their  reach, 
and  find  in  it  satisfaction  and  peace. 

Thus  Judaism  and  Heathenism,  notwithstanding  their  essential  difi"er- 
ence,  have  some  common  features  and  connecting  links.  And  these  aid 
us  greatly  in  understanding  the  attempts  made  at  the  time  of  Christ's 
coming,  to  amalgamate  the  two  ;  especially  at  Alexandria,  in  the  school 
of  PLilo.  Though,  of  course,  these  efforts  must  fail.  K^othing  short  of 
a  new  spiritual  creation,  could  break  down  the  wall  of  partition  between 
Jews  and  Gentiles  ;  change  their  deadly  hatred  and  contempt  of  one 
another  into  brotherly  love  ;  fulfill  the  deepest  desires  of  both  ;  and  thus 
open  a  new  channel  for  the  stream  of  history.  Christ  made  "in  himself 
of  twain  one  new  man,  so  making  peace  ;"  and  reconciled  "both  unto 
God  in  one  body  by  the  cross,  having  slain  the  enmity  thereby,"  (Eph.  2  : 
14-20). 

To  embody  these  remarks  in  a  figure,  we  may  well  compare  Heathen- 
ism to  the  starry  night,  full  of  darkness  and  fear,  but  also  of  mysterious 
forebodings  and  unsatisfied  longing  after  the  light  of  day  ;  Judaism  to 
the  aurora,  full  of  cheerful  hope  and  certain  promise  of  the  rising  sun  ; 
Christianity,  to  the  perfect  day,  in  which  stars  lose  their  light,  and 
aurora  its  splendor. 

We  must  now  consider  more  in  detail  the  preparation  for  Christianity, 
first,  in  Heathenism  ;  then,  in  Judaism  ;  and  finally,  in  the  contact  and 
attempted  amalgaviation  of  loth. 


A.    PREPARATION    FOR    CHRISTIANITY  IN  THE    HEA- 
THEN WORLD. 

I.    GREECE. 

§  41.  Greek  Civilization  and  Christianity. 
Ancient  Hellas  is  that  classic  soil,  from  which  all  the  sciences  and 
fine  arts  first  sprang  forth  in  an  independent  form,  and  rose  to  the  high- 
est perfection  attainable  without  the  aid  of  Christianity,  This  small, 
many-toothed  peninsula  was  inserted  by  Providence  in  the  midst  of  the 
three  divisions  of  the  old  world,  to  educate  and  refine  them.  Its 
history  most  strikingly  proves  the  lordship  of  mind  over  matter,  of 
reason  over  physical  force.  The  Attic  state,  including  the  islands  of 
Salamis  and  Helena,  embraced  an  area  of  but  forty  geographical  square 


144:  §  41.       GEEEK   CIVILIZATION   AND   CHKISTIANITT.  fsPEC. 

miles,  with  a  population,  three  hundred  years  before  Christ,  of  hardly 
half  a  million,  and  the  majority  of  these,  slaves.'  Yet  it  played  a  far 
more  important  part  In  the  history  of  the  world,  than  the  countless 
hordes  of  Huns  and  Mongols,  nay,  than  the  colossal  empire  of  ancient 
Persia,  or  even  that  of  modern  China,  with  its  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
seven  millions  of  souls.  Huge  masses  can  only  excite  dumb  astonish- 
ment, or,  at  best,  command  a  forced  and  temporary  submission.  But  to 
the  power  of  inind  all  bows,  and  does  voluntary  and  cheerful  homage.  The 
Greeks,  indeed,  possessed  bodily  strength  and  bravery,  as  their  honora- 
ble defeat  at  Thermopylae  and  their  splendid  victories  at  Marathon,  Sa- 
lamis,  and  Plataea  abundantly  show.  But  their  brightest  and  most 
lasting  glory,  and  their  continued  influence  on  the  civilization  of  the 
world,  flow  from  their  peaceful  creations  of  genius  ;  from  their  enthusi- 
astic love  of  wisdom  and  beauty  ;  from  their  restless  activity  in  all 
departments  of  science  and  art  ;  in  a  word,  from  their  ideality.  It  was 
in  and  through  them,  that  the  human  mind  first  awoke  to  a  consciousness 
of  itself  ;  bursting  away  from  the  dark  powers  of  nature  ;  rising  above 
the  misty  oriental  broodings  ;  and  beginning  to  inquire,  with  clear  head 
and  keen  eye,  into  the  causes,  laws,  and  ends  of  all  existence.  The  lite- 
rature of  this  highly-gifted,  elastic,  and  thoroughly  original  people  sur- 
vived the  destruction  of  its  national  independence,  and  controlled^  the 
civilization  of  Rome  ;  thus  achieving  a  more  noble  and  glorious  victory 
over  its  own  lordly  conqueror.  "  Victi  victoribus  leges  dederunt."  Nor 
has  its  power  since  been  diminished.  The  works  of  Greek  poets,  philos- 
ophers, historians,  and  orators,  have,  to  this  day,  an  untold  influence  on 
the  mental  training  of  youth,  l^y  being  made  the  basis  of  the  higher 
scientific  culture  in  all  the  colleges  and  universities  of  Christendom. 
The  universal  use  of  these  heathen  productions  must  have  some  good 
ground.  The  church  cannot  have  been  radically  mistaken  in  giving 
classical  literature  so  prominent  a  place  in  all  the  higher  schools  of  learn- 
ing, from  the  age  of  the  Fathers  to  the  present  day.  The  fact  can  be 
satisfactorily  explaiued  only  by  admitting,  that  this  literature  was,  in  the 
hands  of  Providence,  a  literary  and  scientific  preparation  for  Christianity, 
and  is  still  well-fitted  to  serve  the  same  purpose. 

That  the  heathen  literature  forms,  thus,  an  introduction  to  Christian- 
ity in  the  sphere  of  natural  culture,  is  plain,  first,  as  regards  the 
language,  in  which  the  apostolic  and  the  earliest  Christian  writings  gen- 
erally have  come  down  to  us.  The  language  of  Hellas  is  the  most  beau- 
tiful, rich,  and  harmonious  ever  spoken  or  written  ;  and  Christianity  has 
•conferred  the  highest  honor  on  it,  by  making  it  the  organ  of  her  sacred 
truths.     We  may  say,  it  was  predestined  to  form  the  pictures  of  silver, 

'  Cf.  Bockh :  Die  Staatshaushaltung  der  jlthener,  I.  p.  34  and  40, 


INTEOD.]         §  41.      GKEEK    CIVILIZATION  AOT)   CHEISTIANITT.  145 

in  whidi  the  golden  apple  of  the  gospel  should  be  preserved  for  all  gen- 
erations., To  this  end,  Providence  so  ordered,  that,  by  the  conquests  of 
Alexander  the  Great,  and  the  planting  of  Greek  colonies  in  the  East,  as 
also  by  reason  of  the  copiousness,  and  intrinsic  value  of  the  Greek  lite- 
rature and  its  influence  upon  the  Roman  mind,  this  language  had, 
before  the  birth  of  Christ,  become  the  language  of  the  whole  civilized 
world.  Through  it  the  apostles  could  make  themselves  understood  in 
any  city  of  the  Roman  empire.'  In  addition  to  this,  the  Creator  had 
endowed  the  Greeks  with  the  general  power  to  give  the  beautiful  soul  a 
beautiful  body  ;  to  provide  for  thought  the  clearest,  most  suitable  and 
most  natural  expression  ;  in  short,  to  develope  the  idea  of  beauty. 
Their  poetical,  philosophical,  historical,  and  rhetorical  works  continue  to 
be  the  best  models  of  form,  taste,  and  style.  The  greatest  church 
teachers  as  well  as  profane  authors  in  all  ages  have  taken  lessons  of 
them,  and  of  their  Roman  imitators,  in  these  respects.  The  laws  of 
thought,  too,  which  are  the  basis,  or,  in  fact,  but  the  inside,  of  the  laws 
of  language,  were  thoroughly  investigated  first  by  the  Grecian  philoso- 
phers ;  and  hence  the  vast  influence  of  the  logic  and  dialectics  of  Aris- 
totle, the  greatest  master  in  this  field,  upon  the  scholastic  theology  of 
Catholicism  in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  even  of  Protestantism  in  the  seven- 
teenth century. 

Not  only  by  these  outward,  formal  excellencies,  however,  did  Greece 
make  a  path  for  Christianity  ;  but  also  by  the  substance  of  her  culture, 
which,  in  fact,  can  never  be  wholly  separated  from  the  form.  The  Greek 
writers  and  artists  portray  man  in  his  natural  state,  yet  untouched  by 
the  gospel.  Refinement  (humanitas)  is  their  standing  theme.  Hence 
their  works,  as  the  basis  of  study,  are  justly  called  the  "  humanities," 
(literae  humaniores).  "Know  thyself,"  {yvu^i  asavrov),  is  the  highest 
problem  of  their  philosophy.  Even  their  gods  are  but  giant  men,  embod- 
iments of  the  Grecian  ideas  of  power  and  virtue,  but  abounding,  also,  in 
weakness  and  vice.  They  stand  before  us,  beautiful  shapes,  risen  from 
the  waste  of  matter  or  the  foam  of  the  sea,  exalted  above  all  the  orien- 
tal monstrosity  and  deformity  ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  wholly  finite, 
plastic  forms,  the  representatives  of  petty  human  interests  and  humors. 
All  Olympus  is  but  a  gallery  of  genuine  Grecian  men  and  women,  ele- 
vated to  the  region  of  the  clouds.  Now  this  purely  human  element  is 
the  necessary  basis  of  Christianity  ;  not  to  be  annihilated  by  it,  but 
redeemed,  sanctified,  and  made  perfect.  It  is  the  wild  olive-branch, 
which  must  be  grafted  on  the  good  olive-tree  of  divine  revelation, 
(comp.  Rom.  11  :  24),  that  it  may  be  improved  and  richly  fructified. 

'  Cicero,  for  example,  says,  Pro  Archia,  c.  10  :  "  Graeca  legunturin  omnibus  fere  gen- 
tibus.  Latina  suis  finibus,  exiguis  sane,  continentur." 
10 


\ 


146  §  41.       GKEEK   CIVILIZATION   AND   CHKISTIANITT.  L^PEC. 

Hence  there  is  all  reason  for  the  arrangement,  by  which  the  studies  of 
the  learned  professions  always  begin  with  the  classics,  introducing  the 
young  scholar  to  the  laboratory  of  the  human  mind,  and  teaching  him, 
first,  what  he  is  by  nature.  The  course,  by  which  the  world  was  pre- 
pared for  Christianity,  must  repeat  itself,  in  some  form,  in  every  individ- 
ual. The  discipline  of  the  Old  Testament  law,  the  experience  of  repen- 
tance and  longing  for  salvation,  are  the  necessary  preliminaries  to 
practical  Christianity  ;  the  study  of  the  classic  languages  and  literature 
is  the  door  to  a  scientific  understanding  of  our  religion. 

Were  there  no  revelation,  no  Christianity  ;  or  were  sin  no  more  than 
the  necessary  boundary  of  our  finite  nature,  an  amiable  weakness  ;  we 
could  conceive  of  nothing  more  beautiful  and  attractive,  than  the  exqui. 
site  refinement,  the  keen,  clear,  sound  philosophy,  the  youthful,  lively, 
inspiring  art  of  ancient  Greece.  Her  history  is,  in  fact,  a  smiling  spring- 
time, with  its  gorgeous  profusion  of  flowers  ;  or,  as  Hegel  somewhere 
says,  a  real  play  of  youth.  Hence  it  is  no  accident,  that  it  begins  with 
the  fabulous  youth,  Achilles,  the  hero  of  the  greatest  national  epic, 
Homer's  Iliad  ;  and  ends  with  the  actual  youth,  Alexander,  the  docile 
pupil  of  the  most  accomplished  of  philosophers,  Aristotle.  Her  litera- 
ture and  art  know  nothing  of  the  deepest  woes  and  disharmony  of  life, 
of  the  awful  nature  and  effects  of  sin  ;  otherwise  she  could  not  have 
ascribed  the  sinful  passions  to  her  very  gods ;  to  Jupiter,  anger  ;  to 
Juno,  jealousy  ;  to  Venus,  lust.  Even  where  pain  and  grief  are  repre- 
sented, as  in  the  statues  of  the  serpent-wound  Laocoon  and  the  bereaved 
Niobe,  the  artistic  harmony  is  still  preserved,  and  the  works  produce  an 
esthetic,  pleasing  impression.'     But  there  is  sin,  which,  like  the  viper  in 

'  Hence  Nicolas  Lenau  beautifully  and  aptly  sings  : 

"  Die  Kiinste  der  Hellenen  kannten 
Nicht  den  Erloser  una  Sein  Licht. 
D'rum  scherzten  sie  so  gern  und  nannten 
Des  Schmerzes  tiefsten  Abgrund  nicht. 

Dass  sie  am  Schmerz,  den  sie  zu  trosten 
Jsicht  wusste,  nnild  voruberfiihrt, 
Erkenn'  ich  als  der  Zauber  grossten 
Womit  uns  die  Antike  riihrt." 

So  with  Gothe,  a  true  Greek.  He  is  pure  nature,  and  would  be  a  most  beautiful, 
lovely  form,  were  there  no  sin,  or  were  sin  but  a  shadow,  which  serves  to  heighten  the 
diversity  and  changefulness  of  the  universe,  to  variegate  the  life  of  man.  Gothe,  it  is 
true,  was  acquainted  with  Christianity;  but  not  as  the  power,  which  redeems,  and 
sanctifies,  and  controls  the  whole  life  ;  he  treated  it  as  a  natural  curiosity,  which  occa- 
sionally, perhaps,  and  transiently  pleases  the  eye.  His  true  home,  especially  after  his 
tour  to  Italy,  was  classic  heathendom ;  his  divinity,  art  and  natural  beauty.  In  him,  as 
in  Hellenism,  man  celebrates  his  apotheosis;  whereas  Christianity  glorifies  the  conde- 
scending grace  of  God. 


INTROD.J  g   42.       DECLIKE    OF    THE    GKECIAN    JCKD.  147 

the  grass,  is  most  dangerous,  where  men  do  not  or  will  not  see  it. 
There  is  death,  the  wages  of  sin,  which  is  most  comfortless,  where  a 
smiling  Cupid  puts  out  the  torch,  and  strews  the  grave  with  flowers. 
For  this  poison  of  life,  science  and  art  have  no  antidote.  The  cure  must 
come  from  above,  from  the  person  of  the  immaculate  Mediator,  the 
Prince  of  a  new  supernatural  Life.  Without  a  personal  Saviour,  the 
fairest  bloom  of  human  culture  fades  hopelessly  away,  like  the  flower  of 
the  field,  which  to-day  flourishes  in  all  its  vigor,  and  to-morrow  dies. 

Grecian  science  and  art,  therefore,  were,  in  the  hand  of  Providence 
only  means  to  an  end,  to  prepare  the  way  for  Christianity  ;  and  to  this 
day  they  are  invaluable,  as  the  natural  basis  of  Christian  culture  and  the- 
ology. But  considered  as  themselves  an  end,  and  sundered  from  Christi- 
anity, they  prove  utterly  powerless.  Not  a  single  man  can  they  make 
truly  happy,  much  less  redeem  his  soul  from  corruption.  Of  this  the  sub- 
sequent history  and  tragical  end  of  Greece  give  striking  proof.  In  spite 
of  all  its  former  glory,  it  lies  before  us,  at  the  appearance  of  Christ,  a 
mouldering  corpse. 

This  is  the  negative  view  of  the  preparatory  process,  which  we  come 
now  more  fully  to  consider. 

§  42.    The  Decline  of  the  Grecian  Mind. 

The  death  of  Alexander  the  Great  exhausted  the  pohtical  and  military 
strength  of  Greece.  Hellas  proper  had  already  fallen,  nobly  fallen  with 
Demosthenes,  her  greatest  orator  and  patriot.  The  semblances  of  repub- 
lics were,  indeed,  kept  up  for  some  time  afterwards  in  the  ^tolian  and 
Achaean  confederacies.  But  they  had  no  power  to  withstand  the  pres- 
sure of  the  iron  Roman  nationality.  There  was  now  no  Miltiades,  no 
Leonidas,  no  Themistocles,  no  Aristides,  to  save  his  native  land.  The 
independence  of  the  Grecian  states,  already  inwardly  rotten,  fell  beneath 
the  sword  of  the  conqueror.  After  Perseus,  the  last  Macedonian  king,  was 
led  in  triumph  to  Rome,  B.  C.  168,  the  Achaean  league  was  also  dissolved, 
and  Corinth  destroyed,  B.  C.  146.  The  ruin  was  cheerless  and  hopeless. 
The  political  power  of  the  nation,  once  so  full  of  youthful  vigor  and  drunk 
with  freedom,  was  for  ever  l^roken  ;  and  the  noble  soul  of  her  patriot 
could  not  but  sink  in  despair  at  the  sight  of  her  wretchedness. 

The  Grecian  culture  and  literature  retained,  indeed,  their  power  and 
influence  ;  but  they  could  afford  no  consolation  or  peace.  Just  when  the 
Hellenic  mind  had  brought  forth  its  proudest  creations  of  art  and  science, 
and  expected  joyfully  to  repose  on  its  laurels,  it  found  them  all  unsatisfy- 
ing. Genius  w^as  extinct  and  mind  degenerate.  The  taste  of  the  later 
Greek  artists  and  rhetoricians  is  entirely  vitiated  ;  outward  pomp  and 
empty  sound  must  compensate  for  the  poverty  of  ideas. 


I 

148  §  42.      DECLESTE   OF   THE   GKECIAN    MIND.  fsPEC. 

More  tlian  all,  -philosophy  fell  into  conflict  with  the  popular  religion  ; 
overthrew  the  belief  in  the  gods,  without  furnishing  any  positive  substi- 
tute ;  and  evaporated  into  cold  negations.  Even  in  the  time  of  Socrates, 
the  Sophists  had  derided  the  old  traditions,  and  made  light  of  truth  in 
general.  At  a  later  day  Euhemcrus,  of  the  Cyrenaic  school,  proposed  to 
account  for  the  whole  theogouy  on  natural  principles  ;  just  as  the  Ration- 
alist, Ptiulus,  in  our  times,  has  treated  the  gospel  history.  The  systems 
of  philosophy  most  prevalent  in  the  time  of  Christ  and  the  apostles,  except- 
ing the  Platonic,  are  sad  proof  of  the  theoretical  aberration  and  the  irreli- 
gious and  immoral  bent  of  the  educated  and  half-educated  classes  of  the 
later  Greeks. 

The  Epicurean  philosophy,  which  is  simply  deduction  from  the  principles 
of  Aristippus,  a  disciple  of  Socrates,  but  did  not  make  its  appearance  till 
after  Alexander  the  Great,  was  most  congenial  to  the  degenerate,  frivol- 
ous spirit.  It  made  pleasure,  {rjdovrj),  and,  in  truth,  sensual  pleasure,' 
the  highest  good  and  the  aim  of  life  ;  derived  everything  from  chance  and 
the  will  of  man  f  and  denied  immortality.  Of  course  it  could  see  nothing 
but  folly  in  the  popular  belief,  nothing  but  fable  in  the  theogouies  of  Homer 
and  Hesiod,  and  must  be  destructive  of  all  good  morals.  The  nation  and 
the  age,  (about  300  B.  C),  which  originated  and  favored  such  a  system, 
must  have  already  contained  the  seeds  of  dissolution. 

The  doctrines  of  the  New  Academy,  founded  by  J.rcesi/a?ts,  (f244  B.  C), 
which  were  likewise  quite  prevalent,  were  no  essential  improvement. 
This  school  was  essentially  skeptical  by  denying,  in  opposition  to  Stoicism, 
the  possibility  of  any  firm  conviction  and  sure  knowledge  of  truth.  In 
skepticism  philosophy  publishes  its  own  bankruptcy,  and  mocks  its  own 
name.  The  legitimate  end  of  skepticism  would  be  nihilism,  self-annihila- 
tion. But  this  step,  from  doubt  to  despair,  the  light,  worldly  mind  does 
not  commonly  take.  With  its  theoretical  skepticism  it  unites  a  practical 
Epicureanism,  a  rude  or  refined  sensuality,  the  motto  of  which  is  :  Let 
us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die.  So  the  Sadducees,  who  may  be 
called  the  Jewish  Skeptics  and  Epicureans.  In  Pilate's  question  to 
Christ :  "  What  is  truth?  "  which  belonged  to  a  very  prevalent  mode  of 
thinking  at  that  age,  we  discern  nothing  of  an  earnest  longing  for  truth, 

^  By  pleasure  Epicurus  meant  an  undisturbed  satisfaction,  a  constant  feeling  of  connfort. 
But  his  disciples  went  further.  His  friend,  Metrodorus,  did  not  blush  to  avow,  that  the 
true  philosophy  of  nature  allows  all  sensual  indulgence.  See  the  citations  in  H.  Ritter  : 
Geschichte  dcr  Philosophie,  Part  III.,  (I8:U),  p.  455  sqq. 

^  Epicurus,  ill  Diog.  Laertius,  one  of  his  admirers.  X.  133  :  ulM  tcL  [liv  ditb  rvxrig, 
rd,  6e  TTa^'>  r/fiuv.  If  he  did  not  fully  deny  the  existence  of  the  gods,  he.  at  all  events,  put 
them  awuy  beyond  the  clouds,  and  cut  them  off  from  all  intercourse  with  the  world. 
Such  an  abstract  deism  is  but  one  remove  from  doH'nright  atheism ;  and  to  this  the 
more  consistent  disciples  of  Epicurus  actually  advanced. 


INTROD.]   ,  §  42.      DECLINE   IN   THE   GRECIAN   MIND.  149 

but  a  skeptical  worldling's  sneer  at  all  effort  to  grasp  it ;  as  thougli  truth 
were  a  phantom. 

A  third  philosophy,  which  exhibited  the  extreme  degeneracy  of  the 
Grecian  mind,  is  that  of  the  Cynic  school,  founded  by  the  Athenian, 
Antisthenes,  a  disciple  of  Socrates.     His  master's  sublime  independence  of 
all  the  externals  and  accidents  of  life  he  endeavored  to  preserve,  but 
caricatured.     The  earliest  advocates  of  this  philosophy,  notwithstanding 
their  eccentricities,  were  distinguished  for  many  noble  traits  ;  their  sim- 
plicity, for  instance,  their  self-control,  and  their  freedom  from  want.     We 
cannot  fail  to  recall  the  significant  interview  of  the  world-contemning 
Diogenes  of  Sinope  with   the  world-conquering    Alexander  the  Great. 
But  Cynicism,  true  to  its  name,  soon  sank  into  the  lowest  vulgarity  and 
•the  most  brazen  shamelessness.     Lucian  has  drawn  a  vivid  picture  of  its 
degenerate  features  in  his   Daemonax  and  his  Peregrinus.      Bedaubed 
with  mud,  a  pouch-girdle  round  the  waist,  an  enormous  cudgel  in  one  hand 
and  a  book  in  the  other,  their  hair  uncombed  and  bristly,  their  nails  like 
beasts'  claws,  and  their  bodies  half  naked,  these  canine  philosophers  strag- 
gled in  swarms  about  the  markets  and  streets  of  the  populous  cities,  car- 
rying under  this  disgusting  garb  an  abandoned  character  for  conceit,  ceu- 
soriousness,  gluttony,  avarice,  and  unnatural    vice.     Such    men    would 
obviously  be  bitter  enemies  of  the  Christians  ;  and,  in  fact,  one  of  them, 
Crescens,  in  Rome,  is  thought  to  have  occasioned  the  martyrdom  of  Jus- 
tin. 

The  Cynics  were,  indeed,  despised  even  by  the  more  respectable  of  the 
heathens.  Yet  the  foundations  of  religion  and  morality  were  everywhere 
undermined.  Even  the  great  historian,  Polyhius,  looked  upon  the  popu- 
lar religion  as  a  mere  bugbear,  a  political  institution  to  serve  the  purposes 
of  the  statesman,  to  keep  the  masses  in  check  ;  and  the  geographer, 
Straho,  in  the  time  of  Caesar  Augustus,  regarded  superstition,  myths,  and 
marvellous  legends  as  the  only  means  of  infusing  piety  and  virtue  into  the 
women  and  common  people.  We  have  a  mournful  proof  of  the  frivolous 
spirit  of  the  later  Greek  literature  in  the  numerous  works  of  the  spirited 
and  witty  Lucian,  who  wrote  in  the  second  century  after  Christ.  He  fell 
with  biting  sarcasm  upon  the  popular  religion,  as  a  jumble  of  absurd  sto- 
ries ;  occasionally  came  out  upon  Christianity,  as  folly  and  fanaticism  ; 
and  may  not  improperly  be  called  the  Voltaire  of  his  age.  Justin  Mar- 
tyr, (f  166),  says  of  the  generality  of  philosophers  in  his  day, — and  certain- 
ly without  exaggeration  :  "  Most  of  them  now  never  think  at  all,  whether 
there  be  one  God,  or  many  gods  ;  whether  there  be  a  Providence,  or  not ; 
as  though  this  knowledge  had  nothing  to  do  with  happiness.  They  seek 
rather  to  persuade  us,  that  the  divinity  cares,  indeed,  for  the  universe 
and  for  the  species,  but  not  for  me  and  thee,  or  for  individual  men.     It 


150  §  43.     PLATONiSM.  [spec. 

is  of  no  use,  therefore,  for  us  to  pray  to  it  ;  for  every  thing  repeats  itself 
according  to  the  unchangeable  laws  of  an  eternal  cycle.'" 

The  only  exceptions  to  the  irreligion  and  profligacy  of  the  educated 
classes  of  those  days  are  found  in  the  adherents  of  the  Stok  and  espe- 
cially the  riatonic  ])hiloso[ihy.  This  latter  system  bore  a  much  higher 
character  and  a  certain  affinity  to  Christianity.  To  it  we  must  now  at- 
tend more  closely,  leaving  Stoicism  to  its  more  proper  }ilace  in  the  sec- 
tions on  Rome. 

§  43.  Platonism. 
Of  all  the  systems  of  Greek  philosophy,  the  one,  which  undoubtedly 
exerted  the  most  powerful  and  beneficial  influence  on  the  religious  life  of 
the  heathens,  and  was  pre-eminently  fitted  to  be  a  scientific  schoolmaster 
to  bring  them  to  Christ,  was  Platonism.  All  the  other  systems  were  mostly 
negative,  and  tended  to  undermine  the  heathen  superstition,  and  thereby 
to  overthrow  idolatry,  without  substituting  any  thing  better  in  its  place. 
But  Platonism  may  be  regarded  as,  in  many  respects,  a  direct  guide  to 
the  gospel.  It  carries  us  back  to  Socrates  (f399  B.  C),  the  greatest 
and  most  remarkable  moral  personage  of  Heathendom.  In  one  view, 
this  philosopher  exhibits  the  perfection  of  a  Grecian  sage  ;  in  another, 
he  towers  far  above  his  nation  and  his  age,  as  the  prophet  of  a  glorious 
future.  He  attacked  with  the  stinging  lash  of  irony  all  sophistry,  false- 
liood,  and  levity  ;  with  all  his  noble  talents,  humbly  confessed  the  weak- 
ness and  insufficiency  of  human  powers  ;  ascribed  his  deepest  thoughts 
and  loftiest  efforts,  not  to  himself,  but  to  supernatural  influences,  to  a 
good  genius,  his  well-known  Daimou  ;  taught  his  pupils  to  listen  to  the 
inward  voice  of  the  divine  law  of  morality  ;  and  at  last,  with  imposing 
calmness,  dignity,  resignation,  and  hope  of  a  better  life,  died  a  martyr 
to  his  own  superior  knowledge  and  virtue.^  His  greatest  disciple,  Plato 
(428-348  B.  C  ),  an  original  poetico-philosophical  thinker,  wrought  the 
disconnected,  but  prolific  elements  of  his  master's  wisdom  into  an  organic 
system  of  universal  philosophy.  He  lived  in  the  ethereal  region  of  the 
idea,  and  of  creative  thought  ;  while  his  pupil,  Aristotle  (384-322), 
who  proceeded  from  sensible  phenomena  to  general  laws,  and  exhibited 
the  perfection  of  the  well-balanced  intellectual  culture  of  the  Greeks, 
concerned  hunself  more  with  the  forms  and  laws  of  thought,  and  hence 
exerted,  for  the  most  part,  a  merely  formal  influence  on  the  theology  of 

'  In  the  beginning  of  his  Dial.  c.  Tryphonc  Judoeo. 

^  Plato,  at  the  close  of  his  Phaedon,  concludes  his  account  of  the  death  of  his  master 
with  this  just  tribute  :  "This,  Echecrates,  was  the  end  of  our  friend,  ihe  best  man, 
we  may  say,  we  have  known  in  his  time,  and  moreover,  the  wisest  and  most  just." 


iNTROD.]  §  43.     platonisjM.  151 

the  Middle  Ages.     The  oue  was  gazing  continually  into  the  heights  of 
heaven  ;  the  other,  into  the  depths  of  earth.' 

The  Platonic  speculation  is  of  an  exalted,  ideal  character.  It  leads 
man  from  outward  phenomena  into  the  depths  of  spirit ;  gives  him  a 
glimpse  of  his  affinity  to  God  ;  raises  him  above  the  visible  and  sensible 
to  the  eternal  archetypes  of  the  beautiful,  the  true,  and  the  good,  from 
which  he  has  fallen  ;  and  fills  him  with  that  longing  for  them,  which  ex- 
presses itself  so  beautifully  in  the  profound  myth  of  Eros.'''  It  places 
the  highest  good  not  in  sensual  pleasure,  but  in  the  dominion  of  reason 
over  sense  ;  in  virtue,  as  consisting,  according  to  its  well-known  division^ 
of  Wisdom  {<l>pov7}(7tg^ ^  Courage  (dvSpia^^  Temperance  {ouc^poavvr]'^ ^  and 
Justice,  (^(^iKaioavv?!^ ^  Corresponding  to  the  three  primary  faculties  of 
the  soul,  and  their  harmonious  union.  Nay,  to  the  shame  of  many  a 
nominally  Christian  system  of  morality,  the  Platonic  philosophy  makes 
the  aim  of  man,  which  is  to  be  reached  through  virtue,  to  be  the  highest 
possible  degree  of  godliness  ;^  and  regards  human  life  not  as  an  unmean- 
ing sport  of  chance,  but  as  a  preparatory  step  to  a  higher  world,  where 

'  We  are  here  far  from  denying  the  claims  of  the  Aristotelian  philosophy  to  a  cer- 
tain elevation  of  character.  Cicero,  De  Natura  Deortim,  II.  37,  has  preserved  to  us,  in 
a  literal  translation,  from  a  lost  work  of  Aristotle,  the  following  beautiful  passage,  which 
displays,  in  some  measure,  the  inspiring  power  of  Plato's  genius,  and  shows,  that  the 
abstruse  metaphysician  could  sometimes  also  soar  in  poetic  flight ;  like  his  intellectual 
kinsman.  Hegel,  in  the  introduction  to  his  Lectures  on  the  philosophy  of  religion,  and 
often,  too,  in  his  Esthetics  :  "  If  there  were  beings,"  says  Aristotle,  "  who  had  always 
lived  in  the  depths  of  the  earth,  in  dwellings  decorated  with  statues  and  pictures,  and 
with  every  thing,  which  those  who  are  deemed  happy  possess  in  the  greatest  abun- 
dance ;  if  then  these  beings  should  be  told  of  the  government  and  power  of  the  gods, 
and  should  come  up  through  opened  fissures  from  their  secret  abodes  to  the  places, 
which  w'e  inhabit;  if  they  should  suddenly  behold  the  earth  and  the  sea  and  the  vault 
of  heaven,  perceive  the  extent  of  the  clouds  and  the  power  of  the  wind,  admire  the 
sun  in  its  greatness,  its  beauty,  and  its  effulgence ;  if,  finally,  as  approaching  night  veil- 
ed the  earth  in  darkness,  they  should  behold  the  starry  heavens^  the  changing  moon, 
the  rising  and  setting  of  the  stars,  and  their  eternally  ordained  and  unchangeable  courses ; 
they  would  exclaim  with  truth  :  There  are  gods,  and  such  great  t/iings  are  their  work. 
On  this  Alex,  von  Humboldt,  in  his  Cosmos,  Vol.  II.  p.  16,  remarks  :  "  Such  demonstra- 
tion of  the  existence  of  heavenly  powers,  from  the  beauty  and  infinite  magnitude  of  the 
works  of  creation,  appears  in  ancient  times  to  have  been  very  much  used." 

"  As  unfolded  by  Socrates  in  Plato's  Symposion.  According  to  this  fable,  epwf  is  the 
son  of  TTopof  (wealth),  and  diropia  (poverty) ;  thus  typifying  a  longing  after  the  true 
riches,  springing  from  the  consciousness  of  poverty ;  something  intermediate  between 
God  and  man.  The  Platonic  Eros  does  not  answer  to  the  idea  of  Christian  love, 
so  much  as  to  that  of  faith.  It  is  that,  by  which  the  soul  is  plumed  to  fly  into  the 
higher  world,  its  true  home  (hence  tyj^f  TrTEpo(jivTG)p  in  the  Phaedrus) ;  that,  by  which 
the  spirit  is  raised  from  the  phenomenon  to  the  idea,  from  appearance  to  reality,  and  is 
filled  with  enthusiasm  for  the  eternal  and  divine. 

'  Theaet.  ed.  Bip.  II.  p.  121  ;  ofioLwjic:  t'j  iJeoi  Kara  to  dwarov. 


152  §  43.     PLATONisM.  [spec. 

tlic  good  fire  rewarded  and  the  evil  punished.'  In  all  these  views  it  tes- 
tifies to  the  working  of  the  divine  Logos  in  the  heathen  world,  and 
seems  prophetic  of  Christianity.  It  rises  above  the  common  mythologi- 
cal belief,  in  its  glimpses  of  a  higher  unity  underlying  the  multiplicity  of 
gods,  of  a  "  father  and  creator  of  the  universe,  whom  it  is  hard  to  dis- 
cover, and  whom,  being  found,  it  is  impossible  to  make  known  to  all.'" 
But  it  was  far  from  falling,  like  an  Epicurus  or  a  Lucian,  into  the  arms  of 
infidelity  and  religious  nihilism.  On  the  contrary,  it  acknowledged,  and 
sought  only  to  purify  the  deep  sense  of  religious  want,  which  lay  at  the  root 
of  the  popular  polytheism.  Plutarch,  for  example,  who  wrote  at  the  close 
of  the  first  century,  and  was  one  of  the  most  gifted,  pious,  and  amiable 
o^  Plato's  disciples,  compares  the  old  myths  to  reflections  of  light  from 
diverse  surfaces  ;  or  to  the  rainbow  in  its  relation  to  the  sun.  In  ac- 
counting for  phenomena,  he  thinks,  we  must  neither  confine  ourselves, 
like  the  ancients,  to  the  supernatural  and  divine,  nor,  like  the  later  infi- 
dels, ascribe  everything  to  finite  causes  ;  but  must  suppose  that  both  the 
divine  and  the  human  agencies  work  together.  On  this  ground  he  vindi- 
cates the  divinity  of  oracles,  without  running  into  superstition.  Oracles, 
in  his  view,  as  to  their  particular  versified  or  prose  matter,  are  not, 
indeed,  word  for  word  divinely  inspired  ;  but  the  deity  gave  the  first  sug- 
gestion to  the  priestess,  Pythia,  and  she  then  acted  in  her  own  peculiar 
person.  This  speculative  religion  regarded  the  many  gods  as  powers 
radiating  from  the  primal  unity,  as  the  various  emanations  of  the  Abso- 
lute. Yet  this  feeble  presentiment  of  a  divine  unity  in  the  Platonic  and 
Neo-Platonic  systems  is,  of  course,  something  very  different  from  the 
Jewish  or  Christian  monotheism.' 

The  Platonic  philosophy,  thus  raising  the  soul  above  the  bondage  of 
the  material  world,  spiritualizing  the  popular  religion,  awakening  earnest 
longings  of  the  mind,  striving  after  likeness  to  God,  and  pervaded 
throughout  by  a  deep  moral  and  religious  tone,  was  well  fitted  to  lead  its 
followers  to  Christianity,  as  afibrding,  in  fact,  the  ideal,  they  were  seek- 
ing. Thus  we  may  say,  (to  draw  a  comparison  from  a  natural  phenome- 
non of  the  polar  regions),  the  evening  twilight  of  decaying  Grecian 
wisdom  blended  with  the  dawn  of  the  gospel.  To  many  great  church 
fathers,  as  Justin  Martyr,  Clemens  of  Alexandria,  Origen  and  his  school, 
this  philosophy  became,  in  fact,  a  bridge  to  faith,  or,  at  least,  exerted  a 

*  Comp.,  for  instance,  the  beautiful  conclusion  of  the  tenth  and  last  book  of  the 
Politia;  many  passages  in  the  Timacus,  the  last  and  most  genial  of  Plato's  dialogues; 
and,  on  this  whole  subject,  the  interesting  work  o{  Ackermann:  Das  Christliche  im 
Plato.     Hamburg,  1835. 

'  The  celebrated  words  of  Plato  in  his  Timaeus,  c.  28.  :  rbi>  fiev  ovv  tvoii/tt/v  kqI 
Kartpa  Tovdi;  rov  navTo^  evpilv  re  tpyov,  Kal  evpnvTa  clg  nuvrag  uSvvarov  Myeiv. 

^  Comp.  K.  Vo/rt :  Neoplatonismus  und  Christentlmm  (Berlin,  1836) ,  p.  47  sqq. 


INTROD.]  §  43.       PLATONISM.  153 

very  powerful  influence  on  their  theology.  Eusebius  says  of  Plato,  that 
"  he  alone,  of  all  the  Greeks,  reached  the  vestibule  of  truth,  and  stood 
upon  its  threshold."  Even  Augustine  owes  to  him  his  deliverance  from 
the  shackles  of  the  probabilism  and  skepticism  of  the  ]S"ew  Academy, 
and  confesses,  that  the  Platonic  and  New  Platonic  wi'itings  kindled  in 
his  breast  "  an  incredible  fire,'"  though,  of  course,  he  missed  in  them  the 
"  sweet  name  of  Jesus,"  and  "  humble  love."  These  works  have  done 
the  same  for  such  men  as  MarsigUo  Ficiuo  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and, 
to  some  extent,  for  Schleiermacher  and  JsTeander  in  our  own  time  ;  and 
they  will  long  continue  noiselessly  to  give  impulse  and  shape  to  noble 
and  profound  minds. 

Yet  this  fairest  bloom  of  heathen  wisdom  is  infinitely  below  the  truth 
of  Christianity.  It  never  reached  the  root  of  human  corruption  ;  much 
less  could  it  discover  any  proper  way  of  redemption.  Plato,  indeed,  in  a, 
remarkable  passage  in  his  Leges,''  expresses  the  very  profound  thought, 
that  excessive  self-love  is  one  of  the  greatest  evils  of  the  human  soul, 
innate,  and  the  origin  of  all  wicked  action.  But  he  elsewhere  confounds 
evil  with  finiteness,  (rd  kevSv,)  represents  it  as  residing  in  the  body,  thus 
making  it  unavoidable  and  even  unconquerable,  except  by  the  annihila- 
tion of  the  body  ;  and  expressly  denies,  that  any  man  is  wicked  or  com- 
mits actual  sins  of  his  ow7i  free  wili.^  Bad  conduct  he  regards  only  as 
self-deception,  in  mistaking  apparent  good  for  real.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  held  that  salvation  was  to  be  found  in  philosophy,  in  knowledge,  and 
thus  made  it  accessible  only  to  the  few.  In  this  way  he  established  a 
permanent  opposition  between  the  educated  and  the  uneducated,  the 
esoteric  and  the  exoteric,  which  was  altogether  foreign  to  the  spirit  of 
Christianity,  and  favored  one  of  the  most  powerful  obstacles  to  a  child- 
like laith — the  spirit  of  scientific  aristocracy.*     He  never  rose  to  the 

^  C.  jlcadem.l.  11.  ^5:  "  Etiam  mihi  ipsi  de  me  ipso  incredibile  incendium  in 
me  conciarunt."  Decivitate Dei,  VIII.  4  :  "Inter  discipulos  Socratis  *  *  * excellentis- 
sima  gloria  claruit,  qui  omnino  caeteros  obscuraret  Plato."  De  vera  rel.  IV.  7,  speaking 
of  the  Platonists  :  "  Paucis  mutatis  verbis  atque  sententiis  christiani  fierent."  Calvin, 
too,  calls  Plato  the  most  pious  and  sober,  (religiosissimus  et  maxime  sobrius),  of  all 
philosophers,  (/HS?.r«^  chr.  1.  I.  c.  5.  §  11) . 

^  L.  V.  p.  731.  e.  sqq. 

*  KaKof  fiEV  tKuv  ovSstg.  This  assertion  Aristotle  ingeniously  contests  in  his  Ethic. 
Nic.  III.  7,  showing,  that  evil-doing  is  a  free  act,  and  that  all  penal  laws  are  founded  on 
this  presumption. 

*  It  must  be  acknowledged,  however,  that  of  all  the  ancient  systems  of  philosophy 
Plato's  is  the  only  one,  which  at  all  approaches  the  conception  of  Christian  humility. 
While  the  word  ranecvog,  humilis,  never  occurs  in  the  classics  but  in  a  bad  sense 
synonymous  with  mean,  base,  Plato  uses  it,  in  one  instance,  (De  legibus,  I.  IV.  ed. 
Bip.  VIII.  p.  185),  to  denote  a  marrs  proper  sense  of  his  dependence  on  God,  and  on 
the  moral  order  of  the  world.     His  disciple,  Plutarch,  uses  the  word  in  pre.,isely  the 


154  §  43.         PLATONISM.  [spec. 

view,  that  every  man,  as  such,  is  called  to  freedom  and  happiness.  In 
his  ideal  state,  (which,  however,  ie  not  a  pure  fiction,  but  founded  partly 
on  the  Pythagorean  covenant,  partly  on  the  civil  constitution  of  the  Spar- 
tans), he  makes  perfect  slaves  of  the  third,  the  laboring  class,  the  rude 
mass,  who  can  go  no  further  than  mere  opinions.  This  class,  in  his  system, 
corresponds  to  the  lowest  element  in  the  human  constitution,  to  lust, 
{im^v/jr/TiKOv),  and  exists  only  to  minister,  in  abject  servitude,  to  the 
physical  necessities  of  the  two  higher  classes,  the  soldiers,  answering  to 
courage,  {^vfioeidEc),  and  the  virtue  of  bravery,  and  of  the  rulers,  (phi- 
losophers), which  correspond  to  the  reason,  (rd  loyLariKov),  and  the  virtue 
of  discernment.  Here,  therefore,  the  principle  of  assimilation  to  God 
reaches  an  impassable  limit,  excluding  the  majority  of  mankind  from  this 
exaltation  ;  whereas  Christianity  puts  all  men  in  the  same  relation  to 
God,  and  makes  it  possible  even  for  the  meanest  to  attain  the  highest 
moral  excellence,  and  the  image  of  God.  And  even  in  the  higher 
classes  Plato  destroyed  all  the  dignity  of  marriage,  by  permitting  pro 
miscuous  concubinage,  at  least  in  the  military  caste  ;  and  abolished  the 
peculiar  form  of  family  life  in  general,  by  making  children  the  exclusive 
property  of  the  state,  and  giving  government  the  right  to  expose  such  as 
were  infirm.  And  further,  Plato's  idea  of  a  commonwealth  is  contracted 
within  national  limitations,  and  rests  on  the  identification  of  morals  with 
politics.  With  all  its  points  of  resemblance,  therefore,  it  is  yet  vastly 
unlike  the  Scriptural  idea  of  a  kingdom  of  God.  The  most  that  can  be 
said  of  Platonism,  in  its  worthiest  representatives,  is,  that  it  earnestly 
sought  the  truth,  but  never  found  it. 

The  Platonic  system,  and  the  heathen  philosopny  in  general,  wound  up 
with  Neo-Platonisii,  a  system  founded  by  Ammonius  Saccas,  at  Alexan- 
dria in  the  beginning  of  the  third  century.  This  system  supported 
chiefly  by  Plotinus,  (205-270),  Porphyry,  (233-305),  and,  somewhat 
later,  Jamblichus,  combined  Platonism  with  the  fantastic  philosophical 
and  religious  notions  of  the  East ;  sought  to  revive  the  popular  faith  of 
the  heathen  by  refining  and  spiritualizing  it  ;  and  thus  vainly  attempted 
to  keep  the  field  against  Christianity.  It  was  the  last  desperate  strug- 
gle of  philosophical  heathenism  ;  the  flash  of  the  departing  soul  in  the 
eye  of  the  dying.  In  Neo-Platonism  the  Greek  mind,  which  had  started 
from  the  finite  and  human,  ended,  where  the  Oriental  had  begun,  in  pan- 
theistic monoism,  before  which  every  thing  finite  evaporates  into  mere 

same  sense,  in  his  work,  De  sera  num.  vind.  c,  n,  where  he  represents  divine  punishments 
as  intended  to  make  the  soul  meditative,  humble,  and  fearful  of  God  :  avvvovg  Kal 
raKEivdc  Kal  KaTui^ojiog  Tvqbg  rbv  '&e6v.  V\  e  might  further  quote  here  a  passage  from 
that  earnest  tragedian,  JEschylus,  in  his  Prometheus  Bound,  v.  3-<!l,  where  Oceanus  up- 
braids Prometheus  for  want  of  humility:  ^v  6'  ovSeku  raneivbg,  ov6'  eheig  icaKols. 


INTKOD.]  §  44.      UNIVEKSAL   DOMINION   OF  ROME.  155 

appearance  ;  and  now,  instead  of  calmly  and  diligently  studying  the 
laws  of  thouglit,  as  they  lay  open  beCore  it,  it  lost  itself  in  the  cloudy 
and  dreary  region  of  magic,  necromancy,  and  pretended  revelations. 
The  Hellenic  deification  of  the  finite  resulted  in  an  Oriental  annihilation 
of  it  ;  Heathenism,  with  all  its  wisdom  and  science,  completed  its 
circuit  by  returning  into  itself,  thus  condemning  itself,  as  a  fruitless  effort 
to  attain  through  nature  and  study,  what  nothing  but  the  condescending 
grace  of  God,  in  a  new  creation  from  above,  can  give.  After  all  its 
toil,  it  found  itself  unable  to  heal  a'  single  infirmity  of  our  nature,  and 
had  to  see  its  pretensions  sadly  put  to  shame  by  the  divine  foolishness 
of  the  crucified  carpenter's  son,  whom  illiterate  Galilean  fishermen 
preached  as  teaching,  suffering  and  dying  for  the  salvation  of  the  world. 
So  literally  true  is  the  language  of  the  Apostle  :  "  Xot  many  wise  men 
after  the  flesh,  not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble,  are  called  :  but  God 
hath  chosen  the  foolish  things  of  the  world  to  confound  the  wise  ;  and 
God  hath  chosen  the  weak  things  of  the  world,  to  confound  the  things 
which  are  mighty  ;  and  base  things  of  the  world,  and  things  which  are 
despised,  hath  God  chosen,  yea,  and  things  which  are  not,  to  bring  to 
naught  things  that  are  ;  that  no  flesh  should  glory  in  his  presence,"  (1 
Cor.  1  :  26-29). 

II.    ROME. 

§  44.    The    Universal  Dominion  of  Rome  as  a   Preparation  for    Chris- 
tianity 

From  the  buoyant,  idealistic  youth  of  classic  Heathendom  we  pass 
now  to  its  energetic,  intellectual,  sober  manhood.  In  science  and  art  the 
Romans  were  far  behind,  and  altogether  dependent  on,  the  Greeks. 
Even  iu  the  more  practical  sciences,  those  connected  with  civil  life,  ia 
rhetoric  and  historiography,  they  show  the  influence  of  Grecian  models, 
as  may  at  once  be  seen  by  comparing  Cicero  with  Demosthenes,  Cajsar 
with  Xenophon,  Sallust  and  Tacitus  with  Thucydides.  But  the  Romans 
had  another  problem  to  solve.  They  were  to  develop  the  idea  of  jmis- 
pruffence,  and  of  the  state ;  to  conquer  the  world,  and  subject  it  to  the 
dominion  of  law.^  They  were  properly  the  jurists,  the  predominantly 
practical  nation  of  antiquity.*  With  them  everything  must  bend  to  the 
idea  of  the  state  ;  religion  and  politics  were  inseparably  interwoven. 
They  had  a  distinct  divinity  for  each  condition  and  occupation  of  life.^ 

'  Virgil  has  this  thought  in  his  famous  verse  :  "  Tu  regere  imperio  populos,  Romane, 
memento  !" 

^  In  modern  times,  the  German  and  English  are  similarly  related  to  each  other,  as 
the  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans. 

'''  Thus  the  Romans  had  even  such  a  divinity  as  Fornax^  a  Dea  Ctoacina,  a  Juno 
Unxia,  which  last  had  to  anoint  the  door-hinges  at  weddings ! 


156  §  44.       UNIVERSAL   DOMINION   OF   ROME.  [sPEC 

Hence  whilst  the  Greek  mythology  has  been  styled  the  religion  of  heaxoty, 
the  Roman  religion,  which,  compared  with  the  Greek,  is  exceedingly 
prosaic,  may  not  improperly  be  characterized  as  the  religion  of  policy  and 
utilitarianism.  The  Roman  law,  an  organism  wonderfully  complete  even 
in  the  minutest  particulars,  is  to  this  day  the  basis  of  most  systems  of 
legislation  in  the  Christian  world  ;  just  as  Greek  philosophy  and  art  are 
the  foundation  of  the  higher  literary  and  artistic  culture.  Science  and 
art,  also,  were  fostered  in  Rome,  but  generally  speaking  not  so  much 
from  inward  impulse,  as  for  the  sake  of  practical  advantage  ;  for  they 
furnished  a  sure  means  of  controlling  minds,  of  increasing  pleasure,  and 
of  adorning  life. 

This  peculiarity  of  character  shows  that  the  Romans  were  born  to  rule 
the  outward  world  with  their  will,  as  the  Greeks  to  rule  the  inw^ard  with 
their  intellect.     This  is  indicated  even  by  the  name  of  the  state,  (Rome, 
from  /5u/z7/,  bodily  strength,  bravery,  force),  and  the  familiar  story  of  its 
founders,  Romulus  and  Remus,  who,  begotten  by  Mars,  the  god  of  war, 
and  nursed  by  a  wolf,  tj^pified  and  prophetically  foreshadowed  the  war- 
like and  rapacious  spirit  of  the  future  nation.     Ambition,  we  may  say, 
was  her  characteristic,  constitutional  sin.     After  inwardly  strengthening 
herself  by  seven  centuries  of  discipline,  slie  succeeded  in  founding  that 
colossal  empire,  which,  in  the  time  of  the  Apostles,  reached  from  the 
Euphrates  to  the  Atlantic,  from  the  Lybian  desert  to  the  banks  of  the 
Rhine.     This  universal  empire,  however,  was  destined  to  prepare  the 
way  for  the  universal  spread  of  Christianity.     For  Christianity  is  not, 
like  all  other  religions,  designed  merely  for  one  nation,  or  two,  or  three, 
and  for  this  or  that  period,  but  for  all  mankind  and  all  ages.     It  aims  to 
unite  all  people  of  the  earth  into  one  family  of  God,  and  kingdom  of 
heaven.      To   furnish   facilities   for   accomplishing  this  great  end,   the 
national  barriers  of  the  old  world  must  be  broken  down,  and  mutual 
exclusiveness  and  hatred  among  the  nations  must  be  done  away.     To 
these  results  the  conquests  of  Alexander  the  Great  had,  indeed,  already 
contributed,  by  bringing  Europe  and  Asia  into  political  and  social  inter- 
course, and  introducing  the  Grecian  culture  into  the  East.     But  the 
greater  and  more  lasting  effects  of  this  kind  are  due  to  the  universal 
empire  of  Rome,  which  was  not  only  more  extensive,  but  also  far  better 
organized,  and  bound  together  by  a  central  power.     Then  one  Roman 
law,  one  state  ruled  everywhere  in  the  civilized  world.     All  national 
and  individual  interests  were  merged  in  the  massive  political  pantheism 
of  a  universal  will,  and  the  gods  of  all  nations  were  gathered  into  one 
temple  in  the  Pantheon  of  Rome.     To  this  must  be  added  the  general 
prevalence  of  the  Greek  language,  which  was  known  and  spoken  by  all 


INTKOD.]   §  45.       INTERNAL   CONDITION    OF   TUB   KOMAN    EMPIRE.         157 

the  educated,  like  the  French  m  the  last  century  in  Europe,  or  the  Eng- 
lish at  this  day  in  North  America. 

This  state  of  things  must,  of  course,  have  been  highly  favorable  to 
the  messengers  of  the  gospel.  It  gave  them  free  access  to  all  nations  ; 
furnished  them  all  the  advantages  possible  at  that  time  for  comjuunica- 
tion  ;  gave  them  everywhere,  as  citizens,  the  protection  of  the  Roman 
laws  ;  and,  in  general,  prepared  the  soil  of  the  world,  at  least  outward- 
ly, to  receive  the  doctrine  of  one  all-embracing  kingdom  of  God.'  As  it 
was  chiefly  the  Grecian  nationality  and  literature,  which  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  the  theological  science  and  artistic  activity  of  the  old  Greek 
shurch  :  so  the  national  character  and  history  of  Rome  form,  so  to 
speak,  the  natural  basis  of  the  Latin  church,  which,  unlike  the  Greek, 
manifested  from  the  first  a  more  practical  bent,  and  attempted  to  organ- 
ize a  new  spiritual  empire  over  the  world  ;  thus  exposing  itself,  however, 
at  the  same  time,  like  its  heathen  predecessor,  to  the  evils  of  ambition 
and  tyranny.  But  the  universal  empire  of  ancient  Rome  was,  of  course, 
but  a  brittle,  temporary  structure.  Like  the  science  and  art  of  Greece, 
it  was  utterly  powerless  to  satisfy  the  deeper  wants  of  man,  and  make 
him  truly  happy.  Christianity  alone,  by  the  power  of  faith  and  love, 
could  bind  the  nations  together  in  an  inward  and  enduring  unity. 

§  45.    The  InUrnal  Condition  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

This  vast  empire  of  Rome,  imposing  as  it  appeared,  was  in  the  days  of 
the  Apostles,  as  to  its  inward,  moral  and  religious  condition,  at  the  point 
cf  dissolution,  and  called  despairingly  for  a  saviour,  a  new,  divine  princi- 
ple of  life.  We  find  it  generally  the  case,  that  the  summit  of  outward 
power  is  the  very  beginning  of  inward  decay.  This  empire  was  a  giant 
body,  without  a  living  soul.  Christianity  alone  could  animate  and 
save  it. 

The  Romans,  it  is  true,  had  constitutionally  more  moral  earnestness, 
than  the  Greeks.  Their  religion  was  originally  closely  connected  with 
morality,  and  formed  its  basis.  In  the  first  centuries  of  their  republic, 
they  were  noted,  not  only  for  civic  virtues,  veracity,  public  integrity, 
faithfulness  to  oaths,  obedience  to  law,  but  also  for  domestic  morality, 
family  discipline,  and  that  chastity  and  reverence  for  the  marriage  rela- 
tion, so  rare  in  heathendom.  Posidonius  speaks  with  admiration  of  their 
fear  of  God  ;  and  Polybius,  in  his  time,  found  them  inflexibly  faithful  to 
one  oath,  where  a  Greek  could  not  be  bound  by  a  hundred.  But  the 
destruction  of  Carthage  and  Corinth  made  a  great  change.     Oriental 

'  So,  in  our  day,  it  is  of  no  small  importance  for  the  missions  in  Asia  and  Australia, 
especially  in  India  and  China,  that  England,  the  Christian  Rome,  has  so  widely 
extended  her  dominion  in  those  countries. 


158         §  45.      INTERNAL   CONDITION    OF   THE   ROMAN    EMPIRE.        [sPEC, 

luxury,  and  sensuality,  Grecian  infidelity  and  frivolity,  in  short,  the  rices 
of  all  nations  rushed  in,  and  made  the  capital  of  the  world  a  receptacle 
of  all  immorality.'  Unlimited  conquest  poured  enormous  wealth,  with 
all  its  temptations,  into  the  city,  contrasting  most  revoltingly  with  the 
dreadful  misery  of  her  poorer  classes,  and  of  the  provinces  she  had  drained. 
The  conquerors  sought  to  enjoy  their  conquests  in  an  intoxication  of  sen- 
suality, which,  with  shameful  ingenuity  and  most  refined  art,  endeavored 
to  extort  from  nature  more  gratification,  than  she  could  give  or  bear. 
Brutus,  the  last  representative  of  the  old  Koman  character,  began  to 
doubt  the  very  existence  of  virtue.  On  the  battle  field  of  Philippi, 
amidst  the  convulsions  of  the  expiring  republic,  he  cried  in  the  starless 
night :  "0  Virtue  I  I  did  think  thou  wert  something  ;  but  now  I  see 
thou  art  a  phantom  !"  and  in  despair  fell  upon  his  sword.  The  rulers, 
indeed,  still  clung  outwardly  to  religion  ;  for  it  was  the  foundation  of  the 
whole  civil  edifice.  But  they  regarded  it  merely  as  a  political  institution, 
a  means  of  restraining  the  ignorant  masses  by  superstitious  fear.  To 
the  inward  life  of  religion  they  were  perfect  strangers.  Even  Cicero,  in 
whom  we  still  find  so  many  beautiful  lineaments  of  the  old  Roman  piety,' 
says  in  a  well  known  passage,  that  one  haruspex  (one,  who  divines  by 
the  entrails  of  sacrificial  victims,)  could  not  look  at  another  without 
laughing.  The  gods  had  to  share  their  honors  with  the  vilest  tyrants. 
Rome  proudly  called  herself  free  ;  but  she  was,  in  fact,  the  slave  of  a 
fearful  military  despotism  and  the  most  arbitrary  self-will.  Here  and 
there,  it  is  true,  there  was  a  worthy  emperor,  a  Titus,  a  Trajan,  an 
Antonimis  Pius,  a  Marcus  Aurelius ;  but  these  were  not  the  products 
of  the  national  life.  They  were  anomalies,  accidents,  so  to  speak,  and 
could  not  change  the  spirit  of  their  age.  The  throne  of  the  world  was 
filled,  in  general,  after  Tiberius,  with  monsters,  tyrants,  whose  entire 
reigns  were  a  tissue  of  unexampled  prodigality,  hideous  licentiousness, 
unnatural  cruelty,  and  a  demoniacal  misanthropy,  which  found  its 
highest  satisfaction  in  witnessing  the  death-struggles  of  its  victims,  and 
spared  not  even  sous  and  brothers.  And  yet  a  Caligula,  a  Claudius,  a 
Nero,  a  Heliogahalus,  claimed  divine  honors  !'  A  more  complete  sub- 
version of  every  idea  of  morality,  a  more  wanton  mockery  of  all  religion, 
cannot  be  conceived. 

The  dark  picture,  drawn  by  the  apostle  Paul,  Rom.  1  :  28  sqq.,  of  the 

*  Tacitus  says  of  Rome,  Annal.  XV.  44  :  .  .  .  "  per  urbem  etiam,  quo  cuncta  iindique 
atrocia  aut  pudenda  confluunt  ceiebranturque." 

'  For  instance,  De  natur.  Deor.  II.  28  :  "  Deos  et  venerari  et  colere  debemus.  Cultus 
autem  Deorum  est  optimus,  idemque  castissimus  atque  sanctissimus  plenissimusque 
pietatis,  ut  eos  semper  pura,  Integra,  incorrupta  et  mente  et  voce  veneremur." 

^  The  emperor  Domitian,  according  to  Suetonius  (Domit.  13),  even  used  to  begin  his 
letters  :  "  Dominus  et  Deus  nostcr  hoc  jubet "  ! 


INTEOD.]   §  45.      IXTKENAL    CONDITION    OF   THE   EOMAN    EMPIRE.        159 

moral  state  of  Heathendom,  is  not  a  whit  over-wrought.  Its  truth  is 
confirmed  by  the  astounding  representations  of  the  corruption  of  those 
times  of  the  empire,  which  we  find  in  the  most  celebrated  and  earnest- 
minded  heathen  writers.  Read  the  satires  of  Persius  and  Juvenal. 
Hear  the  philosopher,  Seneca,  saying,  that  all  is  lawlessness  and  Yice, 
that  innocence  has  not  only  become  something  rare,  but  has  altogether 
disappeared.'  Tacitus,  the  greatest  of  Roman  historians,  begins  his  his- 
tory of  the  brief  portion  of  the  imperial  period,  which  he  proposes  to 
write  (from  Galba  to  Domitian),  with  these  words  :  "I  enter  upon  a 
work  full  of  misfortunes,  atrocious  wars,  discord,  seditions  ;  nay,  hideous 
even  in  peace."'  Then  in  the  third  chapter  he  says, :  "  Besides  the 
manifold  accidents  of  human  things,  there  were  prodigies  in  heaven  and 
earth,  threatening  flashes  of  lightning,  and  forebodings  of  the  future, 
joyful  and  gloomy,  doubtful  and  plain.  JS'ever  by  more  grievous  miseries 
of  the  Roman  people,  or  more  just  tokens  of  the  divine  displeasure,  was 
it  proved,  that  the  gods  wish  not  our  welfare,  but  revenge."^  His  whole 
immortal  production  has  a  tragic  tone,  and  breathes  the  spirit  of  a  hope- 
less. Stoical  resignation.  Wherever  Tacitus  looks,  whether  to  heaven, 
or  upon  earth,  he  sees  nothing  but  black  night  and  deeds  of  cruelty.  He 
feels,  that  the  destruction  of  the  world  is  near,  when  she  must  drink  the 
cup  of  divine  wrath  to  the  dregs.  The  elder  Pliny,  too,  lost  in  wonder 
at  the  works  of  nature,  could  enjoy  no  rest  in  contemplating  them.  He 
could  find  nothing  certain,  but  that  there  was  no  certainty  ;  and  nothing 
more  miserable,  than  man.  He  could  wish  for  no  greater  blessing, 
than  a  speedy  death  ;  and  this  he  found  in  the  flames  of  Vesuvius, 
(A.  D.  19). 

*  Deira,ll.8:  "Omnia  sceleribus  ac  vitiis  plena  sunt:  plus  comniittUur,  quam 
quod  possit  coercitione  sanari.  Certatur  ingenti  quodam  nequitiae  certamine,  major 
quotidie  peccandi  cupiditas,  minor  veiecundia  est.  Expulso  melioris aequiorisque  res- 
pectu,  quocumque  visum  est,  libido  se  impingit.  Nee  furtiva  jam  scelerasunt :  praeter 
oculos  sunt;  adeoque  in  publicum  missa  nequitia  est  et  in  omnium  pectoribus  evaluit, 
ut  innocentia  non  rara,  sed  nulla  sit.  Numquid  enim  singuli  aut  pauci  rupere  legem  ? 
undique,  velut  signo  dato,  ad  fas  nefasque  miscendum  coorti  sunt." 

^  "  Opus  adgredior  opimum  casibus,  atrox  praeliis,  discors  seditionibus,  ipsa  enim 
pace  saevum,"  etc.     Hist.  1.  1.  c.  2. 

^  "  Prater  multiplices  rerum  humanarum  casus  " — as  the  original  reads,  in  its  old 
Roman  earnestness  and  nervous  brevity — "  coelo  terraque  prodigia  et  fulminum  monitus 
et  futurorum  praesagia,  lacta  tristia,  ambigua  manifesta.  Nee  enim  unquam  atrociori- 
bus  populi  Romani  cladibus  magisve  justis  indiciis  approbatum  est,  non  esse  curae  Deis 
securitatem  nostram.  esse  ultionem." 


160  §  46.     STOICISM. 

§  46.    Stoicism. 

Thus  even  the  nobler  spirits,  who  stood  entirely  aloof  from  the  cor- 
ruptions of  their  age,  could  find  no  real  comfort.  They  flung  themselves 
into  the  arms  of  a  philosophy,  which  only  saved  them  from  Scylla  to 
plunge  them  into  Charybdis. 

After  the  Athenian  embassy  to  Rome  (155  B.  C),  the  various  sys- 
tems of  Greek  philosophy,  notwithstanding  all  the  opposition  they  at 
first  met,  had  gained  entrance  to  the  cultivated  classes  of  the  Romans. 
Some,  lite  Cicero,  who  was  rather  an  amateur  in  speculation,  than  an 
original  philosopher  himself,  culled  out  from  several  systems  what  suited 
them  best,  and  thus  constructed  a  heterogenous  eclecticism.  The  great 
majority,  among  whom  were  such  poets  as  Liicretius,  Horace,  Ovid,  had 
more  affmity  for  the  trifling  Epicureanism,  which  indulged  sensual  and 
all  vicious  passions  ;  or  for  Skepticism,  which  ridiculed  all  earnest 
striving  after  truth.  Those  of  the  old  Roman  stamp,  Cato,  Seneca, 
Tacitus,  Marcus  AureVms,  embraced  Stoicism,  and  were  the  first  to  un- 
fold this  Grecian  system,  which  dates  from  Zcno,  a  contemporary  of 
Epicurus  and  Pyrrho,  in  its  full  practical  proportions.  This  grave  and 
heroic,  but  proud,  harsh,  and  repulsive  philosophy  was  in  perfect  harmony 
with  the  genuine  Roman  character,  and  only  brought  its  real,  inward 
nature  more  distinctly  to  view.  After  the  boasted  liberty  of  the  repub- 
lic was  exchanged  for  a  tyrannical  monarchy,  the  patriot  was  the  more 
eager  to  find  compensation  for  his  loss  in  a  system  of  philosophy,  in 
which  he  saw  the  image  of  the  manly,  giantlike  independence  and  inflex- 
ibility of  his  ancestors,  and  which,  in  the  lofty  self-sufficiency  of  a  moral 
heroism,  bid  defiance  to  the  lawless  immorality  and  effeminate  imbecility 
of  the  age. 

Stoicism  rose  above  the  popular  superstitions,  by  referring  the  preva- 
lent anthropopathic  notions  of  personal  gods  to  the  general  elementary 
powers  of  the  universe.  But  in  so  doing,  it  lost  them  in  Pantheism,  and 
put  nothing  better  in  their  place.  The  Stoical  Zeus  is  by  no  means 
a  loving  father  who  knows  how  to  harmonize  the  good  of  the  whole  with 
the  good  of  the  individual  ;  but  an  iron  necessity  of  fate  (the  el/ua^fitvTi) , 
which  pays  no  regard  to  individual  life.  All  moves  in  an  unchangeable 
circuit  ;  and  evil  is  as  necessary  to  the  harmony  of  the  world  and  to 
the  existence  of  good,  as  the  shadow  is  to  the  body.  "  Evil,  also,"  says 
Chrysippus,  "  takes  place  according  to  the  fixed  order  of  nature,  and, 
I  may  say,  is  not  without  its  use  in  the  whole  scheme  of  things  ;  for 
without  it  good  would  not  exist.'"    Wisdom  consists  in  coldly  submitting 

'  In  Plutarch,  De  stoic,  repugn,  c.  35  :  yiverat  Kat  avr?]  ttuc  (//  KaKia)  Kara  rbv  tTjc 
(picoug  Myov,  /cat,  h''  ovTug  EiTrcj,  ovk  uxQ'rjoTug  yiveraL  ngdg  rd,  62.a'  ovtc  yiiQ  ruya- 

■&U  7]V. 


iNTROD.]  §  46.     STOICISM.  161 

to  this  necessity,  and,  at  the  hour  of  death,  in  cheerfully  giving  back 
one's  own  life  to  sink  into  the  absolute  being,  the  soul  of  the  universe, 
as  the  drop  into  the  ocean.  Immortality  was  at  least  doubted,  some- 
times boldly  denied.  Cato  is  quoted  in  Sallust*  as  agreeing  with  Ctesar, 
who,  in  his  speech  for  Catiline,  calls  death  a  rest  from  all  toil,  deliver- 
ance from  all  evil,  the  boundary  of  existence,  beyond  which  there  is  no 
more  care  or  joy.^  Marcus  Aurelius  says  of  this  absorption  of  the  indi- 
vidual personality  in  the  iiupersonal  life  :  "The  man  of  disciplined  mind 
reverentially  bids  nature,  who  gives  everything,  and  then  takes  it  back 
again  to  herself :  Give  what  thou  wilt,  and  take  what  thou  wilt."^ 
Seneca  regarded  immortality  as  a  fiction.  "Once,"  says  he,  "trusting 
the  word  of  others,  I  flattered  myself  with  the  prospect  of  a  life  be- 
yond the  grave  ;  and  I  longed  for  death,  when  suddenly  I  awoke,  and 
lost  the  beautiful  dream."* 

We  are  free  to  confess  that  those  Romans,  in  whom  Stoicism  became 
flesh  and  blood,  towering  above  all  the  tempests  of  fortune,  like  the  im- 
movable rock  in  the  storm-lashed  sea,  present  an  imposing  appearance. 
We  grant,  further,  that  there  are,  especially  in  the  writings  of  Seneca, 
many  beautiful  sentences  and  moral  maxims,  which,  though  not  seldom 
artfully  designed  for  effect,  often  sound  at  least  like  passages  of  the  New 
Testament.  Some  of  the  old  church  teachers  thought  that  these  coinci- 
dences could  only  be  explained  by  assuming  a  fia  fraus,  by  supposing 
that  the  apostle  Paul  had  some  correspondence  with  this  Stoic  sage.* 
But  we  have  no  occasion  for  such  a  hypothesis,  which  is  destitute  of  all 
proper  historical  foundation.  To  say  nothing  of  the  fact,  that  Christian- 
ity consists  not  in  this  and  that  exalted  doctrine  and  moral  maxim,  but 

^   Cadlina,  c.  52. 

"  lb.  c.  51  :  Ultra  noqiie  curae  neque  gaiidio  locum  esse." 

'  Monol.X.  14.,  comp.  X.  27;  II.  14;  XII.  5,23;  and  Neander's  Kirch.  Geschich. 
I.  28  sq. 

*  '•  Quum  subito  experrectus  sum  et  tarn  bellum  somnium  perdidU''  Epist.  102. 
Tacitus,  also,  in  one  place  speaks  of  immortality,  but  only  conditionally :  "  Si  quis 
piorum  manibus  locus,  si,  ut  sapientibus  placet,  non  cum  corpore  exstinguuntur  niagnae 
animae  (which  can  just  as  well  be  referred  to  the  mere  immortality  of  fame),  placide 
quiescas,"'  etc.  Vita  Jul.  jlgricolae.,  c.  46.  Pliny,  Hist.  Nat.  II.  7,  argues  against  the 
omnipotence  of  God,  that  he  cannot  endow  mortals  with  immortality  :  "  Non  potest 
mortales  aeternitate  donare-" 

^  Even  the  renowned  author  of  the  "  Four  Books  of  True  Christianity,"  John  Arndt. 
(1555-1621),  of  whom  one  would  hardly  expect  it,  seems  to  have  supposed  an  influ- 
ence of  the  Holy  Ghost  on  Seneca.  In  a  letter  to  the  great  theologian,  John  Gerhard, 
then  a  student  in  Wittenberg,  after  distinguishing  such  works  as  are  written  of  the 
flesh,  and  such  as  are  written  of  the  Spirit,  he  proceeds  :  "  Inter  omnes  philosophos 
neminem  scio,  qui  ex  spiritu  scripserat,  (.qui  ubi  vult,  spirat) ,  praeter  unum  Scnccam, 
quem  si  iiccdum  legisti,  per  otium  qaaeso  legito  ;  emas  autem  Godefredi  editionem  " 
This  letter  may  be  found  in  E.  R.  Fischer'' s  Vita  Joannis  Gerhardi.  (l  723) .  p.  24. 
11 


162  §  46.     STOICISM.  [spec. 

in  divine  facts,  in  a  new  life,  whicli  tlie  very  best  philosophy  could  never 
give  ;  not  to  mention  that  Seneca's  private  character  was  far  from 
exemplifying  his  own  precepts  ;  we  have  but  to  look  a  little  closer,  to 
discern  in  a  moment  the  pagan  corruption  behind  the  mask  of  sublime 
virtue.  The  entire  morality  of  Stoicism  is  fundamentally  wrong  ;  and, 
with  all  its  natural  glory,  it  is  to  the  heavenly  life  of  the  child  of  God, 
what  the  night,  or  at  best  the  murky  dawn,  is  to  the  splendor  of  noon. 

For,  in  the  first  place,  it  rests  on  a  totally  false  basis,  on  egoism 
and  pride,  instead  of  humility  and  love  to  God.  This  is  the  foul 
blot  on  the  heathen  virtues  in  general  ;  so  that  the  church  father,  who 
called  them  "  splendid  vices,"  was  not,  after  all,  absolutely  wrong. 
Fame  was  set  forth  in  the  Olympic  games  as  the  highest  aim  of  life,  as 
the  most  exalted  object  for  the  Grecian  youth.  It  was  for  fame,  that  a 
Miltiadcs,  a  Leonidas,  a  Themistocles  fought  against  the  Persians  ;  for 
the  love  of  country,  among  the  ancients,  was  but  an  expanded  love  of 
self.  It  was  for  fame  that  Herodotus  wrote  his  history,  that  Pindar 
sang  his  odes,  that  Sophocles  composed  his  tragedies,  that  Phidias 
sculptured  his  Zeus,  that  Alexander  set  out  on  his  tour  of  conquest, 
^schylus,  otherwise  one  of  the  most  sublime  and  earnest  of  poet's,  holds 
fame  to  be  the  last  ajid  highest  comfort  of  mortal  man.'  We  find  the 
same  selfish  view  among  the  Romans.  Tlie  vain  Cicero  said,  with  per- 
fect freedom,  before  a  great  assembly,  that  all  men  are  guided  by  the 
desire  of  fame,  and  that  the  noblest  are  the  very  ones  most  under  its 
power.'"'  In  another  place  he  says,  we  justly  glory  in  our  virtue,  and  are 
praised  for  it  ;  and  takes  this  very  fact  as  proof,  that  virtue  is  our  own 
work,  and  not  a  gift  of  the  gods.^  This  pride,  this  self-sufficiency,  this 
self-deification  of  fallen  humanity  reaches  its  height  in  Stoicism  ;  and, 
having  nothing  in  reality  to  support  it,  falls  over  into  its  direct  opposite, 
self-annihilation,  which  the  Stoics  advocated  on  the  well-known  maxim  : 
If  the  house  smokes,  leave  it.     According  to  Seneca,  the  wise  man  is  on 

*  See,  for  example,  Fragm.  301  : 

"  He,  to  whom  God  has  given  grief, 
Has  for  his  comfort  still  grief's  dearest  offspring,  fame." 

"^  Pro  jlrchia poeta,  c.  11  :  •' Trahimur  omnes  laudis  studio,  et  optimus  quisqne  max- 
ima gloria  ducitur."  In  his  beautiful  passage  on  the  continuance  of  the  soul  after 
death,  (De  Scncct.  c.  23) ,  the  notion  of  posthumous  fame  takes,  in  his  mind,  the  place  of 
personal  immortality. 

'  De  Nat.  Denr,  III.  36  :  "  Num  quis  quod  bonus  vir  esset  gratias  Deis  egit  unquam  ? 
at  quod  dives,  quod  honoratus.  quod  incolumis  !  Propter  virtutem  enim  jure  laudamur 
etinea  recte  gloriamur;  quod  non  contingeret,  si  id  donum  a  Deo,  non  a  nobis  babere- 
mus."  The  same  Cicero  held,  that  man  could,  of  himself,  attain  to  perfect  virtue.  De 
fin.  V.  15  :  "Est  enim  natura  sic  generatavis  hominis,  ut  ad  omnem  virtutem  percipi- 
endam  facta  videatur  ;"  Comp.  V.  9  :  "  Secundum  naturam  vivere,  i.  e.ex  hominis  iiatu- 
ra  undique  perfecta  et  nihil  requirente,"     This  is  worse  than  Pelagianism. 


INTROD.]  g  46.       STOICISM.  163 

a  level  even  with  the  Father  of  the  gods,  except  in  length  of  life  ;  nay, 
above  him,  since  the  Stoic's  equanimity  is  the  act  of  his  own  will,  and 
not  merely  a  property  of  his  nature.'  Pride  may,  indeed,  restrain  a  man 
from  all  those  rough  outbreaks  of  passion,  those  gross  crimes  which  bring 
him  into  public  disgrace.  But  upon  the  ruins  of  these  sins  pride  rises, 
as  Itself  the  most  refined  and  dangerous  of  all  sins,  transforming  its 
victim  into  the  image  of  Satan.  No  natural  man  can  overcome  it  ;  the 
Stoic  not  only  cannot,  but  would  not  ;  nay,  he  finds  in  it  his  highest  joy. 
He  is  all  absorbed  in  himself,  and,  with  blasphemous  audacity,  fancies 
himself  equal  with  God.  The  Christian's  strength,  on  the  contrary,  lies 
in  feeling  his  own  weakness,  and  in  not  merely  apparently,  but  really, 
overcoming  by  divine  power,  the  infirmity  of  the  flesh. 

As  Stoicism  knows  nothing  of  humility,  so,  also,  it  is  destitute  of  love, 
the  soul,  tbe  ruling  principle  of  all  true  morality.  Every  one  is  familiar 
with  that  terrible  "  Caeterum  censeo"  of  the  elder  Cato,  that  much  admired 
expression  of  a  cruel,  all-crushing  patriotism.  Upon  the  rock  of  Stoic 
virtue  the  raging  billows  may  break  harmlessly  ;  but  upon  it,  too,  the 
unfortunate  ship  goes  hopelessly  to  wreck.  In  short.  Stoicism  is  egoism 
in  its  grandest,  indeed,  and  most  imposing,  but  also  most  dangerous  form. 
In  this  view  it  is  diametrically  opposed  to  Christianity  ;  and  the  change 
from  a  Stoic  to  a  Christian  is  one  of  uncommon  difficulty.  Tacitus,  as  is 
well  known,  with  a  contempt  for  Christianity,  of  which  even  his  ignorance 
is  but  a  poor  palliation,  spoke  of  it  as  an  ''  exitiuhilis  siipersidio ;"  and 
Marcus  Aurelius  was  one  of  the  bitterest  persecutors  of  the  church. 

Finally,  the  apathy,  the  heartless  resignation  of  Stoicism,  closely  con- 
nected with  its  want  of  love,  is  altogether  unchristian  and.uunatural.^  It 
must  by  no  means  be  mistaken  for  that  humble,  silent,  meek  and  cheerful 
submission  to  God,  which  reigns  in  the  soul  of  a  believing,  loving  and 
hopeful  Christian,  and  which  rests  in  the  firm  conviction,  that  a  merciful 

'  This  passage,  presumptuous  even  on  heathen  principles,  occurs  in  Epist.  73  :  "Jupi- 
ter quo  antecedit  virum  bonum?  diutius  bonus  est.  Sapiens  nihil  se  minoris  aestimat, 
quod  virtutes  ejus  spatio  breviori  clauduntur.  Sapiens  tarn  aequo  animo  omnia  apud 
alios  videt  contemnitque,  qnam  Jupiter;  et  hoc  se  magis  suspicit,  quod  Jupiter  uti  illis 
non  potest,  sapiens  non  vult."  Comp.  Ep.  53  :  '•  Est  aliquid,  quo  sapiens  antecedit 
Deum,  ille  naturae  beneficio  non  timet,  suo  sapiens." 

*  Zeno,  it  is  true,  goes  on  the  principle,  that  virtue  consists  in  living  according  to 
nature,  and  says,  (Diogenes  Laertius,  Zeno,  c.  53):  reXog  to  6fio?,oyovjuivo)g  t>j  (pvaeL 
Qv,  oireg  tan  Kaf  upen/v  ^yv  uyei  jug  -nQoc  ravTrjv  yfiug  tj  (j)u(ng.  He  even  makes  a 
distinction  between  the  false  aTrai^eta,  which  is  susceptible  of  no  emotion  whatever,  and 
the  true  u7rd-&Eia,  the  di'ifiTrruTov.  the  complete  dominion  of  reason,  that  perfect  firm- 
ness of  soul,  which  can  never  be  shaken  by  the  wui^rj.  Vet  this  is  after  all,  nothing  but 
the  self-control  of  proud,  unbroken,  cold  reason,  which  is  essentially  inconsistent  with 
Christian  humility  and  love.  The  true  moral  heroism  consists  in  subduing  the  ird-d-rj 
with  a  full,  experimental  knowledge  of  their  whole  depth  and  compass. 


IGi  §  47.       THE    OLD   TESTAMENT    KEVELATION.  [sPEC. 

Heaveuly  Father  is  making  everythiug  work  for  the  good  of  his  children, 
aud  has  only  purposes  of  peace  towards  them  even  in  the  hour  of  tribula- 
tion. We  are  not  to  kill  the  natural  feelings  of  the  heart,  joy  and  sorrow, 
pleasure  and  pain,  but  only  to  moderate,  control,  purify,  and  sanctify  them. 
The  Scriptures  allow  and  cojnmand  us  to  rejoice  with  those  who  rejoice, 
and  to  weep  with  those  wiio  weep.  Paul  forbids  us,  indeed,  to  mourn 
as  the  heathen,  "which  have  no  hope,"  (1  Thess.  4:  13)  ;  but  he  does 
not  forbid  sorrow  in  general.  He  himself  "  had  great  heaviuess,"  nay, 
even  "  continual  sorrow  in  his  heart,"  in  view  of  the  unbelief  of  his  Jew- 
ish brethren,  (Rom.  9:2).  A  Cato,  who,  as  the  Republic  expired,  fell, 
without  a  murmur,  on  his  sword  ;  the  Stoic  sage,  who  consigns  his  wife 
aud  children  to  the  grave  without  a  tear,  and  at  last  cheerfully,  yet  hope- 
lessly surrenders  his  own  beiug,  and,  as  he  thinks,  loses  forever  his  person- 
ality in  the  dreary  abyss  of  the  universal  spirit,  as  a  drop  dissolves  itself 
in  the  ocean, — may  perhaps  call  forth  admiration,  as  a  heartless  and  life- 
less statue.  But  infinitely  greater,  even  as  a  mere  man,  is  Jesus  Christ, 
shedding  tears  of  sorrow  over  unbelieving  Jerusalem,  and  tears  of  friend- 
ship at  the  grave  of  Lazarus  ;  sweating  drops  of  blood  iu  Gethsemane  in 
sympathy  with  a  sinful,  dying  world  ;  nay,  crying  in  anguish  on  the  cross  : 
"  My  God,  My  God,  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me  ;"  yet  in  all  this,  sub- 
mitting his  own  will  entirely  to  that  of  God,  and,  having  drunk  the  cup 
of  suffering  to  its  dregs,  with  the  shout  of  triumph:  "It  is  finished  1" 
yielding  up  his  soul  to  his  Heavenly  Father.  There,  all  is  fictitious, 
unnatural  rigidity,  which  came  not  from  God,  and  is  not  pleasing  to  him  ; 
the  forced  equanimity  of  pride,  cold  as  ice,  repulsive  as  the  grave.  Here, 
warm  nature,  genuine  humanity  ;  full  of  the  tenderest  emotions  ;  cordially 
sympathizing  iu  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  its  neighbor  ;  nay,  pressing  all 
mankind  to  its  glowing  heart,  and  saving  them,  by  its  self-sacrificing  love, 
from  the  power  of  sin  and  death.' 


B.— PREPARATION  FOR   CHRISTIANITY   IN  JUDAISM. 

§  4*7.    The  Old  Testament  Revelation. 

From  the  world  of  polytheistic  religions  we  pass  into  the  sanctuary  of 
monotheism  ;  from  the  sunny  halls,  where  nature  and  men  are  deified,  to 
the  solemn  temple  of  Jehovah,  the  only  true  God,  of  whose  glory  all  nature 
is  but  a  feeble  ray,  and  who  makes  the  earth  his  footstool.  About  two 
thousand  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  God  called  Abraham,  to  be  the 
progenitor  of  a  nation,  which  appears  amid  the  idolatry  of  the  old  world, 

■  Even  Rousseau  says,  Socrates  died  like  a  sage,  but  Christ,  like  a  God  :  ''  Si  la  mort 
el  la  vie  de  Socrate  sent  d'un  sage,  la  vie  et  la  mort  de  Jesus  sont  d'un  Dieu." 


INTROD.]  I  47.       THE    OLD   TESTAMENT   REVELATION.  165 

like  an  oasis  in  the  desert.  Its  history,  from  beginning  to  end,  is  one 
continuous  miracle  ;  and  its  once  glorious  exaltation,  with  its  dismal  fall, 
and  present  condition,  one  of  the  most  overwhelming  proofs  conceivable, 
of  the  divinity  of  Christianity,  and  the  truth  of  the  Bible.  Its  historical 
eminence,  its  pure  knowledge  of  God,  its  manifold  covenant  privileges, 
Israel  owed  not  to  its  own  merit,  but  solely  to  the  sovereign  mercy 'of  God. 
For  the  Jews  were  by  nature,  as  Moses  and  the  prophets  often  lament, 
the  most  stiff-necked,  rebellious,  and  unthankful  nation  on  earth. 

The  religion  of  the  Old  Testament  is  specifically  distinguished  from  all 
the  heathen  religions  in  three  points  :  (1).  It  rests  on  a  positive  revelation 
of  Jehovah,  exhibiting  the  progressive  steps  of  his  gracious  condescension 
to  man  ;  whereas  Heathenism  is  the  product  of  fallen  human  nature,  and, 
at  best,  but  a  kind  of  instinctive  groping  after  the  unknown  God  :  (2).  It 
has  the  only  true  notion  and  worship  of  God,  who  is  the  foundation  of 
religion  ;  in  other  words,  it  is  monotheism  and  the  worship  of  God,  as 
opposed  to  polytheism,  dualism,  and  pantheism,  and  the  empty  worship 
of  idols  and  of  nature  :  (3).  It  is  purely  moral  in  its  character  ;  that  is, 
its  whole  aim  is  to  glorify  God  and  sanctify  men  ;  in  opposition  to  tlie 
more  passive  and,  in  some  cases,  directly  immoral  character  of  the  heathen 
mythologies.  With  the  Greeks  religion  was  more  a  matter  of  fancy  and 
poetical  taste  ;  with  the  Romans,  a  matter  of  policy  and  practical  utility  ; 
but  with  the  Israelites,  it  was  a  concern  of  the  heart  and  will,  upon  which 
was  laid  the  solemn  injunction  :  "  Bo  ye  holy,  for  I  am  holy."  Israel 
bore  a  relation  to  the  ancient  heathen  nations  and  religious,  very  much 
like  that  of  conscience, — the  inward  voice  of  God,  the  law  written  in  the 
heart,' — to  the  individual  sinner.  It  was  a  constant  witness  of  the  truth  in 
the  midst  of  surrounding  wickedness.  To  maintain  this  peculiarity,  and 
keep  clear  of  all  pagan  admixture,  the  Jewish  nation  had  to  be  excluded 
from  intercourse  with  the  heathen  ;  which  was  the  more  necessary,  ou 
account  of  its  own  natural  propensity  to  idolatry.  God,  therefore,  chose 
a  people  to  be  his  own,  to  be  a  royal  priesthood,  a  living  bearer  and 
representative  of  a  pure  worship.  This  people  was  at  first  comprehended 
in  an  individwal,  in  Abraham,  the  friend  of  God,  the  father  of  the  faith- 
ful. From  him  sprang  the  patriarchal /rtmi/?/,  with  its  exalted,  childlike 
piety,  its  fearless  trust  in  God.  Through  Moses,  Israel  became  a  theo- 
cratic state,  which  maintained  an  objective  conscience  ;  written,  in  its  law  ; 
living,  in  its  prophets. 

Israel  had  not  to  develope  the  idea  of  beauty,  like  Greece  ;  nor  the 
idea  of  civil  law,  like  Rome.  Her  laurels  are  not  those  of  the  politician, 
or  the  philosopher,  or  the  artist.'     Her  office  was,  to  preserve  and  unfold 

'  That  is,  so  far  as  the  arts  of  design,  (painting,  sculpture),  and  secular  poetry  are 
concerned.     For  the  sacred  poetry,  the  religious  lyrics  of  the  Old  Testament, — aside  from 


166  §  4Y.      THE   OLD   TESTAMENT   KEVELATION.  [sPEC. 

the  proper  religion  of  repentance  and  the  fear  of  God.  Heuce  John  the 
Baptist,  the  personal  representative  of  the  ancient  covenant,  came  crying  : 
"  Repent  !"  The  Greeks,  who  had  no  proper  conception  either  of  sin,  or 
of  holiness,  celebrated  a  reconciliation  between  heaven  and  earth,  between 
God  and  man,  which  was  altogether  premature,  and  proved  at  last  a  mis- 
erable delusion.  The  Jews,  on  the  other  hand,  must  first  feel  the  woes 
of  life,  the  dreadfulness  of  sin,  the  awfulness  of  the  divine  holiness  and 
justice,  and  thus  be  brought  to  see  the  infinite  distance  and  the  opposi- 
tion between  the  sinner  and  Jehovah  ;  as  the  only  true  ground  for  a 
reconciliation  not  imaginary,  but  real  and  permanent.  To  this  end  they 
received,  through  Moses,  the  written  law,  which  sets  forth  our  duty,  the 
ideal  of  morality,  far  more  completely  and  clearly,  than  the  natural  con- 
science, and,  at  the  same  time,  in  the  form  of  express  divine  command, 
promising  the  obedient  life  and  happiness,  and  threatening  the  transgres- 
sor with  death  and  perdition.  By  this  ideal  man  could  measure  himself ; 
and  the  more  he  endeavored  to  conform  to  the  holy  will  of  God  as  here 
expressed,  the  more  must  he  see  and  painfully  feel  his  inward  opposition 

the  nature  of  their  contents,  which  is  altogether  the  most  important  thing, — far  surpass, 
in  real,  intellectual  beauty,  in  sublimity,  in  richness  and  boldness  of  conception,  and  in 
force  of  expression,  even  the  loftiest  creations  of  the  Grecian  muse.  This  is  especially 
true  of  the  Psalms;  as  has,  in  fact,  been  admitted  by  many  great  students  and  admirers 
of  classic  antiquity.  The  renowned  philologian,  Henry  Stephamis,  for  example,  (in  the 
preface  to  his  Exposition  of  the  Psatms,  1562) ,  remarks,  that,  in  the  whole  compass  of 
poetry,  there  is  nothing  more  poetical,  more  musical,  more  thrilling,  and,  in  some  passages, 
more  full  of  lofty  inspiration,  than  the  Psalms  of  David  :  "Nihil  illis  esse  ■n-oc7iTiK6TEpov, 
nihil  esse  /^uvaLKurepov,  nihil  esse  yopyoTepov,  nihil  denique  plerisque  in  locis  di^vpafx- 
j3iK(jrepov  ant  esse  aut  fingi  posse."  And  the  German  Tacitus,  Jo/in  von  Midler,  wrote 
to  his  brother,  (Slmmtliclie  Werke,  V.  p.  122.  cf.  244)  :  ''  My  most  delightful  hour  every 
day  is  furnished  by  David.  There  is  nothing  in  Greece,  nothing  in  Rome,  nothing  in  all 
the  West,  like  David,  who  selected  the  God  of  Israel,  to  sing  Him  in  higher  strains, 
than  ever  praised  the  gods  of  the  Gentiles.  His  songs  come  from  the  spirit ;  they  sound 
to  the  depths  of  the  heart;  and  never,  in  all  my  life,  have  I  so  seen  God  before  my 
eyes."  Well  worth  attention,  also,  are  the  judgments  passed,  merely  on  the  principles 
of  a  cultivated  taste,  by  the  naturalist,  Alex,  von  Humboldt,  who  is  at  home  in  all  the 
visible  universe,  the  created  cosmos,  but,  we  regret  to  say,  seems  to  be  a  stranger  to  the 
invisible,  eternal  world,  and  to  the  sanctuary  of  the  Christian  faith,  without  which  even 
nature  loses  its  beauty  and  history  its  deeper  meaning.  They  are  given  in  the  second 
volume  of  his  magnificent  w^ork.  Cosmos,  p.  45  sqq.,  where  he  speaks  of  the  representa- 
tions of  nature  in  the  Hebreve  poetry;  especially  of  the  104th  Psalm,  which  '•  presents 
in  itself  a  picture  of  the  whole  world;"  of  the  book  of  Job,  which  '-is  as  graphic  in  its 
representations  of  particular  phenomena,  as  it  is  artistic  in  the  plan  of  the  whole  didac- 
tic composition ;"  and  of  the  book  of  Ruth,  which  he  calls  '•  a  most  artless  and  inexpres- 
sibly charming  picture  of  nature."  Gothe,  also,  says  of  this  latter  book,  (in  his  Com- 
mentar  zum  ivestostlichen  Divan,  p-  8) ,  that  it  is  ''  the  loveliest  thing,  in  the  shape  of  an 
epic  or  an  idyl,  which  has  come  down  to  lis." 


INTROD.]  §  47.       THE    OLD    TESTAMENT   REVELATION.  167 

to  it.  But  the  law  was  not  merely  a  written  letter.  It  was  embodied, 
also,  iu  all  sorts  of  institutions  and  ceremonies,  which,  as  a  whole,  had  a 
typical  reference  to  the  future  redemption.  The  daily  sacrifices,  espe- 
cially, pointed  to  the  absolute  sacrifice  upon  the  cross  ;  and,  as  they  afford- 
ed but  a  transient  feeling  of  reconciliation,  they  served  to  keep  alive  con- 
tinually the  need  and  desire  of  a  full  and  lasting  atonement  with  the  holy 
and  just  God.  The  law,  therefore,  both  the  decalogue  and  the  ceremo- 
nial law  (for  we  must  not  abstractly  sunder  these  two),  was,  on  the  one 
hand,  a  hedge  about  the  Jewish  people,  to  keep  them  from  being  polluted 
by  the  moral  corruption  of  the  heathen  ;  and,  on  the  other,  it  served  to  awak- 
en in  them  the  knowledge  of  sin,  (Rom.  3  :  20),  and  an  effort  after  some- 
thing beyond  itself,  a  sense  of  the  need  of  salvation,  and  a  yearning  after 
a  redeemer  from  the  curse  of  the  law.  So  far  it  is,  as  the  apostle  Paul 
calls  it,  "a  schoolmaster  to  lead  to  Christ."  Taken  by  itself,  the  law 
would,  indeed,  have  led  to  despair.  But  God  took  care  to  associate  with 
it  a  comforter,  an  evangelical  element,  namely  jprophecij,  which  awakens 
hope  and  trust  in  the  penitent  soul.  In  fact,  the  sweet  kernel  of  promise 
lies  hid  even  beneath  the  hard  shell  of  the  law  ;  otherwise  were  the  law 
but  a  cruel  sport  of  God  with  men,  a  fearful  irony  upon  their  moral  im- 
potence. It  were  impossible,  that  the  Creator  should  lay  such  earnest 
demands  upon  his  creatures,  and  hang  eternal  life  and  death  upon  obedi- 
ence, without  also  intending,  in  his  own  time,  to  give  them  power  to 
obey. 

Promise  is  the  second  peculiar  element  of  Judaism,  which  made  it  a 
direct  preparation  for  Christianity  ;  and  iu  this  view  the  Jewish  religion 
may  be  called  the  religion  of  tke  future,  or  the  religion  of  hope.  The 
Old  Testament  gives  the  clearest  evidence  of  its  being  but  a  forerunner 
of  Him  that  should  come,  and  humbly  points  beyond  itself  to  the 
Messiah,  whose  shoe-latchet  it  was  not  worthy  to  unloose.  This  charac- 
teristic is  its  fairest  ornament. 

Prophecy  is  properly  older  than  the  Mosaic  law  ;  as  says  the  Apostle  : 
"  The  law  entered,"  came  in  by  the  side.'  It  was  immediately  connected 
with  the  fall,  in  the  Protevaugelium,  as  it  is  called,  respecting  the  seed 
of  the  woman,  which  should  bruise  the  serpent's  head.  It  is  predomi- 
nant in  the  patriarchal  age,  where  piety  bears  pre-eminently  the  charac- 
ter of  childlike  faith  and  trust,  and  where  the  consciousness  of  sin  does 
not  yet  come  into  full  view.  But  from  the  time  of  Samuel,  four  hundred 
years  after  the  Exodus,  and  nearly  eleven  centuries  before  Christ,  it 
passed  from  the  mere  sporadic  utterances,  in  which  it  had  previously 
appeared,  into  an  independent  power,  deposited  in  a  formal  and  perma- 

*  Rom.  5  :  20  :  v6/xog  Si  TraQeiart^'&ev,  Iva  nlEOvday  to  nagu-rrTUfia. 


1G8  §  47.       THE    OLD    TESTAMENT    EEVELATION.  [sPEC. 

uent  prophetic  ojficc  and  order.^  Thenceforward,  this  prophetic  order,  as 
the  mouth  of  God,  the  conscience  of  the  state,  in  some  sense  the  evangeli- 
cal Protestantism  of  the  Jewish  theocracy,  kept  along  uninterruptedly  side 
by  side  with  the  Davidic  kingship  and  the  Levitical  priesthood,  into  the 
Babylonish  captivity,  and  back  to  the  rebuilding  of  the  temple  ;  predict- 
ing the  judgments  of  God,  but  also  his  forgiving  grace  ;  warning  and 
punishing,  but  also  comforting  and  encouraging  ;  and  always  culminating 
in  a  plainer  reference  to  the  coming  Messiah,  who  should  deliver  Israel 
and  the  world  out  of  all  their  troubles. 

Prophecy,  or  the  Old  Testament  gospel,  like  the  law,  was  embodied 
not  merely  in  words,  but  also  in  institutions  and  living  persons,  which 
pointed  to  the  future.  Moses,  Joshua,  the  Judges,  David,  and  all  the 
temporal  deliverers  and  instructors,  the  earnest  preachers  of  repentance 
and  comforters  of  Israel,  down  to  John  the  Baptist,  were  forerunners 
and  pledges  of  the  true  Deliverer  ;  and  the  more  they  failed  to  afford 
complete  and  enduring  aid  and  consolation,  the  more  did  they  enliven 
the  desire  for  the  great  Anointed,  who,  as  prophet,  priest,  and  king, 
should  combine  in  his  own  person  all  the  theocratic  offices,  and  jierfectly 
fulfill  all  the  glorious  promises.  Since  the  present  was  thus  pregnant 
with  the  future  ;  since  the  Biblical  prophecy  had  a  genuinely  historical 
groundwork  and  a  practical  significancy  for  its  own  times,  as  well  as  for 
the  latest  posterity  ;  the  Messiah  was  intended  and  described  in  all  the 
theocratic  types  ;  while  at  the  same  time  all  the  prophecies  found  their 
preliminary  fulfillment  in  the  Old  Dispensation,  and  the  entire  theocratic 
history  was  typical  of  future  things — the  deliverance  from  Egypt  and 
the  restoration  from  the  Babylonish  captivity,  for  example,  of  redemp- 
tion from  sin  and  misery.  But  through  their  calamities  and  sufferings- 
the  people  became  more  and  more  aware,  how  far  their  actual  conduct 

'  The  society,  founded  by  Samuel  at  Rama  (1  Sam.  19  :  18-24),  has  been  called  a 
school  of  prophets-  We  must  not  understand  by  this,  however,  an  institution  for  regular 
instruction  in  the  sense  of  our  modern  seminaries  of  learning,  but  rather  a  free  associa- 
tion, perhaps  like  that  of  John  the  Baptist  and  his  disciples,  or  of  Christ  and  the  apos- 
tles, for  the  purpose  of  arousing  the  intellectual  faculties  and  promoting  piety  by  the 
study  of  the  law,  by  prayer,  singing,  conversation,  and  discipline.  Such  schools  of  the 
prophets  there  were  at  Rama  (1  Sam.  19  :  19,  20);  at  Jericho  (2  Kings  2:5);  at 
Bethel  (2  Kings  2:3);  and  at  Gilgal  (4  :  38) .  Most  of  the  pupils  were  already 
adult,  and  some  of  them  married.  They  dwelt  together,  and  were  sometimes  sent  out 
by  the  superiors  as  prophetic  commissioners  (2  Kings  9  :  1),  as  Christ,  also,  sent  out 
his  disciples  two  by  two  even  before  his  resurrection.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  re- 
mark, that  among  the  prophets  are  included  not  only  the  four  major  and  twelve  minor 
prophets,  whose  predictions,  (all  since  about  800  B.  C.) ,  have  come  down  to  us  in 
writing ;  but  also  many  others,  whose  history  is  recorded  in  the  books  of  Kings  an^l 
Chronicles,  as  in  the  cases  of  Samuel,  Nathan,  Elijah,  Elisha ;  and  some  of  whom  arc 
known  to  us  only  by  name. 


INTROD.]  §  47.       THE    OLD   TESTAMENT    EEVELATION".  169 

fell  below  the  standard  of  their  religion,  and  were  led  to  look  with  ever 
increasing  longings  into  the  future.  The  Jews,  it  is  true,  conceived  of 
the  Messianic  kingdom  as  a  glorious  restoration  of  the  throne  of  David. 
But  the  most  profound  prophets,  especially  Isaiah,  in  whom  all  the 
previous  streams  of  prophecy  collected  themselves,  to  gush  forth  again 
more  copiously  into  the  most  distant  future,  announced,  that  suffering,  an 
act  of  general  expiation,  was  the  necessary  preliminary  to  the  establish- 
ment of  the  kingdom  of  glory.  The  "Servant  of  God"  must  first  bear 
the  sins  of  the  people,  as  a  silent  sufferer,  as  the  true  paschal  lamb,  and 
make  an  atonement,  not  only  for  a  given  time,  but  for  ever,  with  God, 
the  holy  Lawgiver.  The  same  Isaiah  breaks  through  the  confines  of 
Jewish  nationality  ;  beholds  already,  with  clearest  vision,  the  absolute 
universality  of  the  promised  salvation,  in  whose  light  the  Gentiles  also 
should  walk  ;  and,  in  the  bold  flight  of  his  hope,  rests  not,  till  he  reaches 
new  heavens  and  a  new  earth  (c.  60  :  3  ;  66  :  19  sqq.  etc.). 

With  Malachi  prophecy  ceased,  and  Israel  was  left  to  herself  four 
hundred  years.  But  at  last,  immediately  before  the  fulfillment  of  the 
Messianic  promises,  the  whole  Old  Dispensation  appears  summed  up  and 
embodied  once  more  in  the  greatest  of  them  that  are  born  of  women  ;  in 
one,  who  went  before  the  Lord,  like  the  aurora  before  the  sun,  till,  iu 
unrivalled  humility,  he  disappeared  in  its  splendor.  John  the  Baptist,  by 
his  earnest  preaching  of  repentance,  his  abode  in  the  wilderness,  and  his 
ascetic  life,  personified  the  law ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  pointing  to 
Him,  for  whom  he  was  not  worthy  to  do  the  most  menial  office,  who 
should  baptize  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire,  to  the  Lamb  of  God, 
which  bears  the  sins  of  the  world,  he  also  embodied  the  cheering  word 
of  promise.  Around  hun  were  collected  the  noblest  and  best  of  that 
generation,  including  several  of  the  future  apostles.  These  disciples  of 
John,  these  genuine  Nathauaels,  and  those  souls,  who  silently  hoped 
and  looked  for  the  redemption  of  Israel  by  the  Messiah  alone,  as  the 
aged  Simeon,  the  prophetess  Anna,  the  mother  of  our  Lord  with  her 
friends  and  kindred,  the  lovely  group  at  Bethany,  with  whom  the  Lord 
lived  in  the  most  familiar  intercourse  ; — these  were  the  true  representa- 
tives of  the  Old  Testament  in  its  direct  and  strong  bearing  towards 
Christianity.  They  were  the  people  of  holy  aspirations  and  exalted 
hopes  ;  the  first  fruits  of  the  New  Covenant,  sealed  by  the  blood  of  the 
Son  of  God.  Above  all  must  the  antitype  of  Eve,  the  blessed  virgin 
Mary,  who  bore  under  her  heart  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  be  regarded 
as  the  living  embodiment  and  the  pure  temple  of  the  deepest  longing 
after  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  God  in  the  flesh,  and  after  the  redemp- 
tion of  Israel  ;  and  thus  well  fitted  and  worthy  to  be  the  mother  of  our 


170  §  48,       POLITICAL    CONDITION    OF   THE   JEWS  [SPEO. 

Lord  and  Saviour,  the  guardian  of  liis  childhood,  and  "  blessed  among 
women." 

While,  thus,  the  Heathenism  of  Greece  and  Rome  ends  negatively,  in 
comfortless  mourning  over  the  dissipation  of  its  youthful  dream  of  a 
golden  age,  and  in  a  despairing  cry  for  redemption  ;  Judaism  closes  its 
development  by  giving  birth  to  Christianity  (for  "  salvation  is  of  the 
Jews,"  Jno.  4  :  22),  and  ends  with  the  glorious  fulfillment  of  all  the 
types  and  prophecies  from  the  serpent-bruiser  to  the  lamb  of  God,  which 
taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world. 

But  when  we  inquire  into  the  condition  of  the  great  mass  of  the 
Jews  at  the  birth  of  the  Messiah,  we  are  compelled  to  view  the  prepara- 
tion for  Christianity  with  these  as  more  of  the  negative  kind.  All  was 
ripe  for  destruction,  and  a  Saviour  was  absolutely  indispensable. 

§  48.    The,  Pulilical  Condition  of  the  Jews  at  the  Time  of  Christ. 

First,  as  to  the  •political  condition  of  the  Jewish  nation  at  the  birth 
of  our  Saviour.  The  Maccabean  princes  for  a  time  united  the  priestly 
and  kingly  functions,  and  enlarged  the  Jewish  kingdom  by  conquering 
Samaria  and  Idumea,  the  inhabitants  of  which,  the  Edomites,  were 
made  proselytes  and  circumcised.  But  this  power  was  soon  broken. 
Palestine  fell,  with  the  whole  civilized  world,  into  the  hands  of  the 
Romans.  After  the  battle  of  Philippi  (B  C.  42),  the  East  bowed  to 
the  powtr  of  Marcus  Antonius,  who,  with  Caesar  Octavius  and  Lepidus, 
formed  the  second  triumvirate.  He  and  Octavius  transferred  the  crown 
of  Palestine,  as  a  Roman  province,  to  Herod  (B.  C.  39),  who,  after  the 
battle  of  Actium  (B.  C.  30),  which  made  Octavius,  or  Augustus,  sole 
rultr  of  the  Roman  empire,  was  confirmed  in  this  office.  Herod  the 
Great  was  an  Idumean,  the  son  of  Antipater,  a  shrewd,  energetic,  but 
ambitious,  cruel,  and  thoroughly  heathen  prince.  At  his  accession,  the 
Maccabean  house,  already  inwardly  destroyed  by  all  sorts  of  vice  and 
cruelty,  was  also  outwardly  forever  annihilated,  and  Israel  came  under 
the  influence  of  heathen  Rome,  which  must,  of  course,  accelerate  its 
national  dissolution.  Herod  used  all  his  power  against  the  Jewish  mo- 
rality and  institutions,  and  sought  to  introduce  Roman  usages.  This 
roused  the  stiffly  conservative  Jews,  especially  the  Pharisees,  and  he  was 
unable  to  reconcile  them  even  by  building  for  them  a  far  more  magnifi- 
cent temple  in  the  place  of  the  old  one  on  Mt.  Moriah.  He  did  not, 
therefore,  enjoy  his  power,  and  after  having  procured  the  execution  of 
all  the  remaining  members  of  the  Maccabean  family,  including  even  his 
beautiful  wife  Mariamne  and  her  sons  Aristobulus  and  Alexander,  he 
fell  into  a  wild  melancholy,  and  at  last  into  a  loathsome  disease,  of 


INTROD.]  AT    THE   ADVENT    OF    CHRIST.  171 

which  he  died  in  the  year  of  Rome  *I50  or  '151,  aud  of  our  era  3  or  4.* 
Herod's  hatred  of  the  Jews,  his  jealousy  of  his  power,  and  the 
confusion  and  spirit  of  rebellion  then  prevailing,  enable  us  to  understand 
fully  the  cruel  procedure  of  this  tyrant  with  the  babes  of  Bethlehem, 
when  the  account  reached  his  ears  through  the  wise  men  of  the  East 
that  an  heir  to  the  throne  of  David  was  born  in  that  city. 

After  his  death,  his  kingdom  was  divided  among  his  three  sons. 
Archelaus,  (Matt,  2  :  22),  received  Judea,  Idumea,  and  Samaria  ; 
Philipp,  Batauaea,  Ituraea,  and  Trachonitis  ;  Herod  Antipas  (mentioned 
in  Luke  3  :  1,  as  Herod  the  Tetrarch),  Galilee  and  Peraea.  Archelaus, 
however,  was  banished  six  years  after  Christ,  and  Iris  portion  turned  into 
a  Roman  province.  Judea,  Idumea,  and  Samaria  were  governed  by  a 
procurator,  under  the  supervision  of  the  proconsul  of  Syria.  The  fifth 
of  these  procurators,  or  provincial  g(  vu-i  nrs,  was  the  Pontius  Pilate 
named  in  the  Gospels,  A.  D.  28-3T.  The  second  son,  the  tetrarch 
Philipp,  died  A.  D.  34  ;  and  A.  D.  37  his  kingdom  fell  into  the  hands 
of  Herod  Agrippa,  who,  under  the  einieror  Claudius,  A.  D.  41,  after 
the  banishment  of  Herod  Antipas,  A.  D.  39,  was  raised  to  the  throne 
of  all  Palestine.  This  Herod  Agrippa  I.,  grandson  of  Herod  the  Great 
and  Mariamne  by  their  eldest  son,  Aristobulus,  was  a  vain  and  unprinci- 
pled man,  aud  appears  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  (c.  12),  as  a  persecu- 
tor of  the  Christians.  But  after  his  sudden  and  miserable  death,  A.  D. 
44,  his  whole  kingdom  was  again  made  a  Roman  province,  ruled  by 
procurators,  two  of  whom,  Claudius  Felix  and  Porcius  Festus,  figure  in 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  The  last  procurator  was  Gessius  Florus, 
under  whom  the  tragical  fate  of  the  Jewish  nation,  so  long  in  prepara- 
tion, was  finally  decided. 

All  these  foreign  rulers  vied  with  one  another  in  cold  contempt  and 
deadly  hatred  of  the  disgracefully  enslaved  nation  ;  and  the  Jews,  ou 
their  part,  retaliated  with  the  same  contempt  and  the  same  hate,  known 
as  the  of/iwrn  generis  humani ;  stuck  to  their  stiff,  exclusive  forms  and 
traditions,  from  which,  however,  the  spirit  and  life  had  long  departed  ; 
and  planned  one  insurrection  after  another,  every  one  only  plunging  them 
into  deeper  wretchedness.  Sinking  into  such  a  bottomless  misery,  the 
nobler  and  better  sods,  who  still  retained  a  spark  of  the  pure  Old  Testa- 
ment spirit,  must  gladly  throw  themselves  into  the  arms  of  Christianity  ; 
while  the  stiff-necked  slaves  to  the  letter,  who  trod  under  foot  the  iucar- 
nate  Word,  were  only  led  by  the  Christian  religion  ever  nearer  to  their 
doom  ; — a  doom,  which  plainly  testified,  that  the   old  was  passed  away, 

*  Our  era  is  fixed,  however,  at  least  four  years  too  late.  Herod,  therefore,  died  one 
or  two  years  after  the  birth  of  Christ.  Cornp.  Wiescler  Chronologisrhe  Synopse  dcr  vicr 
Evangelien.  3843.  p.  50  sqq. 


173  §    49.      KELIGIOrS    CONDITIOiSr   OF  THE   JEWS  [sPEC. 

aud  throug'h  Christ  all  was  made  new  ; — ^a  doom,  which  stretches  along 
thron^ii,-])  all  history  to  the  second  coming  of  the  Lord,  as  a  living  witness 
to  all  auT'S  of  the  divine  origin  and  anthority  of  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
taments. The  priest,  Josephus  (born  A.  D.  37,  died  about  93),  himself 
a  Jew  and  a  historian  of  the  tragical" downfall  of  his  nation,  openly 
declares  of  his  countrymen  and  contemporaries  :  "  I  believe,  that,  had 
the  Romans  not  come  upon  this  wicked  race  when  they  did,  an  earth- 
quake would  have  swallowed  them  up,  or  a  flood  would  have  drowned 
them,  or  the  lightnings  of  Sodom  would  have  struck  them.  For  this 
generation  was  more  ungodly  than  all  that  had  ever  suffered  such  pun- 
ishments." 

In  such  a  time  of  corruption,  and  of  the  most  abject  civil  slavery  ; 
when  the  i-oyal  house  of  David  was  sunk  in  poverty  and  obscurity,  and 
the  chosen  people  were  the  laughing-stock  of  their  heartless  heathen 
oppressors,  appeared,  in  wonderful  contrast,  the  Son  of  God,  the  prom- 
ised Messiah  ;  in  the  form  of  a  servant,  yet  radiant  with  divine  glory  ; 
proclaiming  the  true  freedom  from  the  most  cruel  bondage,  and  shedding 
amidst  the  dismal  darkness  the  light  of  everlasting  life. 

§  49.    The,  Religious  State  of  the  Jews  at  the  Birth  of  Christ. 

The  theology  aud  religion  of  the  Jews  were  in  no  better  state  than 
their  political  affairs.  Here,  too,  we  discern  a  sad  bondage  to  the 
letter,  "  which  killeth  ;"  a  morbid  attachment  to  forms  and  traditions 
which  had  long  lost  their  spirit.  Hopes  of  the  Messiah  still  lived, 
indeed,  in  the  people,  but  they  had  become  carnal  and  sensuous. 
The  Messiah  had  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  servant  of  the  baser  passions, 
whose  great  business  it  was  to  free  the  Jews  from  the  oppression  of  the 
Romans,  to  chastise  these  hated  heathens  with  a  rod  of  iron,  and  to 
establish  a  splendid,  outward,  universal  theocracy.  Such  expectations 
were  very  favorable  to  the  pretensions  of  false  prophets  and  false  Mes- 
siahs, who  preached  rebellion  against  the  reigning  power  ;  as  Judas  of 
Gamala,  or  Judas  Gaulonites  (A.  D.  6),  aud  Theudas  (under  Claudius, 
A.  D.  44). 

In  theology  and  practical  religion  the  Jews  were  split,  at  the  time  of 
Christ,  into  three  sects,  the  Pharisees,  the  Sadducees,  aud  the  Essenes. 
These  sects  arose  in  the  days  of  the  Maccabees,  about  150  years  before 
Christ.  They  answer  to  the  three  tendencies,  which  are  usually  found  to 
arise  when  a  religion  decays,  viz.,  sanctimonious  formalism,  trifling  infi- 
delity, and  mystic  superstition.  The  Pharisees  correspond  to  the  Stoics 
among  the  heathen  ;  the  Sadducees,  to  the  Epicureans  and  Skeptics  ; 
the  Essenes,  to  the  Platonics  and  Neo-Platonics. 


INTROD.]  IN   THE   TIME    OF   CHKIST.  173 

1.  The  Pharisees,  the  separate^ — so  called  from  their  pretended  holi- 
ness— represent  the  traditional  orthodoxy,  the  dead  formalism,  the  legal 
self-righteousuess  of  Judaism.  They  were,  in  general,  the  bearers  of 
true  doctrine  ;  whence  Christ  commanded  his  disciples  to  do  all  they  l)id 
them,  (Matt.  23  :  3),  that  is,  all  that  they  prescribed  in  their  official 
capacity,  as  teachers  of  the  law  of  Moses,  and  in  accordance  with  that 
standard.  But  to  this  pure  doctrine  they  added  many  foreign  elements, 
especially  from  the  Parsic  system,  which  found  their  way  in  after  the 
Babylonish  exile,  and  were  foisted  by  allegorical  interpretation  into  the 
Old  Testament.  Besides  these,  they  held,  also,  to  certain  subtle  Rab- 
binical traditions,  belonging  to  the  theological  and  juridical  exposition  of 
the  law,  and  often  contravening  the  spu'it  of  the  canonical  Scriptures, 
(Matt.  15  :  3)  ;  tending,  in  fact,  by  their  whole  influence,  to  make  the 
word  of  God,  which  was  acknowledged  along  with  them,  of  none  effect, 
(Mark  1  :  13).^  For  this  reason  Christ,  on  the  other  hand,  warned  his 
disciples  against  the  "  leaven,"  that  is,  the  false  doctrine,  of  the  Phari- 
sees, (Matt.  16  :  6,  12.  Mark  8  :  15).  But  then  again,  in  all  their 
conduct,  they  showed  the  want  of  the  great  thing,  the  deep  spirit  of  the 
law,  holiness  in  the  inner  man.  For  this  they  substituted  a  dead  intel- 
lectual orthodoxy,  a  slavish  routine  of  ceremonies,  a  pedantic  observance 
of  fasts,  prayers,  alms-giviugs,  washings,  and  the  like  ;  and  fancied  this 
was  true  piety.  Their  natural  descent  from  Abraham  and  outward  cir- 
cumcision seemed  to  them  to  constitute  a  sufficient  title  to  an  inheritance  in 
the  kingdom  of  God.  They  were  the  ones  who  could  strain  at  a  gnat 
and  swallow  a  camel  ;  blind  leaders  of  the  blind,  as  our  Lord  calls  them 
in  his  fearful  denunciation.  Matt.  23  :  whited  sepulchres,  outwardly 
beautiful,  but  within  full  of  dead  men's  bones  and  all  uncleanness. 
Instead  of  awakening  in  the  people,  by  the  discipline  of  the  law,  the 
knowledge  of  sin  and  sincere  repentance,  and,  by  the  exposition  of  the 
prophets,  a  longing  for  redemption  ;  they  rather  promoted,  by  the  abuse 
of  the  law,  a  hypocritical  formalism  and  spiritual  pride  ;  by  the  abuse  of 
prophecy,  a  fanatical  spirit  of  political  revolution  ;  and,  by  both,  the 
final  destruction  of  their  nation.  At  the  time  of  our  Saviour's  appear- 
ance the  Pharisees  occupied,  at  least  in  Judea,  almost  all  the  posts  of  in- 
struction ;  were  held  in  the  highest  veneration  by  the  people  as  the  only 
true  expounders  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  law  ;  stood  at  the  head  of 

'  From  "i^^S)  (parash, periishim.)  in  the  sense  of  "to  separate."  Thus  the  Talmud 
itself  explains  the  name,  (Talm.  babylon.  Chagiga  f  IS,  b.) 

"^  In  like  maaner  the  Roman  Catholic  church  is  not  unjustly  charged  with  the  fault, 
of  having  added  to  the  orthodox  doctrines  of  Christianity,  which  she  plainly  acknowl- 
edges in  her  symbolical  books,  and  will  never  give  up,  la'er  traditions  and  human  inven- 
tions, which  cover,  like  a  shell.,  the  sweet  kernel  of  the  plain  gospel,  and  in  a  measure 
obstruct  its  power. 


174  §  49.       KELIGIOUS    CONDITION    OF    THE   JEWS,    ETC.  [sPEC. 

the  bierarcliy  ;  and  formed  tlie  majority  of  the  Sanhedrim,  (comp.  Acts 
5  :  34.  23  :  6  .sqq.)-  The  New  Testament  gives  us  a  full  account  of 
them,  and  shows  them  to  us  as  the  deadly  enemies  of  our  Lord.  The 
Takiiud,  which  was  composed  about  the  end  of  the  second  century  and 
the  beginning  of  the  third,  breathes  throughout  the  genuine  sj^irit  of 
Pharisaism. 

It  would  be  wrong,  however,  to  suppose,  that  all  the  members  of  this 
sect  were  hypocrites  and  ambitious  hierarchs.  There  were  among  them 
those,  who,  like  Xicodemus,  (Jno.  3:1.  Mk.  12  :  34),  honestly  sought 
the  truth,  though  they  were  bound  by  the  fear  of  men.  Many,  though 
a  small  minority,  certainly  strove  earnestly  to  be  righteous  and  holy 
before  God,  and  experienced  such  painful  inward  conflicts,  as  Paul,  him- 
self once  a  Pharisee  and  even  then^  like  his  master,  Gamaliel,  undoubt- 
edly a  noble  and  earnest  man,  relates  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  his  Epis- 
tle to  the  Romans  ; — conflicts  which  ended  in  a  helpless  cry  for  redemp- 
tion, (Rom.  t  :  24).  Hence  many  of  the  Pharisees  embraced  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  (Acts  15  :  5).  This  faith  they  might  apprehend  in  two 
ways.  Either  they  might  become  as  zealous  for  justification  by  faith,  as 
they  had  formerly  been  for  justification  by  their  own  works  ;  like  the 
great  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  Or  they  might  drag  in  with  them  much 
of  the  Pharisaic  leaven  of  self-righteousness  and  outward  legalism,  and 
thus  hinder  the  pure  development  of  Christianity.  This  we  observe 
already  in  the  Judaistic  opponents  of  Paul  ;  and  w^e  trace  it  through  the 
whole  history  of  the  church,  in  which  there  is  Pharisaism  enough  to  this 
day,  baptized  indeed  with  water,  but  not  with  the  fire  of  the  gospel. 

2.  Directly  opposed  to  the  Pharisees  and  their  stiff  conservatism  stood 
the  less  numerous  Sadducees.'  They  rejected  all  tradition,  and  would 
acknowledge  nothing  but  the  written  law  to  be  of  any  religious  authori- 
ty. Many  learned  men  maintain,  that,  of  the  Old  Testament  canon,  they 
rejected  all  except  the  Pentateuch  ;  but  there  is  no  sufficient  proof  of 
this,  and  it  is  in  itself  improbaljle,  since  the  Sadducees  held  seats  in  the 
Sanhedrim,  (Acts  23  :  6  sqq.),  and  sometimes  exercised  even  the  office 
of  high  priest.^     It  is  certain,  however,  that  they  denied  the   existence 

'  Rabbinical  tradition  derives  the  name  fronn  one  Zarfor/r,  the  supposed  founder  of  the 
sect;  but  Epiphariius,  from  p^'^^,just.  Acconiing  to  the  latter  etymology,  therefore, 
it  would  be  like  the  name  of  the  Pharisees,  a  title  of  honor,  which  they  gave  them- 
selves. 

^  Jnscphus,  also,  c.  Jplon  1.8.  says  without  qualification,  that  all  the  Jews  received 
the  twenty-two  books  of  the  Old  Testament  as  divine.  The  main  reason,  urged  for  the 
opinion  that  the  Sadducees  rejected  the  prophetical  books,  is  their  denial  of  immortality, 
which  is  clearly  taught,  for  instance,  in  Daniel.  But  they  m'ght  easily  have  called  in 
arbitrary  exegesis  to  their  aid,  as  is  done  to  this  day  with  the  New  Testaiiient  by  ra- 
tionalists and  all  sorts  of  sects. 


INTROD.]  EST   THE    TIME    OF   CHEIST.  175 

of  -angels,  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  the  resurrection  of  the  body.' 
Respecting  the  human  will  they  held  Pelagian  views,  denying  any  divine 
influence  upon  it.  They  were,  in  general,  a  rationalistic  sect,  inclined  to 
moral  levity,  skepticism,  and  infidelity.  Few  of  them  belonged  to  the 
learned  professions.  With  the  common  people  they  found  not  much 
favor,  and  their  followers  were  chiefly,  as  Josephus  tells  us  in  his  Antiqui- 
ties, anfougst  the  rich,  the  worldly-minded,  and  persons  of  rank.  "We 
cannot  wonder,  therefore,  that,  in  spite  of  their  general  hatred  of  the 
Pharisees,  they  made  common  cause  with  them  in  opposition  to  the 
'Saviour.''  For  men,  so  entirely  destitute  of  all  deeper  sense  of  religious 
need,  Christianity  had  but  little  power  of  attraction.  After  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem  they  disappear  even  from  Jewish  history,  and  are  only 
occasionally  mentioned  in  the  Talmud  as  heretics  and  Epicureans. 

3.  The  misfortunes  and  party  strifes  of  the  Jews  finally  called  forth  a 
third  sect,  called  the  Essaeans,  or  Essenes.'  We  have  no  information 
respecting  them  from  the  New  Testament,  but  they  are  spoken  of  in  the 
writings  of  Josephus,  Philo,  and  Pliny.  They  must  be  regarded  as  the 
Jewish  monks,  a  mystic  and  ascetic  sect,  of  a  chiefly  practical  tendency, 
though  not  without  a  theosophic  and  speculative  element,  derived  either 
from  the  Platonic  philosophy,  or,  more  probably,  from  the  Oriental  systems, 
es})ecially  Parsism.  They  were  a  quiet,  seclflded  people,  who  dwelt,  far 
from  the  wild  turmoil  of  their  distracted  age,  on  the  western  coast  of 
the  Dead  Sea.  They  were  divided  into  four  orders  ;  allowed  marriage 
only  in  one  of  these  ;  and  abolished  the  oath,  except  in  receiving  persons, 
after  their  probation,  into  the  number  of  the  initiated.  Yea  and  nay 
were,  with  them,  a  sufficient  guai*antee  of  veracity.  They  were  noted 
for  industry,  benevolence,  hospitality,  and  honesty.  They  held  their 
goods  in  common.  The  Sabbath  they  scrupulously  observed.  They  sent 
gifts  to  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  but  never  entered  it.  Even  in  their 
mutual  intercourse  they  observed  great  secrecy  ;  dreaded  contact  with 
the  uncircumcised  ;  and  would  rather  die  than  eat  food  not  prepared  by 
themselves  or  their  brethren.  Thus,  as  is  frequently  the  case  in  mystic 
sects,  their  pure  religious  sense  became  vitiated  with  superstition  ;  their 
spiritual  earnestness,  with  rigid  formalism  ;  their  quiet  seclusion  and  self- 
mortification,  with  the  pride  of  caste. 

These  Essenes  might,  in  one  view,  be  easily  attracted  by  the  mystic 
element  of  Christianity  ;  in  their  pretensions  to  holiness,  they  might  set 

^  Matt.  22  :  23.     Mk.  12  :  18.     Luke  20  :  27.     Acts  23  :  8. 

•■'  Matt.  3  :  7.  12:38.  16  :  1,  6,  11  sqq.  22:23,34.  Luke  20  :  27.  Acts  4  :  i. 
b  :  17. 

-  From  the  Chaldaic,  "^P^  physician.  Others  think  the  word  a  corruption  ol 
Q'^'l"'0n5  daioi.  the  holy,  under  which  name  the  Essenes  appear,  also,  in  the  Talmud 


176  §  50.       INFLUENCE    OF   JUDAISM    ON    HEATHENISM.  [sPEC. 

themselves  against  the  sermon  which  pronounced  the  poor  in  spirit 
blessed  ;  or,  finally,  if  they  went  over  to  Christianity,  they  would  be 
likely  to  carry  with  them  much  of  their  monkish  spirit  and  mechanical 
asceticism.  Thus  they  would  favor  monasticism  in  the  church,  and  give 
rise  to  many  heretical  sects,  the  germs  of  which  we  find  already  noticed 
in  Paul's  epistle  to  the  Colossians  and  the  pastoral  letters. 


C— THE  MUTUAL  CONTACT  OF  JUDAISM  AND 
HEATHENISM. 

§  50.  Influence  of  Judaism  on  Heathenism. 

Since  Christianity,  as  the  universal  religion,  was  destined  to  break 
down  all  the  barriers  which  had  before  so  rigorously  separated  religious 
and  nations,  and  to  teach  men  to  view  the  whole  race  as  one  family,  we 
must  regard  not  only  the  political  union  of  the  nations  under  the  Roman 
sceptre,  but  also  the  intellectual  and  religious  contact  of  the  two  great 
systems  of  the  old  world.  Heathenism  and  Judaism,  as  a  preparation  for 
the  spread  of  the  gospel.  We  notice,  first,  the  influence  of  Judaism  on 
Heathenism. 

It  is  well  known,  that,  after  the  Babylonish  exile,  the  Jews  were 
scattered  over  the  whole  world.  Comparatively  few  of  them  availed 
themselves  of  the  permission,  granted  by  Cyrus,  to  return  to  Palestine. 
The  majority  remained  in  Babylonia,  or  wandered  into  other  lands.  In 
Alexandria,  for  example,  at  the  time  of  Christ,  almost  half  the  inhabi- 
tants were  Jews,  who,  by  trading,  had  become  rich  and  powerful.  In 
Asia  Minor  and  Greece  there  was  hardly  a  place  without  its  Jews.  In 
Rome  they  possessed  almost  the  greater  part  of  the  Trastevere  (on  the 
right  bank  of  the  Tiber)  ;  and  Julius  Caesar  allowed  them  to  build 
synagogues,  and  granted  them  many  other  privileges.  All  these  Jews, 
who  lived  out  of  Palestine- — -the  dispersion  (;}  d^aanoqu),  as  they  were 
called — still  considered  Jerusalem  as  their  centre  ;  regarded  its  Sanhe- 
drim as  their  highest  church  court  ;  sent  yearly  gifts  of  money  {didqaxjia), 
and  sacrifices  to  the  temple  ;  and  visited  it  from  time  to  time  at  the 
great  festivals. 

We  see  at  once,  how  this  state  of  things  must  aid  the  spread  of  the 
gospel.  In  the  first  place,  the  feasts  of  the  Passover  and  of  Pentecost 
brought  Jews  from  all  quarters  of  the  globe  to  Jerusalem,  to  witness  the 
death  and  resurrection  of  Jesus  and  the  out-pouring  of  the  Holy  Gliost 
(comp.  Acts  2  :  5,  9-11),  and  to  carry  the  news  of  Christianity  to  their 
homes.  Then  again,  the  apostles,  in  their  missionary  travels,  found  in 
all  the  considerable  cities  synagogues  and  Messianic  hopes,  which  fur- 
nished them  places  and  occasions  for  the  preaching  of  the  cross.     Every 


INTROD.]         §  50.       INFLUENCE    OF    JUDAISM  ON   HEATHENISM.  177 

syiia"-og'ue  was,  as  it  were,  a  missionary  station  in  readiness  for  them. 
Finally,  the  influence  of  the  Jews  helped  to  undermine  Heathenism,  and 
thus  to  prepare  the  ground  for  Christianity.  The  Jews  were,  in  general, 
it  is  true,  bitterly  hated  by  the  Gentiles,  and  regarded  as  misanthropists. 
Yet  the  distractions  of  that  age,  and  the  dissolution  of  the  existing  my- 
thologies, opened  many  a  door  to  the  influence  of  their  religion.  They 
themselves,  on  their  part,  especially  the  Pharisees,  were  very  zealous  in 
making  proselytes.  In  addition  to  all  this,  there  were  hosts  of  magicians, 
who,  by  their  skillful  legerdemain,  contrived  greatly  to  surprise  and 
overawe  the  superstitious  heathens.  The  Roman  authors  complain  of 
this  influence  of  Judaism  ;  and,  judging  from  the  later  imperial  inter- 
dicts, and  from  the  passage  in  Seneca's  work  on  Superstition,  where  he 
says  of  the  Jews  :  "  The  conquered  have  given  laws  to  the  conquerors,'" 
it  must,  indeed,  have  been  quite  notideable. 

The  proselytes,  however,  were  of  two  kinds  ;  those  who  fully,  and 
those  who  only  partially,  adopted  the  Jewish  religion.  The  former 
were  called  proselytes  of  righteousness  (p'^r]  '^nri).  They  adopted  cir- 
cumcision and  the  whole  ceremonial  law,  and  were  commonly  much  more 
fanatical  than  the  Jews  themselves,  since  they  had  laid  hold  of  the 
religion  of  Moses  from  their  own  choice  and  from  firm  conviction. 
Hence  our  Lord  tells  the  Pharisees,  that  they  made  such  proselytes  two- 
fold more  the  children  of  hell  than  themselves  (Matt.  23  :  15)  ;  and, 
in  fact,  they  were  the  most  violent  persecutors  of  the  Christians.  Justin 
Martyr,  in  his  Dialogue  with  the  Jew,  Trypho,  remarks  :  "  The  prose- 
lytes not  only  do  not  believe,  but  blaspheme  the  name  of  Christ  two-fold 
more  than  ye,  and  wish  to  kill  and  torture  us,  who  believe  in  him  ;  for 
in  every  thing  they  try  to  be  like  you."  The  second  class,  which  espe- 
cially included  many  women,  were  the  proselytes  of  the  gate  ("i3>]rjn  '^15 ), 
as  they  were  formerly  called,  according  to  Ex.  20  :  10,  and  Dent.  5  :  14  ; 

'  "  Victi  victoribus  leges  dederunt," — in  Augustine's  De  civit.  Dei^Yll.  \l.  Jose- 
phus  tells  us,  that  many  of  the  Jews  held  high  offices,  and  lived  at  the  courts  of  princes, 
and  that  even  the  empress  Poppaea  w^as  a  proselyte  to  Judaism  (i?£0(Te/3/;f),  Antiqu. 
XVII.  5,  7.  XVIII.  6, 4.  XX.  8,  11.  In  his  Autobiography,  §  3,  he  relates,  that,  when 
in  Rome,  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  this  empress  through  a  Jewish  favorite  of  Xero, 
and  at  once  received  from  her  the  release  of  some  imprisoned  Jewish  priests,  together 
with  large  presents.  Juvenal,  Satlr.  XIV.  v.  96  sqq.,  thus  ridicules  the  Romans,  who 
affected  Jewish  ways  : 

"  Quidam  sortiti  metuentem  sabbatha  patrem 
Nil  praeter  nubes  et  coeli  numen  adorant, 
Nee  distare  putant  humana  carne  suillam, 
Qua  pater   abstinuit,  mox  et  praeputia  ponunt. 
Romanas  autem  soliti  contemnere  leges, 
Judaicum  ediscunt  et  servant  ac  metuunt,  jus, 
Tradidit  arcano  quodcunque  volumine  Moses." 
12 


178  §  51.       INFLUENCE    OF   HEATHENISM   ON   JUDAISM.  [sPEC. 

or  the  devoid,  the  fearers  of  God,  as  tliey  are  termed  in  the  Xew  Tes- 
tament and  Ijy  Josephus.'  These  appropriated  the  monotheism  of  the 
Jews,  their  doctrine  of  providence  and  the  divine  government  of  the 
world,  and,  in  not  a  few  cases,  their  hopes  of  the  Messiah  ;  observing 
also  the  seven  so-called  Noachic  commandments,  that  is,  abstaining  from 
gross  crimes,  blasphemy,  murder,  incest,  theft,  worship  of  the  heavenly 
bodies,  &c.  But  they  did  not  acknowledge  the  ceremonial  law,  and 
hence,  being  uncircumcised,  were  counted  still  unclean.  There  were 
among  them  many  honest  and  noble  spirits,  who,  like  Cornelius,  longed 
for  salvation  ;  whom  a  sense  of  the  emptiness  and  barrenness  of  heathen- 
ism had  prepared  to  receive  revelation  ;  and  with  whom,  therefore,  as  is 
evident  from  various  passages  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,'"  the  gospel 
found  readiest  acceptance.  Their  conversion  formed  the  natural  bridge 
from  the  Jews  to  the  Gentiles  in  the  missionary  work.  (Comp. 
§  60  infra.) 

§  51.  Influence  of  Heathenism  upon  Judaism. 

On  the  other  hand  Heathenism,  in  those  times  of  agitation,  exerted, 
in  its  turn,  a  powerful  influence  on  the  Jewish  religion  and  theology. 
In  the  translation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  into  Greek  under  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus,  and  the  adoption  of  this  translation  (the  Septuagint,  as  it 
is  called)  in  the  worship  of  the  synagogue,  Judaism  took  the  first  step 
in  her  approach  towards  the  Hellenic  culture,  and  broke  through  the 
narrow  limits  of  her  exclusiveness.  This  approach  took  place  chiefly  in 
the  Egyptian  capital,  Alexandria.  In  this  renowned  seat  of  Grecian 
learning  there  arose,  among  the  educated  Jews,  a  peculiar  mixture  of  the 
theology  of  the  Old  Testament  revelation  and  the  Platonic  philosophy, 
and,  as  the  offspring  of  this,  an  ascetic  mode  of  life,  founded  on  a  mis- 
conception of  the  nature  of  the  body.  The  first  suggestion  of  this 
appears  already  in  the  Apocryphal  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  particu- 
larly the  book  of  Wisdom.  But  the  great  representative  of  this  syncre- 
tism, which  also  reappeared  afterwards  in  manifold  shapes  in  Gnosticism, 
is  the  spirited  and  prolific  theologian,  Philo  of  Alexandria  (f  between 
40  and  50  A.  D.),  a  contemporary  of  Christ.  He  held  to  the  divine 
character  of  the  Old  Testament  ;  had  very  strict  views  of  inspiration  ; 
and  thought  that  the  Mosaic  law  and  the  temple  worship  were  destined 
to  be  perpetual.  He  ascribed  to  the  Jews  a  mission  for  all  nations  ; 
boasted  of  their  cosmopolitism  ;  and  called  them  priests  and  prophets, 

'  ol  Evaej3Elg,  oi  (pofiovfievoi  or  aEJi6[iEvoL  rov  t^eov,  comp.  Acts  10  :  2-     13  :  16,  50. 
16  :  14.     17  :  4,  17.     18  :  7.      Rev.  11  :  18;  and  Josephus,  jintiq.  XIV.  7,  2.     Such 
proselytes  were  Naaman  the   Syrian  (2  Kings  5  :  17);    the  centurion  of  Capernaum 
(^iike  7  :  4  sqq.) ;  the  centurion,  Cornelius;  and  Lydia. 
Acts  10  :  2  sqq.     13  :43.     16  :  14  sq.     17:4. 


INTROD.]        §  51,       mFLUENCE    or   KEATHEKISM    ON   JrDAISM.  179 

who  offered  sacrifice  and  invoked  the  blessing  of  God  for  all  mankind. 
But  he  attempted  to  reconcile  their  religion   with  that  of  the  Gentiles, 
in  the  first  place,  by  distinguishing,  in  the  interpretation  of  Scripture,  a 
literal  or  common,  and  an  allegorical  or  deeper  sense  ;  and  secondly,  by 
supposing,  that  the  divine  Plato  had  drawn  from  the  Holy  Scriptures. 
This  allegorical  interpretation  he  was  not,  indeed,  the  first  to  discover  ; 
for  all  the  believing  Jews  and  the   apostles  themselves,  especially  the 
author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  regarded  the  Scriptures  as  having 
a  deeper,  mysterious  meaning.     But,  we  may  say,  he  was  the  first  to 
abuse  it  and  sometimes  carry  it  to  excess,  so  as  to  make  it  a  convenient 
door  for  smuggling  foreign  heathen  elements  into  the  store  of  divine 
revelation,  and  thrusting  out  all,  which,  like  the  anthropomorphisms  for 
instance,  seemed  offensive  to  the  culture  of  the  time.     This  mode  of 
treating  the  Scriptures  leads  very  easily  to  contempt  of  the  letter,  and 
thus    to  an  unhistorical,  abstractly  spiritualistic    tendency.      It  is,  in 
truth,  not  to  be  denied,  that  the  mythical  view  of  the  sacred  history, 
which  explains  its  facts  as  merely  the  embodiments  of  the  subjective  reli- 
gious ideas  of  imaginative   Christians  in  early  times,  has  at  least  some 
affinity  with  this  Philonic  method  of   exposition.'     Thus  we  may  see 
already  even  here  the  germs  of  tendencies,  which  afterwards  made  their 
appearance  in  the  church.     Yet  Philo  was  as  far  as  Origen,  who  assumed 
even  a  three-fold  sense  of  Scripture,  from  denying  the  historical  reality 
of  the  events  related  in  the   Old  Testament  ;    and  allowed  the  literal 
interpretation  to  be  just  and  necessary,  as  a  means  of  moral  and  religious 
training  for  the  uneducated  classes.     But  he  certainly  regarded  as  higher, 
that  conception    of  Scripture,   which  penetrated  beneath  the  shell  of 
the  letter  to  what  he  thought  to  be  the  kernel  of  the  philosoj^hical  truth  ; 
beneath  the  anthropomorphic  and  anthropopathic  representations  of  God, 
to  that  spiritualistic  and  idealistic  view  of  God,  which,  in  fact,  divests 
him  in  the  end  of  all  concrete  attributes.     In  this  way,  in  spite  of  his 
opposition  to  the  Ihlhnic  mysteries,  he  set  up  a  radical  distinction  of 
initiated  and  uninitiated,  which  contradicts  the  principle  and  spirit  of  the 
Christian  religion. 

The  most  striking  counterpart  to  Christianity,  especially  as  set  forth  • 
in  the  introduction  to  John's  Gospel,  is  presented   by  Philo  in  his  cele- 
brated and  latterly  much  discussed   doctrine   of  the    Logos,  or  Wor  I 
of  God.     The  apocryphal  book  of  The  Wisdom  of  Solomon  had  already 
interposed  Wisdom  between  God  and  the  world,  as  the  reflection  of  the 

'  It  is  well  known,  that  even  the  infidel  Dr.  Fr.  Strauss  has  not  failed  to  appeal, 
though  certainly  with  very  limited  right,  to  Philo  and  the  Alexandrian  fathers  in 
support  of  his  mythical  view  of  the  life  of  Christ.  Vid.  his  Leben  Jesu.  4th  ed.  I. 
p.  50  sqq. 


180  §  •'^l-       rNTLTTENCE    OF   HEATHENISM    ON    JUDAISM.  [spEC. 

eternal  light  ;  the^  fountain  of  all  knowledge,  virtue,  and  skill  ;  the 
mokler  of  all  things  ;  the  medium  of  all  the  Old  Testament  revelations 
(c.  7-10).  This  idea  Philo  more  fully  develo})ed.  His  Loo-os  is  a  sort 
of  intermediate  being  between  God,  who  is,  in  his  nature,  hidden, 
simple,  without  attributes,  and  the  eternal,  shapeless,  chaotic  mutter 
(the  Platonic  v^).  It  is  the  reflection,  the  first-born  son  of  God  ;  the 
second  God  ;  the  sum  of  the  ideas,  which  are  the  original  types  of  all 
existence  ;  the  ideal  world  itself  {koojuoc  vot]t6c)  ;  the  medium,  through 
which  the  actual,  sensible  world  {Koafioc  aia-&rjT6c) ,  is  created  and  upheld  ; 
the  interpreter  and  revealer  of  God  ;  the  arch-angel,  who  destroyed 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  spoke  to  Jacob  and  to  Moses  in  the  burning  bush, 
and  led  the  people  of  Israel  through  the  wilderness  ;  the  high  priest 
{(Igxtsgevg),  and  advocate  {naguKl-qTog) ,  who  plcads  the  cause  of  sinful 
humanity  before  God,  and  procures  for  it  the  pardon  of  its  guilt.'  We 
see  at  once  the  apparent  affinity  of  this  view  with  the  christology  of  St. 
Paul  and  St.  John,  which  gave  it  no  small  influence  with  the  early  church 
fathers  in  the  evolution  of  their  doctrine  of  the  Logos.  But,  at  the 
same  time,  we  must  not  overlook  the  very  essential  difference.  For,  in 
the  first  place,  Philo,  with  these  Hellenico-Judaistic  speculations,  quite 
eclipses  the  practical  idea  of  the  Messiah.  This  idea,  with  him,  becomes 
simply  the  hope  of  a  miraculous  restoration  of  the  dispersed  Jews  from 
all  parts  of  the  world  to  Palestine,  through  the  agency  of  a  superhuman 
appearance  (oi/^(f)  ;  and  even  this  supernatural  phenomenon  has  no  legiti- 
mate place  in  his  system  ;  it  means  nothing.  But  again,  his  dualistic  and 
idealistic  view  of  the  world  absolutely  excludes  an  incarnation,  which  is  the 
central  truth  of  Christianity.'^  His  Christ,  if  he  needed  any,  could  have 
been,  at  best,  but  a  Gnostic,  docetistic,  fantastic  Christ ;  his  redemption, 
but  ideal  and  intellectual.  He  attained  only  an  artificial  harmony  be- 
tween God  and  the  w^orld,  between  Judaism  and  Heathenism  ;  which 
hovered,  like  a  "  spectral  illusion,"  an  "  evanescent  Fata  morgana,"  on 
the  horizon  of  dawning  Christianity.  The  eternal  atonement,  which 
Philo  imagined  already  viade.  and  eternally  being  made  by  his  ideal 
Logos,  could  be  effected  only  by  a  creative  act  of  the  condescending  love 
of  God  ;  and  it  is  a  remarkable  instance  of  divine  wisdom  in  history, 
that  this  redeeming  act  was  really  performed  about  the  same  time,  that 

'  It  is  a  question  not  yet  entirely  settled,  whether  Philo's  Logos  was  a  personal 
hypostasis,  or  merely  a  personification,  a  divine  attribute-  While  Gfrorer,  Grossniann, 
Dahne,  Liicke,  Ritter,  and  Semisch  maintain  the  former  view,  Dorner,  {EntwicJdungs- 
geschirhte  dcr  Lchre  von  dcr  Person  Christi,  2nd  ed.  I.  p.  23  sqq.),  has  latterly  attempted 
to  re-establish  the  other.  To  me,  Philo  himself  seems  to  vibrate  between  the  two 
views  ;  and  this  obscurity  accounts  for  the  difference  among  so  distinguished  scholars 
on  this  point. 

"  Comp.  on  this  subject  Dr.  Dorner,  1.  c.  p.  50  sqn.  , 


INTROD.]  I  51.      INFLUENCE    OF    HEATHENISM    ON    JL'DAISM.  ISl 

the  greatest  Jewish  philosoplier  and  theologian  of  his  age  was  drcamin,"- 
of  and  announcing  to  the  world  a  ghostlike  shadow  of  it. 

This  Jewish-Heathen  ph.ilosophy  of  religion  was  carried  into  practice  by 
the  Therapeutae,'  or  servanh  of  God,  who  considered  themselves  the 
genuine,  spiritual,  contemplative  worshippers.  They  are  to  be  viewed  as 
Jewish  monks,  like  the  Essenes,  whom  they  strongly  resemble,  though 
no  outward  connection  can  be  shown.  They  dwelt  in  a  quiet,  pleasant 
country  on  lake  Moeris,  not  far  from  Alexandria,"  shut  up  in  cloister-like 
cells  {ae[iveia,  fiovaarrigia) ,  and  devoted  to  the  contemplation  of  divine 
things  and  the  practice  of  asceticism.  Their  meditations  on  the  Old 
Testament  were  founded  on  the  allegorical  interpretation.  Among  their 
ascetic  practices,  fasting,  in  many  cases  protracted  to  six  days,  held  a 
prominent  place.  They  generally  lived  on  nothing  but  bread  and  water, 
and  ate  only  in  the  evening,  being  ashamed  to  take  material  nourish- 
ment in  daylight.  Every  seventh  Sabbath  was,  with  them,  specially 
sacred.  They  then  united  in  a  common  love-feast  of  bread,  seasoned 
with  salt  and  hyssop  ;  sang  ancient  hymns,  and  performed  mystic  dances, 
emblematic  of  the  passage  of  their  fathers  through  the  Red  Sea,  or, 
according  to  their  allegorical  exegesis,  of  the  release  of  the  spirit  from 
the  bonds  of  sense.  The  fundamental  error  of  these  Jewish  ascetics 
was,  that  they  regarded  the  sensible  as  intrinsically  evil,  and  the  body  as 
a  prison  of  the  soul.  Consequently  the  aim  of  the  wise  man  was  out- 
ward mortification.  The  ascetic  death  was  the  birth  to  true  life.  These 
views  could  allow  no  proper  ftiith  in  the  real  incarnation  of  God,  but 
must  rather  resolve  it  into  a  mere  Gnostic  phantom.  As  little  could 
tliey  consist  with  faith  in  the  resurrection  of  the  body  ;  and  this,  in  fact, 
the  mystic  Jews  openly  denied.  In  other  respects,  the  relation  of  the 
Therapeutic  system  to  Christianity  is  the  same  as  that  of  Essenism 
aljove  described. 

We  have  yet  to  remark,  in  fine,  that  those  Grecian  Jews,  or  IMlen- 
i.s/s,  also,  who  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  systems  of  Philo  or  the  Thera- 
l^tntae,  still  usually  lost,  in  a  measure,  their  exclusive  spirit  by  constant 
intercourse  with  the  Gentiles,  and  hence  were  much  better  qualified  for 
i!ie  heathen  mission  and  for  larger  views  of  the  gospel,  than  the  stricter 
;:ebrews,  or  those  Jews  who  lived  in  Palestine  and  spoke  the  Hebrew 

•iguage.    We  shall  have  examples  of  this  hereafter  in  the  history  of  the 

'  From  ^sncTTevew,  to  serve;  accoidlng  to  Alexandrian  usage,  <o  serve  God.  The 
.lewish  Cabbala  of  the  Middle  Ages  is,  in  a  measure,  a  revival  of  the  rnystico-ascetic. 
JiKiaism  of  the  Therapeutae  and  F-ssenes. 

^  Yet  their  influence  was  widely  extended  in  Egypt.  Philo.  Dc  vita  contemplativo. 
§  3.,  expressly  says  of  the  Therapeutae  :  IlolTiaxov  /liv  ovv  -//g  ohiovjiEvrig  knrl  tovto 
TO  ytvoc.     "E(5et  yuQ  dja&ov  Telelov  /leraaxei-y  Kal  rr/v  'EAAa(5a  ical  ryv  BugpaQOv. 


182  §  62.      KECAPITULATION.  [sPEC. 

deacons,  Stephen  and  Philip,  and  of  Barnabas  and  Paul,  who  were  all 
of  Graeco-Jewish  descent. 

§  52.  Recapitulation. 

From  this  whole  representation  it  is  plain,  that  the  old  world,  at  the 
appearance  of  Christ,  had  already  begun  to  putrefy,  and,  from 
directly  opposite  quarters,  evinced  the  absolute  necessity  of  an  entirely 
new  principle  of  life,  to  save  it  from  hopeless  ruin.  The  world  had, 
iiideed,  been  preparing  for  Christianity  in  every  way,  positively  and  neg- 
atively, theoretically  and  practically,  by  Grecian  culture,  Roman  domin- 
ion, the  Old  Testament  revelation,  the  amalgamation  of  Judaism  and 
Heathenism,  the  distraction  and  misery,  the  longings  and  hopes  of  the 
age  ;  but  no  tendency  of  antiquity  was  able  to  generate  the  true  religion, 
or  satisfy  the  infinite  needs  of  the  human  heart.  The  wants  of  the 
world  could  be  met  only  by  an  act  of  God,  by  a  new  creation.  The 
mythologies  had  plainly  outlived  themselves.  The  Greek  religion,  which 
aimed  only  to  deify  earthly  existence,  could  afford  no  comfort  in  misfor- 
tune, nor  ever  beget  the  spirit  of  martyrdom.  The  Koman  religion  was 
ridiculed,  and  forever  stripped  of  its  power  by  being  degraded  into  a 
mere  tool  for  political  ends,  and  by  the  exaltation  of  worthless  despots 
to  the  rank  of  gods.  The  Jewish  religion,  in  Pharisaism,  had  stiffened 
into  a  spiritless,  self-righteous  formalism  ;  in  Sadducism,  had  been  emptied 
of  all  its  moral  and  religious  earnestness  ;  in  the  system  of  Philo,  had 
gone  out  of  itself  and  become  adulterated  with  elements  entirely  foreign 
to  its  original  genius.  J,,, 

As  is  usual  in  times  of  a  general  decay  of  existing  institutions  ;  sq, 
especially  in  the  transition  period,  of  which  we  now  speak,  we  find  two 
extremes  co-existing.  On  the  one  hand  we  see  infidelity,  casting  away 
all  the  old  religions,  without  putting  any  thing  else  in  their  place  ;  on 
the  other,  super stitiov,  morbidly  clinging  to  the  lifeless  mythologies,  and 
even  going  beyond  them  in  all  sorts  of  fantastic  extravagances.  Not 
rarely  were  infidelity  and  superstition  united  in  the  same  individual  ;  for 
it  belongs  to  the  nature  of  man  to  believe  something.  If  he  believe  not 
in  God,  he  will  believe  in  ghosts.  The  crafty  emperor  Augustus,  who 
concerned  himself  with  the  religion  of  his  fathers,  at  best,  perhaps,  as  a 
mere  matter  of  policy,  was  frightened,  when,  one  morning,  he  put  on  his 
left  shoe  first,  instead  of  his  right  ;  and  the  skeptical  Pliny  wore  amulets 
as  a  protection  against  thunder  and  lightning.  -  The  swarms  of  magicians 
and  fanatical  defenders  of  the  heathen  superstition,  such  as  Alexander  of 
Ahonotekhos,  and  Apollonius  of  Tyana,  (A.  D.  3-96),  as  well  as  the 
Jewish  Goctac,  often  found  access  even  to  the  more  highly  cultivated 
classes  of  the  Greeks   and  Romans.     That  the  artificial  superstition, 


INTROD.]  §  52.       RECAPITULATIOISr.  183 

begotten  by  fear,  whicli  we  so  frequently  meet  with  in  those  times,  was 
properly  only  concealed  infidelity,  even  Plutarch  perceived,  when  among 
other  things,  he  said  :'  "  The  infidel  has  no  belief  in  the  gods  ;  the 
superstitious  man  would  fain  have  none,  but  he  believes  against  his  will  ; 
for  he  is  afraid  to  disbelieve.  .  .  .  The  superstitious  man  is,  in  dis- 
position, an  infidel  ;  only  he  is  too  weak  to  think  of  the  gods  as  he  gladly 
would.  The  unbeliever  contributes  nothing  to  the  production  of  super- 
stition (?)  ;  but  superstition  has  always  given  rise  to  infidelity,  and  fur- 
nishes it,  once  existing,  an  apparent  ground  of  justification."  But 
Plutarch  here  fails  to  see,  that  as  superstition  easily  falls  over  into  unbe- 
lief, so,  conversely,  infidelity  just  as  often  begets  superstition  ;  the  two 
being  only  symptoms  of  one  and  the  same  deep  mental  disease. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  (what  Plutarch  likewise  overlooks),  there  is 
also  a  superstition,  grounded  in  a  deeper  religious  need,  and  only  mista- 
ken in  the  choice  of  its  ol^ject  ;  a  superstition,  therefore,  in  any  case, 
preferable  to  infidelity.  Finally,  even  unbelief,  by  producing  a  feeling  of 
emptiness,  may  negatively  prepare,  at  least  the  more  earnest  minds,  as 
well  for  the  true  faith  as  for  superstition.  Hence  it  is  not  inconsistent 
with  what  we  have  said,  that  there  should  be,  at  the  time  of  Christ,  so 
much  religious  yearning,  as  we  find,  only  waiting  to  be  satisfied.  The 
very  Samaritans,  who  were  so  carried  away  with  the  juggleries  of  Simon 
Magus,  that  they  called  him  "  the  great  power  of  God,"  readily  received, 
also,"the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  (Acts  8  :  5  sqq.)  ;  and  the  same  Ser- 
gius  Paulus,  who,  dissatisfied  with  heathenism,  had  with  him  the  Jewish 
sorcerer  and  false  prophet,  Elymas,  was  won  to  the  Christian  faitli  on  the 
spot  by  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  (Acts  13:6  sqq.). 
\i  The  be^t  feature  of  this  age  is  plainly  just  this  religious  yearning, 
which  takes  refuge  from  the  turmoil  and  pain  of  life  in  the  sanctuary  of 
hope,  but,  unable  to  supply  its  own  wants,  is  .compelled  to  seek  salvation 
entirely  beyond  itself.  Expectations  of  the  coming  of  a  Messiah,  in 
various  forms  and  degrees  of  clearness,  were  at  that  time,  by  the  politi- 
cal, intellectual,  and  religious  contact  and  collision  of  the  nations,  spread 
over  the  whole  world,  and,  like  the  first  red  streaks  upon  the  horizon, 
announced  the  approach  of  day.  ,  The  Persians  were  looking  for  their 
Sosiosch,  who  should  conquer  Ahriman  and  his  kingdom  of  darkness.' 
The  Chinese  sage,  Confucius,  pointed  his  disciples  to  a  Holy  One,  who 
should  appear  in  the  West.     The  wise  astrologers  who  came  to  Jerusa- 

*  In  his  interesting  work  :  nsgl  SsKTiSai/tovca^  Kal  uTS-eoTTjToc,  cap.  11.  Comp.  Nean- 
derh  Kirchengesch.  I.  p.  21  sqq. 

*  Stuhr  refers  the  saying  respecting  this  conqueror  to  a  later  date,  and  assumes  here 
an  influence  of  the  Hebrew  idea  of  the  Messiah.  But,  irrespective  of  the  uncertainty 
of  the  date,  the  saying  still  shows,  in  any  case,  that  Parsism,  too,  was  struggling  towards 
the  idea  of  the  Redeemer. 


I. 


184:  §  52,       KECAPITULATION.  [sPEC. 

lem  to  worship  the  new-born  king  of  the  Jews  (Matt.  2  :  1  sqq.),  we 
must  look  upon  as  the  noblest  representatives  of  the  Messianic  hopes  of 
the  Oriental  heathens.'  The  western  nations,  on  the  contrary,  looked 
towards  the  East,  the  laud  of  the  rising  sun  and  of  all  wisdom.  Sueto- 
nius and  Tacitus  speak  of  a  current  saying  in  the  Roman  empire,  that  in 
the  East,  and  more  particularly  in  Judea,  a  new  universal  empire  would 
soon  be  founded. °  It  was  probably,  also,  the  same  blind,  instinctive 
impulse  towards  the  East,  which  brought  the  Galatians  from  Germany 
and  Gaul  into  Asia  Minor. 

Thus  in  a  time,  the  like  of  which  history,  before  or  since,  has  never 
seen  ;  an  age  sunk  in  unbelief  and  superstition,  yet  anxiously  waiting  for 
deliverance  from  its  outward  and  inward  misei'y  ;■ — in  such  an  age 
appeared  the  Saviour  of  sinners.  In  lowliness  and  humility,  in  the  form 
of  a  servant  as  to  the  flesh,  yet  effulgent  with  divine  glory,  he  came 
forth  from  a  despised  corner  of  the  earth  ;  destroyed  the  power  of  evil 
in  our  nature  ;  realized  in  his  spotless  life,  and  in  his  sufferings,  the 
highest  ideal  of  virtue,  and  piety  ;  lifted  the  world  with  his  pierced  hands 
out  of  its  distress  ;  reconciled  mankind  to  God  ;  and  gave  a  new  direc- 
tion to  the  whole  current  of  history.  To  stiff-necked  unbelief  he  was 
condemnation,  a  savor  of  death  unto  death  ;  to  the  spirit  yearning  for 
salvation,  an  immeasurable  blessing,  a  savor  of  life  unto  life.  Says 
Augustine,  with  as  much  beauty  as  truth  :  "  Christ  appeared  to  the 
men  of  the  aged,  dying  world,  that,  while  every  thing  around  them, 
(even  that,  which  had  once  been  the  object  of  their  enthusiastic  love, 
and  had  filled  their  souls  with  a  lofty  inspiration),  had  witherBd-  away, 
they  should  receive  through  Him  a  new,  youthful  life."  With  the  cry  :• 
"  Repent  and  believe  !"  the  Iliacl  of  humanity  closed,  and  its  Odyssey 
began.  Now,  instead  of  reaching  outward,  like  Homer's  heroes  before 
Troy,  with  the  powers  of  sense,  it  turned  its  eye  within,  and  sailed 
towards  its  long  lost  home,  its  faithful  Penelope.'     Rome,  indeed,  still 

^  Respecting  the  star  of  the  Magi,  and  the  remarkable  astronomical  calculations  of  a 
Keppler  and  others,  which  have  shown,  that,  at  the  time  of  Christ's  birth,  (four  years 
beibie  the  Dionysian  era),  a  conjunction  of  the  planets  Juj)iter,  Saturn,  and  Mars  took 
place  in  the  constellation  Pisces,  to  which  was  added  an  extraordinary  star,  com  p. 
Wlcsclcr's  Chronologische  Synopse  der  vier  Evang.  1843.  p.  57  sqq. 

■•^  Suet.  Vespas.  c.  4  :  ''  Percrebuerat  Grienle  toto  vetus  et  constans  opinio  :  esse  in  fa- 
tis,  ut  eo  tempore  Judaea  profecti  rerum  potirentur."  Tacit.  Hist.  V.  13  :  ''  l^luribus 
persuasio  inerat,  antiquis  aacerdotum  literis  contineri:  eo  ipso  tempore  fore,  ut  valesce- 
ret  Oriens,  profectique  Judaea  rerum  potirentur."  That  these  historians  falsely  apply 
the  saying  to  Vespasian,  is  altogether  immaterial  here. 

'  Die  Gotter  sanken  vom  Himmelsthron 

Es  stiirzten  die  herrlichen  Saulen, 

Und  geboren  wurde  der  Jungfrau  Sohn, 

Die  Gebrechen  der  Erde  zu  heilen  : 


INTKOD.]  §  53.       APOSTOLIC    CHURCH,       GENERAL   VIEW.  185 

dragged  out  her  infirm  and  wasting  life  ;  but  she  was  finally  compelled 
to  bow  before  the  foolishness  of  the  cross,  and  thereby  cease  to  be  old 
Rome.  Impenitent  Judaism,  it  is  true,  with  its  deadly  hatred  of  the 
Christian  name,  still  wanders,  ghostlike,  through  all  ages  and  countries  ; 
but  only  as  an  incontrovertible  living  witness  for  the  divinity  of  the 
Christian  religion.  Christianity  has  long  since  conquered  the  world,  and 
become  the  centre  of  all  higher  culture,  the  spring  of  every  important 
movement  in  history,  the  source  of  every  blessing  to  renewed  humanity  ; 
and  it  shall  still  spread,  in  spite  of  all  ojiposition,  till  "  every  tongue  shall 
confess,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father." 


§  53.    The  Apostolic  Church.     General  Vicio. 

When  the  fulness  of  the  time  was  come,  God  sent  his  only  begotten 
Son.  Darkness  and  the  shadow  of  death  covered  the  earth.  The  star- 
light of  longing  Heathenism  and  the  brighter  dawn  of  Judaism  announced 
the  approach  of  day.  The  central  Sun  of  the  woi'ld's  history  rose. 
The  Word  was  made  flesh.  The  Eternal  Life  appeared  in  personal 
union  with  human  nature,  to  redeem  it  from  sin  and  death,  and  reconcile 
it  eterna-lly  with  God,  the  fountain  of  all  salvation  and  peace.  The 
incarnation  of  God,  the  earthly  life  of  the  Redeemer,  his  atoning  suffer- 
ings and  death,  his  triumphant  resurrection  and  ascension,  form,  there- 
fore, the  immovable  divine  rock  of  the  church. 

Upon  this  living  foundation,  1:)esidcs  which  no  other  can  be  laid,  the 
apostles,  under  the  immediate  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  erected  the 
building  itself.  On  the  day  of  Pentecost  at  Jerusalem,  A.  D.  30,  the 
building  was  begun.  The  apostles, 'who  had  formerly  been  associated 
with  the  person  of  the  Godman  in  his  visible  manifestation  in  the  flesh, 
tlicn  for  the  first  time  came  forth  before  the  world  as  independent  wit- 
ness3s  of  their  ascended  and  glorified,  yet  still  invisibly  present  Master  ; 
and  the  result  of  their  testimony  was  the  formation  of  that  religious 
comnuniity,  which  is  destined  to  embrace  all  humanity  and  lead  it  to  an 
al)iding  union  with  God. 

The  ajiostolic  period  we  regard  as  closing  about  A.D.  100  ;  as  the 
life  of  Jolin,  according  to  reliable  tradition,  reached  over  into  the  reign 
of  Trajan,  A.D.  98-117.  This  space  of  seventy  years  may  be  again 
divided  into  three  subordinate  periods  :  (1.)  The  founding  of  the  Chris- 
tian church  among  the  Jews,  or  the  la1)ors  of  St.  Peter.  The  activity  of 
this  apostle  was  specially  prominent  during  the  twenty  years  from  Pen- 
tecost to  the  apostolic  council  at  Jerusalem,  A.D.  30-50  ;  but  it  was 
also  continued  afterwards,  as  a  complement  to  that  of  Paul.     We  shall, 

Vprbannt  war  der  Sinne  flnchtij^p  T.iist, 

f'nd  derMensch  griff  denki'iiif  in  spine  Bnist.' — Schil/cr. 


186  §  53.     APOSTOLIC  cnuEcn.     general  yIE^v.  [spec. 

therefore,  thus  divide  it  in  our  representation,  in  order  as  much  as  possi- 
ble to  preserve  the  chronological  order.  (2.)  The  founding  of  the  Chris- 
tian church  among  the  Gentiles,  or  the  labors  of  St.  Paul,  who  took  the 
lead  in  the  work  of  missions  during  the  years  50-64.  Through  his 
instrumentality  Christianity  becomes  gradually  more  independent  of  Ju- 
daism ;  until,  by  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  the  last  cord  that  bound 
the  Christian  church  to  the  Mosaic  economy  is  broken.  (3.).  Then  follows 
the  final  summing  up  and  organic  union  of  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christian- 
ity in  one  fixed,  independent  whole.  This  is  the  work  mainly  of  St. 
John,  the  apostle  of  completion  in  perfect  love,  who  outlived  all  his  col- 
leagues, and  accompanied  the  church  through  the  threatening  dangers 
and  errors  of  the  last  thirty  years  of  the  first  period  to  the  threshold  of 
the  second,  thus  forming  the  connecting  link  between  the  two. 

These  three  stages  in  the  development  of  the  apostolic  church,  in 
which  we  recognize  striking  types  of  the  whole  subsequent  history  of  the 
church,'  have  theu*  local  centres  in  the  cities  of  Jerusalem,  the  mother 
church  of  Jewish  Christianity,  Antioch,  the  starting-point  of  the  heathen 
missions,  and  Ephesus,  the  later  residence  of  John  and  the  principal  seat 
of  the  process  of  amalgamation,  which  he  completed.  At  the  same 
time  Rome,  where  Peter  and  Paul,  the  representatives  of  the  first  two 
forms  of  apostolical  Christianity,  spent  their  last  days  and  suffered  mar- 
tyrdom, witnesses  a  similar  amalgamation  and  becomes  a  centre  for 
Christianity  in  the  West. 

The  sources  of  our  knowledge  here  are  the  apostolic  Epistles  of  the 
New  Testament  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  by  Luke,  who,  from  the 
tenth  verse  of  the  sixteenth  chapi;er  speaks  in  the  first  person  plural, 
plainly  representing  himself  as  a  companion  of  Paul  and  an  eye-witness 
of  most  of  the  events,  which  he  records.  The  epistles,  especially  those 
of  Paul,  give  us  an  authentic  and  inexhaustibly  instructive  picture  of  the 
inward  development  of  doctrine  and  life  in  the  apostolic  church  ;  while 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  present  a  simple,  clear,  and  graphic  view 
rather  of  its  outward  history.  The  first  part  of  this  book,  to  the  thir- 
teenth chapter,  describes,  from  older  documents  and  credible  tradition, 
the  missionary  labors  of  Peter  among  the  Jews,  and  the  preparations  for 
the  Gentile  mission  by  the  conversion  of  the  Samaritans  and  of  Corne- 
lius, and  the  founding  of  the  church  at  Antioch.  The  second  part 
records,  chiefly  from  the  author's  personal  observation,  the  missionary 
work  of  Paul,  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  down  to  his  imprisonment  at 
Rome.  This  whole  book,  therefore,  covers  only  the  first  two  stadia  of 
this  period.     For  the  third  and  last  we  are  confined  almost  entirely  to 

'  Comp.  the  closing  paragrajih  of  this  volume,  on  the  Typical  Import  of  the  Apos- 
tolic Church. 


INTROD.]  §  53.       APOSTOLIC    CHUKCn.       GENEUAL    VIEW.  187 

the  writings  of  St.  John,  which  were  all  composed  during  his  residence 
in  Asia  Minor,  and  therefore,  probably  not  till  after  the  year  10."  So 
far,  we  properly  stand  altogether  on  exegetical  ground.  But  for  the 
subsequent  life  and  the  death  of  the  Apostles,  we  must  have  recourse, 
also,  though  with  great  critical  caution,  to  the  traditions  of  the  second 
and  third  centuries,  to  complete  the  picture. 

The  apostolic  period,  though,  on  the  one  hand,  the  first  link  in  the 
chain  of  the  organic  development  of  the  church,  is,  on  the  other,  essen- 
tially different  from  all  the  subsequent  periods.  In  the  first  place,  Chris- 
tianity here  appears  still  in  intimate  union  with  the  Old  Testament  econ- 
omy. It  comes  forth  from  the  bosom  of  Judaism,  and  for  a  long  time 
clothes  itself  in  the  forms  of  that  religion.  The  apostles  are  all  Jews. 
In  their  preaching  they  all,  not  even  excepting  Paul,  go  first  to  their 
brethren,  preach  in  the  synagogues,  visit  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  which 
is,  in  a  certain  sense,  the  outward  centi"e  even  of  their  religious  life. 
But  the  church  gradually  separates  from  this  home  of  its  birth,  and  with 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  its  outward  connection  with  the  Old  Testa- 
ment cultus  is  completely  sundered. 

The  second  and  a  more  important  peculiarity  of  the  apostolic  period, 
which  places  it  above  all  others,  is  its  unstained  purity  and  primitive 
freshness  of  doctrine  and  life,  and  its  extraordinary  spiritual  gifts,  work- 
ing harmoniously  together,  and  providing,  by  their  creative  and  control- 
ling power,  for  all  the  wants  and  relations  of  the  infant  church.  This  is, 
so  to  speak,  the  age  of  heroes  or  demigods,  fresh  from  the  visible  pres- 
ence of  God  manifest  in  the  flesh,  and  shining  with  the  radiance  of  his 
glory,  full  of  grace  and  truth.  Hence  John  von  Muller  has  justly  called 
the  first  century,  "the  century  of  wonders."  At  the  head  of  the  church 
stand  men,  who  enjoyed  immediate  intercourse  with  the  Saviour  of  the 
world,  were  trained  by  him  in  person,  and  filled  in  an  extraordinary 
degree  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  Such  infallible  vehicles  of  divine  revela- 
tion, such  sanctified  and  influential  persons  are  found  in  no  subsequent 
age.  They  are  emphatically  the  pillars  of  the  church,  the  teachers  of 
all  ages  ;  even  the  most  distinguished  productions  of  the  Christian  mind 
of  later  times  all  depend  on  the  apostles  and  their  writings,  as  the  stream 
on  the  fountain.  The  apostolic  period  is  rudimental  and  pre-formative, 
and  at  the  same  time  typical  and  prophetical,  for  the  whole  history  of 
the  church  ;  in  other  words,  it  contains  the  germs  of  all  subsequent 
periods.  Christian  personalities,  and  tendencies.     We  may  say,  all  the  past 

*  An  extended  vindication  of  the  credibility  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  against  the 
profane  and  sophistical  attacks  of  the  modern  h^percritics,  Baur,  Schwegler,  and  Zellcr, 
is  the  less  necessaiy  here,  as  our  whole  subsequent  representation  will  be,  in  some 
sense,  a  continuous  apologetic  comnnentary  on  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  the  Epis- 
tles. Comp.  also  §  149  below. 


188  §  53.       APOSTOLIC    CHTJRCH,       GENERAL    VIEW.  [sPEC. 

and  future  of  tlie  church  is  but  a  progressive  exposition  and  application 
of  the  jn-inciples  and  spirit  presented  in  the  New  Testament.  Even  in 
the  false  doctrines  and  practices  of  the  first  century,  the  beginnings  of 
Ebionism  and  Gnosticism,  as  pointed  out  and  condemned  in  the  apostolic 
writings,  we  see  the  rudiments  of  all  the  countless  heresies,  which  have 
since  appeared  in  history.  This  is  nothing  inconsistent  with  the  idea  of 
development.  It  is  an  invariable  law  of  history,  that  each  new  period 
and  tendency  is  headed  by  some  great,  ruling  personality,  embodying  a 
long  and  pregnant  future.  Augustine,  for  example,  was  the  father  of 
the  Latin  theology  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Luther  and  Melancthon  were 
the  fathers  of  the  Lutheran  church,  which  is,  in  all  its  history,  but  the 
unfolding  of  their  thouglits,  feelings,  and  faith.  Gregory  VII.,  nay,  we 
may  say,  even  Leo  the  Great,  in  the  fifth  century,  carried  in  himself  the 
whole  papacy  with  all  its  good  and  evil,  though  it  required  centuries  to 
carry  out  fully  the  idea,  which  floated  before  him.  Now  the  apostles 
bear  the  same  relation  to  the  tohuh  church,  which  Augustine  held  to  the 
scholastic  and  mystic  divinity,  Leo  and  Hildebrand  to  the  papacy, 
Luther  and  Calvin  to  the  history  of  Protestantism,  Spener  to  Pietism, 
Zinzendorf  to  the  Moravians,  Wesley  to  Methodism.  They  furnish  the 
theme  ;  they  set  forth  the  principle,  which  can  be  fully  unfolded  only  by 
the  cooperation  of  all  ages  ;  whereas  the  sphere  of  other  men's  activity 
is  confined  to  a  definite  time  and  to  a  particular  branch  of  the  church. 
To  this  add  the  further  distinction,  that  the  most  enlightened  church 
teachers  can  lay  no  claim,  like  the  apostles,  to  infallibility. 

But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  here,  that  there  is  a  great  difference 
between  the  fulness  of  the  Christian  life  in  the  apostles  themselves,  and 
tlie  exhibition  of  it  in  the  actual  condition  of  the  Christian  communities 
of  that  period.  The  idea  of  the  church  was  far  from  being  perfectly 
realized.  It  had  by  no  means  become,  in  the  strict  sense,  historical.  It 
still  stood  above  the  age  and  the  existing  Christianity,  as  something 
supernatural.  The  apostolic  churches,  we  see  from  tlie  New  Testament 
itself,  labored  under  all  sorts  of  infirmities.  In  this  view,  the  succeeding 
ages  may  be  said  to  be  an  advance,  not  upon  the  apostles,  much  less,  of 
course,  upon  Christ,  but  upon  the  extent,  to  whtch  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
and  the  doctrine  of  his  disciples  was  apprehended  and  appropriated  by 
the  apostolic  churches.  It  is  the  more  important  to  keep  these  two 
views  of  primitive  Christianity  clearly  distinct,  because  they  are  so  fre- 
quently confounded.  In  purity  of  doctrine  and  energy  of  life,  the  apos- 
tles tower  far  above  their  age,  as  extraordinary  bearers  and  organs  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  This  is  at  once  clear  from  tlieir  vast  and  acknowledged 
superiority  to  the  so-called  apostolic  fathers  and  the  church  teachers  of 
the  secoiid  century,  who  had,  nevertheless,  enjoyed  personal  intercourse 
with  tlte  npostles  themselves.  ^ 


FIRST    BOOK. 


FOUNDING,   SPREAD,   AND   PERSECUTION   OF 
THE    CHURCH. 


FOUNDING,  SPREAD,  AND  PERSECUTION  OF  THE 

CHURCH 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE  BIRTH-DAY  OF  THE  CHURCH. 

§  54.    The  Miracle  of  Pentecost. 

Next  to  tlie  incarnation,  death  and  resurrection  of  the  Son  of  God, 
the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  the  birth  of  the  church  is  the 
most  momentous  fact  in  history.  Itself  a  miracle,  it  could  only  enter  the 
world  with  a  retinue  of  miraculous  appearances.  Yet  it  daily  reappears, 
on  a  smaller  scale,  in  every  individual  regeneration,  and  will  thus  be 
perpetually  repeated,  till  all  humanity  shall  be  transformed  into  the 
image  of  Christ  and  united  with  God.  For  we  have  here  not  an  isolat- 
ed  and  transient  occuiTence,  but  the  generative  beginning  of  a  vast  series 
of  workings  and  manifestations  of  God  in  history  ;  the  fountain  of  a 
river  of  life,  which  flows  with  unbroken  current,  through  all  time,  till  it 
merge  in  eternity.  The  Holy  Ghost  had  thus  far  only  temporarily  and 
sporadically  visited  the  world,  to  enlighten  certain  specially  favored 
individuals,  the  bearers  of  the  Old  Testament  revelation.  Now  he  took 
up  his  permanent  abode  upon  earth,  to  reside  and  work  in  the  commu- 
nity of  believers,  as  the  principle  of  divine  light  and  life,  to  apply  more 
and  more  deeply  and  extensively  to  the  souls  of  men  the  redemption 
objectively  wrought  by  Christ.  The  relation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  the 
Son  is  like  that  of  the  Son  to  the  Father.  The  Holy  Spirit  reveals  and 
glorifies  the  Son  in  the  church.  "  No  man  can  say  that  Jesus  is  the 
Lord  but  by  the  Holy  Ghost,"  (1  Cor.  12  :  3).  Our  Lord  had  ex- 
pressly connected  the  bestowment  of  the  Spirit  of  truth  on  his  people, 
as  their  permanent  possession,  with  his  ascension  to  the  Father.  "  It  is 
expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away  ;  for  if  I  go  not  away,  the  Comforter 
(Helper)  will  not  come  unto  you  :  but  if  I  depart  I  will  send  him  unto 


192  §  54.       THE    MIKACLE    OF    PENTACOST.  [l-    BOOK. 

you."'  This  mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  the  burden  of  Christ's  part- 
ing discourses  before  his  death,  as  well  as  of  his  last  words  to  his  disci- 
ples at  his  ascension  (Acts  1:8),  when  he  also  directed  them  to  tarry 
in  Jerusalem  till  the  promise  should  be  fulfilled,  and  they  should  be  bap- 
tized with  the  Holy  Ghost  (v.  4,  5).  For  "out  of  Zion,  the  perfection 
of  beauty,  God  hath  shined,"  (Ps.  50  :  2).  "  Out  of  Zion,"  as  predict- 
ed in  Isa.  2  :  3,  should  "go  forth  the  law,  and  the  word  of  the  Lord 
from  Jerusalem." 

That  this  great  fact,  which,  in  the  highest  sense,  forms  an  epoch, 
might  be  known  at  once  to  all  the  world,  God  had  chosen  as  the  time  of 
its  occurrence  one  of  the  great  feasts  of  the  Israelites,  and,  indeed,  the 
very  one,  which  bore  a  typical  relation  to  the  founding  of  the  Christian 
church,  like  that  of  the  Passover  to  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ 
Pentecost  fell  on  the  fiftieth  day'^  after  the  day  following  the  Paschal 
sabbath  (Lev.  23  :  15  sq.),  and  was  therefore  reckoned,  according  to  the 
common  acceptation,  from  the  16th  of  Nisan,  when  the  corn-harvest 
began  (Lev.  23  :  11.  Deut.  16  :  9).  It  had,  with  the  Jews,  a  twofold 
import,  physical  and  historical.  It  was,  first,  a  festival  of  thanksgiving 
for  the  first  fruits  of  the  harvest,  which  had  been  gathered  during  the 
preceding  seven  weeks.  Hence  it  is  called  in  the  Old  Testament  the 
feast  of  weeks,^  or  the  feast  of  harvest.*  At  the  same  time,  according 
to  the  old  Rabbinical  tradition,  this  feast  had  reference  to  the  founding 
of  the  theocracy,  the  giving  of  the  law  on  Mt.  Sinai,  which  occurred  at 
this  time  of  the  year,  seven  weeks  after  the  exodus  from  Egypt.  Ac- 
cording to  Jewish  tradition,  the  giving  of  the  law  was  on  the  6th  of  the 
third  month,  Sivan,  and  thus  exactly  on  the  fiftieth  day  after  the  16th 
of  Nisan  (comp.  Ex.  19  :  1).  This  feast  was  accordingly  called  also 
the  feast  of  the  joy  of  the  laioj'     In  both  these  views  the  day  was  strik- 

'  Jno.  16:7.  Comp.  the  remarkable  passage,  Jno.  7  :  39  :  "  The  Holy  Ghost  was 
not  yet  given  (to  believers);  because  that  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified;"  and  Jno.  12  : 
24,  where  the  Lord  says  with  reference  to  his  approaching  death  :  "  Except  a  corn  of 
wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it  abideth  alone;  but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth 
much  fruit." 

^  Hence  the  name,  from  the  Greek  J/fisga  TrevTEKoar/},  or  simply  nevTEKoarij ,  used 
as  a  substantive.     (So  Tobias,  2  :  1.     2  Mace.  12  :  32). 

^  tli3>2iZ5n  3r!  (Deut.  16:9  sqq.  Lev.  23  :  15  sqq.),  ayta  tTrra  elBdo/idduv,  (Tobias 
2:1). 

^  "I'l'jrpn  3n  (Ex.  23  :  16),  also  tJin^SSfl  iD'i''  i'lai/  of  firat  fruit,  Num.  28  :  26). 

*  u^iriH  rinQiU'  Of  this  signification  of  the  feast  there  is,  indeed,  no  certain  trace 
in  the  Old  Testament,  or  even  in  Philo  or  Josephus.  But  it  was  inferred  by  Jewish 
and  Christian  theologians  from  a  comparison  of  Ex.  12  :  2  with  19:1,  whence  it  ap- 
pears, that  the  day  of  the  giving  of  the  law  on  Sinai  was,  in  fact,  the  fiftieth  day  after 
the  departure  from  Egypt,  and  therefore  after  the  passover  For  Israel  encamped  at 
Sinai,  according  to  Ex.  19:1,  on  the  third  new  moon    ( w^ri)  j  of  the  Jewish  year, 


MISSIOXS.]  §  54.       THE    MIRACLE   OF    PENTECOST.  193 

ingly  suitable  for  the  first  Christian  Pentecost,  In  whicli  the  Old  Testa- 
ment types  were  to  find  their  glorious  fulfillment.  Then  were  gathered 
into  the  garners  of  the  church  the  first-fruits  of  the  Christian  faith,  the 
ripe  harvest,  as  it  were,  of  the  Jewish  people.  Then  was  founded  the 
fellowship  of  the  new  covenant,  and  that  no  longer  merely  for  one  nation 
and  a  few  centuries,  but  for  all  mankind  and  forever.  Then  God  wrote 
the  law  of  the  life-giving  Spirit  upon  the  hearts  of  men,  as  formerly  he 
had  written  the  law  of  the  letter,  which  killeth,  on  the  tables  of  stone. 
The  narrative  of  this  momentous  event  is  given,  though  very  briefly, 
in  the  second  chapter  of  Acts.  On  the  Pentecost  after  the  resurrection 
of  the  Lord,  in  the  year  30  of  our  era,'  on  a  Sunday,''  the  apostles  and 

which  began  with  the  month  Nisan  (reckoned  from  the  new  moon  of  April) ;  on  the 
second  day  Moses  went  up  to  Jehovah  (v.  3) ;  on  the  third,  he  received  the  answer  of 
the  people  (vs.  7,  8);  on  the  fourth  he  brought  this  answer  to  the  Lord  (v.  9),  and 
lhereui)on  the  order  was  given  him,  that  the  people  should  sanctify  themselves 
to-day  and  to-morrow,  to  receive  the  law  on  the  third  day  after,  i.  e.,  as  the  Jewish 
tradition  has  it,  on  the  sixth  day  of  the  third  month.  But  the  6th  of  Sivan,  as  the 
third  month  was  called,  w^as  the  fiftieth  day  from  the  16th  of  Nisan.  For  from  the 
16th  to  the  30th  of  Nisan  are  fifteen  days  ;  the  second  month,  Siv,  had  twenty-nine 
days ;  which  with  the  six  days  of  the  thiid  month,  Sivan,  make  fifty.  Perhaps,  too, 
there  is  in  the  law  respecting  Pentecost.  Deut.  16  :  9-12,  a  hint  of  the  historical  signi- 
ficance of  this  feast,  when  it  concllldei^,  v.  12,  with  a  reference  to  the  bondage  in  Egypt, 
and  to  the  commandments  of  Jehovah. 

'  We  suppose,  however,  with  Bengel  and  Wieseler,  that  this  number  is  too  small  by 
four  years  at  least;  comp.  Wieselers  Chronol.  Synapse  der  vier  Evangelien,  1843. 
p.  48  sqq.  Christ  died  in  the  thirty-fourth  year  of  his  age;  for,  according  to  Luke 
(3  :  23  ;  comp.  the  coincident  date  of  Jno.  2  :  20),  he  was  about  thirty  years  old,  when 
he  was  baptized,  and,  according  to  John,  his  public  ministry  lasted  three  years. 

-  In  this  specification  of  the  day  we  come,  for  the  first  time,  into  condict  with  the 
very  learned  and  valuable  "  Chronologie  des  apostolischen  Zeitalters,"  by  Wieseler, 
1848.  p.  19.  This  author,  in  his  chronological  system,  puts  the  first  Christian  Pente- 
cost on  a  Sabbath,  and  that,  the  6th  of  Sivan  or  27th  of  May ;  as  he  makes  the  day  of 
Christ's  death  the  8th  of  April,  A.  D.  30.  The  decision  of  this  question  depends  on 
the  determination  of  the  day  of  our  Lord's  death.  As  to  this  date,  it  is  well  known, 
there  is  a  difference  among  Biblical  chronologists,  arising  from  an  apparent  contradic- 
lion  in  the  gospel  narratives  themselves.  It  is  certain  and  on  all  hands  admitted,  that 
(Jhrist  died  on  a  Friday.  But  while  this  Friday,  according  to  the  Synoptical  Gospels, 
seems  to  have  been  the  15th  of  Nisan,  an  unbiased  interpretation  of  several  passages 
m  the  Gospel  of  John  would  make  it  the  14th.  Wieseler  decides  for  the  first,  and  at- 
tempts, by  an  ingenious,  but  strained  interpretation,  to  reconcile  the  relevant  passages 
ol  John  with  this  date.  But,  on  different  grounds,  which  we  cannot  here  specify,  we 
hold  the  latter  date  to  be  the  true  one,  and  think,  that  the  accounts  of  the  Synoptical 
Gospels  on  closer  inspection  harmonize  with  this,  and  that,  therefore,  the  contradiction 
between  them  and  John's  Gospel  is  only  apparent  (comp.  Bleek :  Beitr'age  zur  Evan- 
gelienkritik.  1846.  p-  107-156;  Weitzd:  Die  christliche  Passafeier  der  drei  erslen  Jahi- 
kunderte.  1848.  p.  296  sqq.  :  and  Ebrard :  Wissenschitftlkhe  Kritik  der  evang.  Gcschir.'ife. 
2nd  ed.  1850.  p.  506  ?qq .  where  the  learned  and  it-gpnious  arguments  of  Hen^stenberg 

13 


194  §  51.   THE  MIRACLE  OF  PENTECOST.  L^-  ^^OK. 

Other  followers  of  Jesus,  to  the  number  of  a  hundred  and  twenty,  ten  times 
twelve  (comp.  Acts  1  :  15),  were  assembled  with  one  accord  for  devo- 
tion in  their  accustomed  place,  most  probably  an  apartment  of  the  temple," 
perhaps  Solomon's  porch  (comp.  3:11,    5  :  12).     During  the  first  hour 

and  Wieseler  are  thoroughly  refuteJ) . — If  now  the  death  of  Jesus  fell  on  a  Friday,  and 
on  the  14th  of  Nisan  ;  then  the  16th  of  Ni^an  in  that  year  was  Sunday;  and  if  we 
number  from  this  Sunday,  according  to  the  direction  Lev.  23  :  15,  fiity  days,  we  have 
a  t^unday  again  lor  tlie  Pentecost.  This  view  is  supported,  also,  by  the  primitive  and 
universal  custom  of  the  Christian  church.  The  church  always  celebrated  Pentecost  on 
Sunday,  the  fiftieth  day  after  Easter — which  likewise  always  falls  on  Sunday — and  the 
tenth  day  after  the  Ascension.  The  whole  controversy  respecting  the  day  of  this  feast 
would  be  easily  settled,  if  we  should  suppose,  with  the  Caraites.  that  ^^'^  in  Lev. 
23  :  11,  15,  16, — the  decisive  passages  for  the  point  before  us — does  not  mean,  as  the 
Pharisaical  Jews  maintained,  the  first  day  of  the  least  of  the  passover,  which  was  kept 
as  a  sabbath,  on  whatever  day  of  the  week  it  came,  but  the  proper  Sabbath,  the  seventh 
day  of  the  week.  In  this  case  Pentecost  would  always  fall  on  a  Sunday.  This  view 
has  latterly  been  ingeniously  advocated  by  Hitzig,  mainly  on  lexicographical  grounds, 

(Qstern  mid  Pfingsten.  Sendschreiben  an  Ideler.  Heidelb.  1837).  It  cannot  be  certainly 
proved,  however,  that  the  custom  of  the  Caraites  reaches  back  to  the  time  of  Christ. 
Yet  in  any  case  it  is  rather  in  favor  of  our  view,  and  against  Wieseler's. 

*  The  determination  of  the  place,  also,  like  the  fixing  of  the  time,  of  this  event  is 
full  of  difficulty.  Luke  designates  the  locality  simply  by  oIko^,  c.  "2  :  2.  This  expres- 
sion, in  itself,  certainly  suggests  at  first  a  private  house  ;  and  thus  most  interpreters, 
including  Neander  {^p.  Gcsch.  I.  p.  13.  4th  ed.\  understand  it.  In  this  case  we  must 
suppose,  that  the  disciples  were  assembled  in  an  u))per  room  (n'^^y, 'i'7re()tjoy;,  which, 
according  to  Oriental  custom,  was  the  apartment  generally  used  as  a  place  of  devotion, 

(comp.  Acts  1  :  13),  and  then  came  out  on  the  flat  loofto  address  the  multitude  gathered 
in  the  street  and  court ;  for  the  house  itself  could  certainly  not  have  held  all  the  hearers, 
of  whom  there  were  three  thousand  baptized.  But  Oi/cof  does  not  necessarily  denote 
a  private  dwellitig.  In  1  Kings  8:10  (LXX),  it  is  applied  to  the  temple  in  general ; 
much  more  may  it  be  used  for  /epov,  when,  as  in  the  case  before  us,  a  single  apartment 
of  the  temple  is  spoken  of.  The  temple  itself  embraced  several  buildings,  oIkov^^ 
olKodofidg;  comp.  Mk.  13  :  1,  2.  Matt.  24  :  1 ;  not  to  mention  the  passage  in  Josephus  : 
Antiqu.  VIII.  3,  2,  where  the  thirty  side-chambers  around  the  main  building  are  termed 
olnou  That  we  are  to  understand  the  word,  in  the  present  case,  not  of  a  private  house, 
but,  with  Olshauseij  and  Wieseler,  of  an  apartment  of  the  temple,  seems  to  us  evident 
on  the  following  grounds  : 

1.  According  to  Luke  24  :  53,  and  Acts  2  :  46,  comp.  5  :  42,  the  disciples  assembled 
daily  in  the  temple.  They  still  adhered  strictly  to  their  ancestral  mode  of  worship. 
These  statements  of  Luke  suflUciently  authorize  us,  without  waiting  for  an  express 
notification,  to  suppose,  that  on  the  days  of  Pentecost  also,  and  especially  on  this  one, 
they  met  in  the  temple,.  Besides,  he  intimates  as  much,  in  the  remark,  2  :  15,  that  the 
event  took  place  at  the  third  hour,  or  9  o'clock  in  the  morning,  at  which  time  the  Jews 
were  accustomed  to  bring  their  daily  morning  sacrifice,  and  to  pray  in  the  temple. 

2.  The  whole  story  becomes  more  clear  and  striking.  The  vast  concourse  of  peo- 
ple, particularly,  can  be  much  better  explained,  if  it  was  to  the  temple. 

3.  We  may  add,  finally,  with  Olshuusen,  that  the  event  gains  in  significance,  if  "the 
solemn  inauguration  of  the  church  of  Christ "  took  place  '•  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  Old 


MISSIONS.]  g  54:.     THE  :,iiKACLE  OF  l'I•:^'TEcosT.  195 

of  prayer,  about  9  o'clock  in  the  morning,  unusual  signs  announced  tlie 
fulfillment  of  the  Saviour's  solemn  promise,  for  which  they  had  anxiously 
waited  and  fervently  prayed — the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  and  the  be- 
ginning of  a  new  moral  creation.  As,  through  the  mysterious  sympathy 
between  the  physical  and  the  moral  worlds,  the  great  epochs  of  history 
are  usually  preceded  or  accompanied  by  extraordinary  phenomena  in 
nature  ;  as,  for  example,  the  promulgation  of  tlie  divine  law  on  Sinai 
was  solemnly  announced  by  "  thunders  and  lightnings  and  the  voice  of 
the  trumpet  exceeding  loud,"  (corap.  Ex.  19  :  16  sqi].)  ;  so  was  it 
here  ;  and  the  disciples  recognized  in  the  sensible  form,  under  which 
God  now  revealed  himself  to  them,  a  fit  emblem  of  what  was  taking- 
place  in  the  spiritual  world.  A  sound  from  heaven,  as  of  rushing 
wind,  suddenly  filled  the  quiet  house  of  prayer  ;  a  precursor,  announcing 
the  approach  of  the  supernatural  power  of  God.  The  Holy  Spirit, 
who  had  once  brooded  over  the  chaos  of  the  material  world,  as  the 
creative,  animating  breath  of  God,  now,  in  a  higher  form,  as  the  Spirit 
of  the  glorified  Redeemer,  with  all  the  fulness  of  his  theanthropic  life  ; 
as  the  principle  of  the  new  moral  and  religious  creation  ;  as  the  Spirit 
of  faith  and  love,  of  truth  and  holiness  ;  descended  upon  the  worshippers, 
and  rested  upon  them  in  the  form  of  cloven  tongues,  like  as  of  fire. 
Wind  and  fire  are  here  plainly  symbolical  of  the  purifying,  enlightening, 
and  enlivening  power  of  God  ;  the  sacramental  channels,  as  it  were,  of 
the  promised  baptism  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire  (Matt.  3  :  11)  ; 
and,  at  the  same  time,  prophetical  of  the  lofty  inspiration  of  the  messen- 
gers of  the  faith,  and  of  the  life-giving  nature  of  their  future  labors. 
These  heavenly  tokens,  moreover,  were  probably  visible  only  to  the 
inward  eyes  of  the  believers,  like  the  effulgence  of  the  opened  heavens 
at  the  baptism  of  Christ  and  the  death  of  Stephen. 

Covenant."  The  organic  connection  of  the  two  Testanneiits,  and  the  typical  relation 
of  the  Jewish  Pentecost  to  the  Christian,  are  more  distinctly  brought  out.  Yet  it 
might  be  objected  to  this,  that  Christianity,  as  a  worshipping  of  God  in  spirit  and  in 
truth,  attaches  less  importance,  than  either  Judaism  or  Heathenism,  to  the  sacredness 
of  particular  times  and  places. 

But  the  first  two  considerations  seem  to  us  sufficient  to  establish  the  opinion  that  the 
outpouring  of  the  Spirit  took  place  in  the  temple.  The  very  mention  of  Pentecost, 
c.  2  :  1,  directs  the  mind  to  the  temple,  and  the  whole  connection  would  fix  it  there, 
unless  there  be  some  positive  declaration  in  the  text  to  the  contrary;  and  no  such  de- 
claration is  involved  in  the  mere  expression,  oIkoc.  We  think  it  very  probable  that 
the  particular  scene  of  the  Pentecostal  miracle  was  the  so-called  "  Porch  of  Solomon,"' 
on  the  east  side  of  the  temple;  hence  called  also  gtou  uvaroAiKij.  For  in  this  hall, 
which  was  not  destroyed  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  but  remained  as  a  venerable  relic  in  the 
temple  of  Zerubbabel,  and,  as  it  were,  represented  the  unity  of  the  two  houses  of  God, 
the  disciples  were  accustomed,  after  the  example  of  Jesus  (Jno.  10  :  23),  to  meet  lor 
preaching  and  mutual  edification  (Acts  3  :  ]  1.     5  :  12) . 


196  §  54.       THE    MIKAC'LE    OF    PE^'TECOST.  [l.   BOOK. 

Through  these  significant  symljolical  channels  were  the  hundred  and 
twenty  disciples,  and  especially  the  apostles,  ''filled  with  the  Holy 
Ghost;^  (Acts  2  :  4).  This  phrase,  which  must  be  understood  in  its  full 
New  Testament  sense,  describes  the  proper  essence  and  the  main  feature 
of  the  Pentecostal  miracle.  The  disciples  were  not  merely  enlightened 
in  the  ordinary  sense,  but  transferred  into  a  new,  supernatural  sphere  of 
life,  into  the  centre  of  Christian  truth  and  holiness,  and  transformed  into 
organs  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  according  to  the  Lord's  prediction  :  "  The 
Spirit  of  truth  shall  testify  of  me,  and  ye  also  shall  bear  witness,"  (Jno. 
15  :  26,  27).  "  It  is  not  ye  that  speak,  but  the  Spirit  of  your  Father 
which  speaketh  in  you,"  (Matt.  10  :  20).  At  this  moment  was  per- 
formed the  proper  act  of  inspiration,  which  forms,  in  some  degree,  the 
continuation,  in  the  apostles,  of  the  incarnation  of  the  Word.  Inspira- 
tion is  as  much  a  practical  as  a  theoretical  process.  It  is  a  communica- 
tion as  well  of  life,  as  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  and  affects  not  only 
the  subsequent  writings  of  the  apostles  and  evangelists,  but  also  all  their 
oral  instructions.  Henceforth  they  always  spoke,  wrote,  and  acted,  out 
of  the  fulness  of  the  Spirit.  He  was  the  pervading  and  controlling  prin- 
ciple of  their  entire  moral  and  religious  being.  This  supernatural  equip- 
ment was  their  solemn  ordination  and  inauguration  to  the  apostolic 
office. 

The  first  effects  of  this  miracle  were  in  perfect  keeping  with  such  a 
creative  beginning,  and  with  its  vast  siguificancy  for  the  future.  Among 
them  we  must  distinguish  (1)  the  speaking  tvitk  tongues,  or  the  utterance 
of  the  new  life  in  a  new  form  of  prayer  and  praise  ;  ( 2 )  the  testimony  of 
the  apostles  concerning  Christ,  given  in  intelligible  language  to  the 
assembled  multitude,  which,  at  this  hour  of  service,  was  at  any  rate  on 
its  way  to  the  temple,  and  which  was  the  more  attracted  thither  by  the 
rushing  sound  and  the  speaking  with  tongues  ;'  (3)  the  result  of  this 
preaching,  the  conversion  and  baptism  of  the  three  thousand  Israelites. 
The  speaking  with  tongues  here  makes  its  first  appearance,  and  the 
obscurity  of  the  subject  demands  for  it  a  more  extended  consideration." 

'  The  demonstrative  in  tlie  phrase  (pupi/g  ravTi]^,  Acts  2  :  6,  seems  to  refer  it  to  the 
speaking  with  tongues  immediately  preceding,  while  the  singular  of  the  substantive 
points  rather  to  the  storm-like  roaring,  v.  2.  It  may  be  taken,  however,  as  an  indefi- 
nite collective  referring  to  both ;  for  at  some  distance  the  single  voices  of  those,  who 
spoke  with  tongues,  could  not  be  distinguished,  and  all  would  sound  like  a  confused 
noise. 

-  The  different  interpretations  of  yluaaaLi:  la'KElv^  which  we  cannot  here  give  in  de- 
tail, are  very  conveniently  and  completely  classified  by  De  Wctte  in  his  Commentar  zur 
Apostelgeschichte,  p.  20-30. 


MISSIONS.]  g  55,       THE    SPEAKING   WITH    TONGUES.  197 

§  55.  The  Speaking  with  Tongues. 
The  speaking  urith  other  or  with  new  tongues,  or  simply  speaking  with 
tongues,  (Glossolaly)/  which,  along  with  miraculous  powers,  the  Lord 
had  expressly  promised  to  his  disciples  before  his  ascension,  (Mk.  16  : 
17),  marks,  in  its  first  appearance,  that  creative  act  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
in  which  he  for  the  first  time  broke  through  the  confines  of  nature,  took 
forcible  possession,  so  to  speak,  of  the  human  mind,  and  solemnly  conse- 
crated human  language  to  become  the  organ  of  the  gospel.  As  in  gen- 
eral the  inward  and  the  outward,  soul  and  body,  thought  and  form,  are 
intimately  connected  ;  so  here,  the  new  spirit  created  for  itself  a  new 
language.  The  speaking  with  tongues,  however,  was  not  confined  to  the 
day  of  Pentecost.  Together  with  the  other  extraordinary  spiritual  gifts 
which  distinguished  this  age  above  the  succeeding  periods  of  more  quiet 
and  natural  development,  this  gift,  also,  though  to  be  sure  in  a  modified 
form,  perpetuated  itself  in  the  apostolic  church.  We  find  traces  pf  it 
still  in  the  second  and  third  centuries,^  and,  (if  we  credit  the  legends  of 

Luke,  in  his  account  of  the  Pentecost,  uses  the  expression  :  •'  to  speak  with  other 
tongues,"  [iriijiaig  y'/^uaaat^  Aa'Aclv\ .  perhaps  in  antithesis  with  the  vernacular,  though 
possibly,  also,  in  opposition  to  all  natural  language.  Our  Lord  himself,  in  Mark  16  :  17, 
calls  the  gift :  '"  speaking  with  new  (/cawaif)  tongues."  This  expression  seems  rather 
to  point  to  an  entirely  new  language,  never  before  spoken,  and  immediately  prompted 
by  the  Holy  Ghost.  It  is,  no  doubt,  to  be  regarded  as  the  original  and  most  suitable 
expression ;  the  emphasis  lying  on  new.  In  all  other  cases  the  elliptical  form  is  used, 
"to  speak  with  tongues,"  {y'AiJaaaLQ  'AaXelv ;  also  in  the  singular,  7/Lwcrffr/ Aa/i.,  Acts 
10  :  46.  19  :  6.  1  Cor.  c.  12  and  14.)  Grammatically,  the  simplest  meaning  of 
yXuaarj  is  language.  In  the  second  chapter  of  Acts  this  rendering  is  demanded  by  the 
epithet,  e-t'(ja/f,  and  by  the  word,  (JtaAt'/crof,  used  evidently  in  the  same  sense  by  the 
strangers  present,  v.  8 ;  and  this  alone,  too,  suits  the  singular  form,  y'/.uaay  lal.,  as  used 
by  Paul,  1  Cor.  14  :  2,  4,  13,  14,  19,  26,  27.  This  latter  iorm  of  expression  itself  is 
enough  to  disprove  the  ingenious  mlerpretation  of  Bleck.,  who  would  understand  by 
yTiuaaau  the  unusual,  highly  poetical,  antique,  provincial  expressions — a  meaning  ex- 
ceedingly rare  in  the  profane  writers,  but  never  to  be  found  in  the  Old  or  New  Testa- 
ment. Some  would  adhere  to  the  meaning  tongue,  the  organ  of  speech,  (to  which, 
also,  our  common  translation  :  "tongues,"  may  mislead) .  But  this  allows  no  explana- 
tion whatever  of  Kaivai  and  ETsgaL,  which  can  certainly  relate  only  to  the  language 
itself  For  the  instrument  of  speech,  in  the  speaking  with  tongues,  could  have  been 
no  other  than  the  ordinary  tongue.  When  Kahnis  says,  (Lekre  vom  hell.  Geist,  1.  p.  64) , 
that  the  tongue  is  here  named,  because  ''  in  this  kind  of  speaking  there  is  wanting  that 
which  does  not  ordinarily  remind  one  of  the  tongue,"  and  because  it  ''  appears  to  the 
hearers  as  a  mere  vibration  of  the  tongue  ," — I  confess,  I  cannot  attach  any  clear  idea 
to  his  words.  He  seems  not  to  consider,  that  the  expressions  :  yXuaaaig  and  yXuacr) 
^aXelv,  are  only  abbreviated  for  Kaivalc  or  krt^atg  y2,.  AaA.,  and  that  the  adjective,  not 
the  noun,  is  the  emphatic  word. 

*  Irenaeus,  (t202) ,  speaks  of  many  brethren  then   living,  who  "  possessed  gifts  of 
prophecy,  and  spoke  in  diverse  languages,  {TravTodairalg  ylCiaaacg) ,  by  the  Spirit,  and 


1^8  §  55.      THE    SPEAKING    WITH    TONGUES.  [l-   BOOK. 

the  Roman  church),  even  later  than  this,  though  very  seldom.'  Aualo. 
gies  to  this  speaking  with  tongues  may  perhaps  be  found  also  in  the 
ecstatic  prayers  and  prophecies  of  the  Montanists  in  the  second  century, 
and  of  the  kindred  Irvingites  in  the  nineteenth  ;  yet  it  is  hard  to  tell, 
whether  these  are  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  or  Satanic  imitations,  or, 
what  is  most  probable,  the  result  of  an  unusual  excitement  of  mere 
nature,  under  the  influence  of  religion,  a  more  or  less  morbid  enthusiasm, 
and  ecstasis  of  feeling.'^     They  are,  however,  at  all  events,  interesting 

brought  the  hidden  things  of  men  to  light,  for  edification,  and  expounded  the  mysteries 
ot  God,"  (Adv.  haer.  V.  6).  Comp.  the  somewhat  obscure  passage  of  Tertuilian,  in  his 
work  against  Marcion,  V.  8,  and  Neander's  Gcsch.  der  Pflanzung  mid  Leitung.  etc.  I.  26, 
-Ith  ed. 

'  Dr.  Middleton,  indeed,  (Inquiry  into  mirac.  Powers,  p.  ]'20),  asserts:  ".After  the 
apostolic  times,  there  is  not,  in  all  history,  one  instance,  eitlier  well  attested,  or  even  so 
much  as  mentioned,  of  any  particular  person  who  had  ever  exercised  that  gilt  (of 
tongues) ,  or  pretended  to  exercise  it  in  any  age  or  country  whatsoever.'"  But  this 
opinion,  adopted  by  many  Protestants,  is  shown,  even  by  the  passage  just  quoted  from 
Irenaeus.  to  be  false.  In  later  times,  also,  at  least  three  examples  of  the  kind  are 
known,  on  the  merits  of  which,  however,  we  express  no  opinion.  Judgments  respect- 
ing the  Fiomish  miracles  must  be  formed  with  the  greatest  caution.  The  Spanish  saint, 
Vincennes  Ferrer,  is  said  to  have  preached  to  the  Jews,  Moors,  and  Christians,  and  to 
have  converted  vast  multitudes  of  them,  by  the  aid  of  his  miraculous  gift  of  tongues. 
The  bull  for  the  canonization  of  Louis  Bertrand  1671,  ascribes  to  him  the  same  gift, 
through  which  he  is  said  to  hive  converted,  in  three  years,  10.000  Indians  of  different 
tribes  and  dialects  in  South  America.  The  celebrated  Jesuit  missionary,  St.  Xa/ier,  is 
reported  to  have  been  enabled,  at  least  on  special  occasions,  to  speak  languages,  which 
he  had  not  learned,  while  in  other  cases,  he  studied  the  various  dialects  of  East  India; 
and  the  bull  for  his  canonization  by  Urban  VIII  expressly  ascribes  to  him  the  miracu- 
lous gift  of  tongues.  Comp.  Dr.  John  Milner  :  The  End  of  Religious  Controversy,  Let- 
ter XXIV. 

^  The  speaking  with  tongues  in  the  Irvingite  congregations,  as  it  manifested  itself  in 
the  earlier  years  of  this  sect  in  England,  was  at  first  a  speaking  in  strange  sounds  re- 
sembling Hebrew,  after  which  the  sjieakers  continued  in  their  English  vernacular.  A 
Swiss,  by  the  name  of  Michael  Hohl,  an  eye  and  ear  witness  of  this  phenomenon, 
gives  the  following  interesting  description  of  it  in  his  Brurhstiuken  aus  dem  Lehen  und 
den  Schri/ten  Edward  Irving'' s,  gewcsenen  Predigers  an  der  schottischen  National kirche  in 
London.  St.  Gallen.  1839.  p.  149  :  "  Before  the  outbreak  of  the  discourse  the  person 
concerned  appeared  to  be  entirely  sunk  in  rellection,  his  eyes  closed  and  covered  with 
the  hand.  Then  suddenly,  as  if  by  an  electiic  shock,  he  tell  into  a  violent  convulsion, 
which  shooK  his  whole  frame.  Upon  this  an  impetuous  gush  of  strange,  energetic 
tones,  which  sounded  to  my  ears  most  like  those  of  the  Hebrew  language,  poured  from 
his  quivering  lips.  /This  was  commonly  repeated  three  times,  and,  as  already  remark- 
ed, with  incredible  vehemence  -and  shrillness.  This  first  effusion  of  strange  sounds, 
which  were  regarded  chiefly  as  proof  of  the  genuineness  of  the  inspiration,  was 
always  followed,  in  the  .same  vehement  tone,  by  a  longer  or  shorter  address  in  English, 
which  was  likewise  repeated,  some  of  it  word  by  word,  and  some  sentence  by  sen- 
tence. It  consisted  now  of  very  pressing  and  earnest  exhortations,  now  of  leartul 
warnings-  containing,  also,  truly  valuable   and   moving   words  of  consolation.     The 


MISSIONS.]  §  55.       THE    SPEAKING    WITH   TONGUES.  199 

psychological  phenomena,  which  may  serve  to  throw  some  light  on  super- 
natural states  of  mind. 

We  must  here  distinguish  between  the  proper  essence  of  this  speaking 
with  tongues,  as  a  gift  of  the  apostolic  church  in  general,  and  the  par- 
^ticidar  fornij  under  which  it  made  its  hrst  appearance  on  the  day  of  Pen- 
tecost. In  examining  the  first,  we  must  call  to  our  aid  the  extended  and 
accurate  description  of  it,  by  Paul  in  his  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  ; 
though  of  this  we  shall  speak  hereafter  by  itself. 

First,  as  to  the  general  nature  of  this  phenomenon.  It  is  an  involun- 
tary, spiritual  utterance  in  an  ecstatic  state  of  the  most  elevated  devo- 
tion, in  which  the  man  is  not,  indeed,  properly  transported  out  of  him- 
self, but  rather  sinks  into  the  inmost  depths  of  his  own  soul,  and  thus, 
into  direct  contact  with  the  divine  essence  within  him  ;  in  which  state, 
however,  for  this  very  reason,  his  ordinary  consciousness  of  himself  and  of 
the  world,  and  with  it  his  common  mode  of  speaking,  is  suspended,  and  he 
is  controlled  entirely  by  the  consciousness  of  God,  and  becomes  an  invol- 
untary organ  of  the  objective  Spirit  of  God,  which  fills  him.  Hence  it 
is  said,  Acts  2  :  4  :  "  And  they  were  all  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and 
began  to  speak  with  other  tongues,  us  the  Spirit  gave  them  utterance.''^ 
This  inspiration  affects  matter  and  form,  thought  and  style.  Paul  terms 
speaking  with  tongues  a  praying  and  singing  "  in  the  S/jird,''  {irvev/ia,) 
denoting  the  highest  power  of  intuition,  the  immediate  consciousness  of 
God,  in  distinction  from  the  "  understanding,"  (vovc)  that  is  the  intellec- 
tual consciousness,  reflection,  (1  Cor.  14  :  14,  15).  The  things  thus 
uttered  were  praise  for  the  mighty  acts  of  God's  redeeming  love,'  in  the 
form  of  prayer,  thanksgiving,  and  song."  This  gift  stands  next  to  that 
of  prophecy,  which  likewise  rests  upon  a  direct  inward  revelation  of 
divine  mysteries,  and,  in  Acts  19  :  6,  is  immediately  connected  with  the 
first.  But  these  gifts  differ  in  two  respects.  First  ;  the  one,  who  speaks 
with   tongues,   addresses    God  ;    the   prophet   addresses   the  assembly. 

latter  part  was  usually  taken  to  be  an  expository  paraphrase  of  the  first,  though  it 
could  not  be  decidedly  explained  as  such  by  the  speaker.  After  this  utterance,  the  in- 
spired person  remained  a  long  time  sunk  in  deep  silence,  and  oidy  gradually  recovered 
fronn  the  exhaustion  of  the  effort."  The  inward  state  of  such  persons  was  thus  de- 
scribed to  the  narrator  by  a  young  fennale  :  '"The  Spirit  fell  upon  her  unawares  and 
with  irresistible  power.  For  the  time  she  felt  herself  guided  and  borne  entirely  by  a 
higher  power,  without  which  she  would  have  been  absolutely  incapable  of  such  exer- 
tions. Of  what  she  felt  compelled  to  utter,  she  had  no  clear  consciousness  ;  much  less 
did  she  understand  anything  she  spoke  in  a  strange  language,  entirely  unknown  to 
her;  so  that  she  could  not  afterwards  tell  definitely  anything  she  had  said.  The  utter- 
ance was  invariably  followed  by  great  weariness  and  exhaustion,  from  which  she  in  a 
short  time  recovered." 

'  Acts  2:11.     10  :  46.     1  Cor.  14  :  14-16. 

'^  Acts  10  :46.     1  Cor.  14  :  14-18. 


200  §  55.      THE   SPEAKING    WITH    TOXGUES.  U-  ^OOK. 

Secondly  ;  tlie  latter  speaks  intelligibly,  even  for  unbelievers  ;  while  the 
former,  at  least  in  the  Corinthian  church,  could  not  be  understood  with- 
out an  interpreter,  (1  Cor.  14  :  2  sqq.)  Hence  Paul  gives  the  pro- 
phetic gift  the  preference,  (1  Cor.  14  :  5),  and  compares  speaking  with 
tongues  to  the  tinkling  of  a  cymbal,  (1  Cor.  13  :  1),  to  the  uncertain 
sound  of  an  instrument,  (1  Cor.  14  :  1,  8),  to  the  language  of  a  barba- 
rian, which  no  one  understands,  (1  Cor.  14  :  11),  and  which  seems  to 
the  uninitiated  like  raving,  (v.  23).  Speaking  with  tongues  was,  there- 
fore, a  dialogue  between  the  enraptured  soul  and  God  ;  an  act  of  self- 
edification  ;  and  became  edifying  to  others  only  through  the  gift  of  inter- 
pretation, by  being  translated  into  the  language  of  common  life.  Yet  in 
this  latter  respect  the  gift  of  tongues  as  it  appeared  on  the  day  of  Pen- 
tecost seems  to  differ  from  that  described  by  the  Apostle  ;  and  this  leads 
us  to  the  second  point. 

As  to  the  peculiar  form,  which  this  gift  at  first  assumed.  The  lan- 
guage seems  to  have  been  at  once,  to  a  certain  extent,  intelligible  to  the 
hearers  without  interpretation.  At  least  there  is  nothing  said  of  inter- 
pretation in  the  narrative  in  Acts.  Yet  even  in  this  case,  an  inward 
susceptibility  was  necessary  to  understand  what  was  said.  For  some  of 
the  multitude  mocked,  and  attributed  what  they  witnessed  to  drunken- 
ness, (Acts  2  :  13)  ;  and  this  agrees  perfectly  with  what  Paul  says  of 
the  impression  made  on  unbelievers  by  the  speaking  with  tongues,  (1 
Cor.  14  :  23).  Then  again,  we  must  consider, — what  is  commonly  alto- 
gether overlooked, — that  the  speaking  with  tongues  was,  even  in  this 
case,  primarily  an  address  to  God,  and  not  to  men.  It  was  an  act  of 
divine  worship  on  the  part  of  the  disciples,  the  ecstatic  expression  of 
their  gratitude  and  praise,  and  belonged,  therefore,  to  the  inward  life  of 
the  church  itself.  For  it  began  even  be/ure  the  multitude  had  collected, 
(Acts  2  :  4,  cf.  v.  6)  ;  and  it  could  produce  in  the  hearers  only  a  vague 
astonishment,  an  impression  that  God  had  wrought  a  miracle,  and  a 
desire  to  understand  it  more  fully.  It  was  then  explained  to  them,  not 
by  a  new  act  of  glossolaly,  but  by  the  clear  discourse  of  Peter,  in  the 
language  of  their  every-day  life,  (v.  14  sqq.),  the  object  of  which  was  to 
spread  outwardly  the  new  life  of  faith,  which  had  so  powerfully  broken 
forth  within  the  apostles  in  the  speaking  witji  tongues.  Thus  the 
accounts  of  Luke  and  of  Paul,  as  to  the  relation  of  the  speaking  with 
tongues  to  the  speakers. and  hearers,  do  not  differ  so  much  as  might  at 
first  sight  appear. 

But  a  second  and  more  important  difference  is  this.  Paul  gives  no 
hint,  that  to  speak  with  tongues  was  to  use  all  sorts  of  foreign  lan- 
guages, in  distinction  from  the  vernacular.  He  himself  did  not  under- 
stand the  language  of  Lycaonia,  (Acts  14  :  11,  14),  though  he  had  the 


MISSIONS.]  §  55,      THE    SPEAKING    WITH    TONGUES.  201 

gift  of  tongues  in  a  liigh  degree,  (1  Cor.  14  :  18  :  "I  thank  my  God,  I 
speak  with  tongues  more  than  ye  all.")  The  tradition  of  the  primitive 
church,  also,  speaks  of  interpreters  of  the  apostles.  Thus  Mark  is  call- 
ed by  Papias,  "  the  interpreter  of  Peter."  Paul's  description  seems  rather 
to  require  the  conception  of  an  altogether  uncommon  use  either  of  the 
vernactdar  ;  or  of  an  entirely  new  spiritual  language,  a  speaking  with  the 
tongues  of  angels,  (1  Cor.  13  :  1),  which  differed  from  all  common  lan- 
guages, in  proportion  as  the  soul  of  the  speaker  was  raised  above  ordi- 
nary consciousness  and  intellectual  reflection.  The  inward  rapture,  tiie 
extraordinary  and  involuntary  elevation  of  the  mind  into  the  divine  life, 
expressed  itself  also  involuntarily  in  the  kind  and  mode  of  communica- 
tion ;  though  undoubtedly,  so  far  as  the  essential  elements  of  this  gift 
are  concerned,  the  speaker's  native  language  might  be  employed.  For 
this  reason  he  could  be  understood  by  none,  who  were  not  themselves  in 
the  same  state  of  lofty  inspiration.  The  book  of  Acts,  on  the  contrary, 
describes  the  speaking  with  tongues  as  the  use  of  the  various  languages 
of  the  foreigners,  who  were  present  at  the  feast  of  Pentecost.  For  the 
very  cause  of  their  astonishment  was,  that  the  unlearned  Galileans  spoke 
in  languages,  which  they  could  not  be>expected  to  know,  and  the  com- 
mand of  which  must  have  been  suddenly  and  miraculously  given  them, 
(2  :  6-11).  That  this  is  the  clear,  indisputable,  literal  sense  of  the 
narrative,  is  admitted  even  by  Rationalistic  interpreters. 

But  if,  now,  we  recognize  no  difference  between  the  speaking  with 
tongues  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  and  that  in  the  Corinthian  church,  if 
we  totally  deny  the  use  of  foreign  languages,  not  acquired  in  the  usual 
way  ;  we  are  forced  either  to  admit  an  unhistorical,  mythical  element  in 
the  story  of  Luke' — which  for  us,  however,  is,  on  internal  as  well  as 
external  grounds,  absolutely  impossible — or  to  suppose  self-deception  on 
the  part  of  the  hearers,  whose  impressions  the  narrator  simply  relates 
witliout  giving  any  opinion  of  his  own  respecting  them.  It  might  be 
thought,  for  instance,  that  the  disciples  spoke,  indeed,  in  a  language 
prompted  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  entirely  new,  though  perhaps  closely 
allied  to  the  Aramaic  ;  but  with  such  power  of  kindling  inspiration,  that 
the  susceptible  hearers  involuntarily  translated  what  they  heard  into 
theu'  mother-tongue,  as  though  it  were  spoken  in  this,  and  the  barrier  of 
different  tongues  was  for  a  moment  removed  by  fellowship  iu  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Each  susceptible  hearer  felt  his  own  inmost  pecidiar  nature 
appealed  to,  so  that  his  soul  was  released  from  its  natural  disability  by 

*  As  is  done  even  by  Dr.  Neander,  Jp.  Gcsch.  I.  p.  28.  This  is  one  of  the  many- 
cases  where  this  venerable  divine,  whose  supranaturalistic  and  truly  evangelical  views 
and  deep  experience  of  the  living  power  of  Christianity,  otherwise  fundamentally  sep- 
arate him  from  all  Rationalism,  has  unfortunately  yielded  too  much  in  his  "  Apostel- 
geschichte,"  and  still  more  in  his  "  Leben  Jesu,"  to  modern  criticism. 


202  §  55.       THE    SPEAKING    WITH   TONGUES.  [l-  BOOK. 

this  ecstatic  language,  and  operated  in  a  miraculous  manner.'  Or, 
according  to  auotlier  modification  of  this  theory,  it  may  be  supposed, 
with  Billroth,  that  the  disciples  spoke  in  the  primitive  tongue,  which  the 
pride  of  Babel  had  caused  to  be  split  into  a  multitude  of  languages. 
The  children  of  the  new  Zion,  in  their  humility,  were  enabled  to  gather 
again  its  scattered  fragments  and  relics  into  unity  ;  and  it  sounded  to  the 
inmost  recesses  of  souls  seized  by  the  same  spirit,  as  a  mysterious  me- 
mento of  Paradise,  and  a  cheering  prophecy  of  the  future.  In  either 
case,  therefore,  the  miracle  would  be  transferred  rather  into  the  hearers. 

Yet  we  must  confess  that  these  attempts  at  a  psychological  explana- 
tion are  not  altogether  satisfactory  to  us,  since  they  do  not  comport  with 
•  a  natural  view  of  the  text  in  the  Acts.  Besides,  we  see  no  reason,  why 
the  speaking  with  tongues  on  Pentecost,  and  that  in  the  Corinthian 
church,  should  in  every  point  exactly  coincide.  Here  is  the  error  both 
of  the  older  orthodox  view,  which  supposes  in  both  cases  the  use  of 
foreign  languages,  not  naturally  acquired,  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel  ; 
and  of  the  view  taken  by  several  moderns,  who  make  the  description  of 
Paul  the  rule  for  interpreting  that  of  Luke.  Rather  does  the  apostle 
Paul  himself  seem  to  indicate  a  difference  in  the  forms  of  this  gift,  by 
the  expression  :  "  kinds"  or  "  diversities  of  tongues,"  {ysvjj  yXuaauv,  1 
Cor.  12  :  10,  28),  as  also  by  the  distinction  between  tongues  of  men 
and  of  angels,  (1  Cor.  13  :  1).  We  would,  therefore,  not  confound,  by 
exegetical  and  philosophical  subtilties,  things  thus  distinguished  ;  and, 
relying  on  the  simple  literal  sense  of  the  narrative  in  Acts,  we  suppose, 
that,  in  the  first  appearance  of  this  creative  gift,  and  in  presence  of  an 
assembly  gathered  from  all  quarters  of  the  globe,  there  was  an  extraor- 
dinary elevation  of  soul,  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit  temporarily  (not  per- 
manently) enabled  the  disciples,  in  this  state  of  ecstatic  inspiration,  to 
grasp  the  different  languages  then  and  there  represented,  and  thereby  to 
make  the  deeper  imi3ression  on  the  susceptible  portion  of  the  hearers.^ 

iSor  is  it  difficult  to  discern  the  symbolical  import  of  the  phenomenon. 
It  was,  in  the  first  place,  for  the  apostles  personally,  a  divine  assurance 
and  guarantee,  that  they  were  called  to  be  witnesses  of  Christ  in  the 
whole  world,  and  it  inspired  them  with  courage  and  joy  to  enter  upon 
their  work.     At  the  same  time  it  was,  for  all  present,  an  ocular  pro- 

'  In  a  similar  way  Dr.  Martensen  explains  the  phenomenon  :  Die  Christllche  Dog- 
tnatik.     Kiel.  1850.  p.  381.     Comp.  Steffens  :  Religionsphilosophie,  II.  346. 

^  Could  we  appeal  to  the  Irvingite  glossolaly,  as  a  reasonable  analogy,  we  should  here 
have  a  similar  elevation,  in  which,  according  to  Hohl's  account  above  quoted,  the  ecsta- 
tic discourses  were  delivered  first  in  'strange  sounds,  like  Hebrew,  and  afterwards,  when 
the  excitement  had  somewhat  abated,  in  the  English  vernacular.  Yet  this  analogy 
might  be  used  more  naturally  to  il'a^trate  the  relation  between  speaking  with  tongues 
and  the  interpretation  of  tongues. 


MISSIONS.]  g  55.       THE    SPEAKING    WITH    TONGUES.  203 

plietic  demonstration  of  the  universality  of  Christianity  as  ordahied  for 
all  nations  and  countries,  and  of  the  fact,  that  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel  and  the  praise  of  God  should  soon  be  heard  in  every  language  of 
the  earth.  It  is  probably  with  this  view,  that  Luke,  (Acts  2  :  9-11), 
specifies  the  names  of  the  nations.  Those  foreigners  "  out  of  every 
nation  under  heaven,"  three  thousand  of  whom  on  that  day  believed, 
were  the  representatives  of  all  the  nations  in  which  the  church  was 
planted  m  the  apostolic  age.  In  this  respect  the  speaking  with  tongues 
6n  the  birth-day  of  the  church,  like  the  day  itself,  stands  forth  without 
parallel  in  history  ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  as  a  significant  prophecy, 
w^hich  is  gradually  being  fulfilled  in  the  history  of  missions,  as  the  gospel 
advances  in  triumph  from  nation  to  nation,  not  to  rest,  till  the  whole 
world  shall  become  obedient  to  .the  faith,  and  "  every  tongue  confess  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father,"  (Phil.  2  :  11). 
As.  a  personal  gift  to  individual  Christians,  the  power  to  speak  with 
tongues  is  no  longer  needed.  The  chure^h  and  the  Holy  Scriptures  now 
proclaim  the  wondei'ful  works  of  God  in  almost  all  the  languages  of  the 
earth.  Even  in  the  time  of  the  apostles  this  gift  lost  its  original  form, 
though  in  its  essence,  as  an  act  of  worship,  as  an  ecstatic  address  of 
prayer  and  praise  to  God,  it  continued  still  longer.  For  we  can  see  no 
reason  for  supposing,  that,  in  the  house  of  Cornelius,  for  instance,  (Acts 
10  :  46,  comp.  19  :  6),  or  in  the  Corinthian  church,  (in  other  words, 
among  those  who  were  already  believers),  it  manifested  itself  precisely  in 
the  use  of  foreign  languages.  In  the  Roman  empire,  the  chief  theatre 
of  Christianity,  the  missionaries  could  make  themselves  understood 
almost  anywhere  by  means  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  tongues  ;  and  the 
way  in  which  the  apostles  themselves  handle  the  Greek,  in  their  writings, 
shows  that  they  had  learned  it  in  the  usual  way.  And  the  history  of 
primitive  missions  gives  no  intimation,  that  the  rapid  spread  of  the 
gospel  was  caused  or  even  aided  by  a  supernatural  gift  of  tongues. 

We  have  yet  to  observe,  however,  in  fine,  that  the  Holy  Scriptures 
represent  the  origin  of  the  different  languages  as  a  punishment  of  human 
pride,  (Gen.  11)  ;  and  that  Christianity,  as  it  can  accommodate  itself  to 
all  tongues  and  nations,  has  power,  also,  to  break  down  gradually  all  the 
partition  walls,  which  sin  has  set  up,  and  to  unite  the  scattered  children 
of  God,  not  only  in  one  fold  under  one  shepherd,  bnt  also  in  one 
language  of  the  Spirit.  Of  this  union  of  nations  and  tongues  the  mira- 
cle of  speech  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  may  be  regarded  as  the  divine 
guarantee  ;  so  that  the  end  of  the  development  of  the  church  was  pro- 
phetically anticipated  and  typified  in  her  very  beginning.' 

'  hi  1  his  sense,  we  can  adopt  the  profound  language  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  presbyter, 
the  venerable  Bede  :  •'  tlnilatem  linguaruin,  quam  sujierbia  Babylonis  dispsrserat,  hu- 


204  §  56.       THE    SEEMON    OF   PETEE   ANT)    FfS    EESULT.  [l-  BOOK. 

§  56.    T/ie  Sermon  of  Peter  and  its  Ixcsnlt. 

The  astonishment  of  the  well-disposed  hearers  at  these  wonderful  pro- 
ceedings, and  the  mockery  of  the  unbelievers,  who  ascribed  the  speaking 
with  tongues  to  intoxication,  called  for  an  explanation  and  apology  ;  and 
this  first  hidependeut  testimony  of  the  apostles,  poured  forth  from  the 
fulness  of  the  Spirit,  was  the  effective  signal  for  gathering  in  the  first- 
fruits  of  the  new  spiritual  creation.  Thus  the  work  of  preaching  is 
immediately  connected  with  the  founding  of  the  church  ;  and  thenceforth 
it  is  the  chief  histrument  of  extending  the  kingdom  of  God.  The  testi- 
mony of  the  Holy  Ghost  perpetuates  itself  in  the  testimony  of  those  in 
whom  he  dwells,  (Jno.  15  :  26,  27).  It  is  at  once  the  fruit  of  faith  and 
the  means  of  propagating  it.  The  spealiing  with  tongues  is  followed  by 
the  interpretation  of  tongues,  and  intelligible,  calm  prophecy,  and  the 
religious  faculties,  which  had  been  agitated  to  their  inmost  depths,  are 
restored  to  their  regular  natural  action. 

True  to  his  character  as  presented  in  the  Gospels,  the  ardent,  impetu- 
ous Feter,  born  to  be  a  leader  and  spokesman,  came  forward  in  the  name 
of  his  colleagues  and  of  the  whole  church,  and  thus  proved  himself,  with 
his  fearless  confession  of  faith,  to  be,  in  fact,  the  rock,  upon  which  the  Lord, 
as  the  architect,  had  promised  to  build  his  church.  His  discourse  to  the 
assembled  multitude,  delivered  probably  hi  the  Hebrew  language,  is  exceed- 
ingly simple  and  appropriate.  It  is  neither  a  direct  assault  upon  Judaism, 
nor  an  exposition  of  doctrine,  but  simply  the  annunciation  of  historical 
facts,  especially  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  ;  an  unpretending,  but  powerful 
testimony  of  the  most  assured  experience,  the  immediate  effusion  of  the 
divine  life  within  ;  an  expansion  of  the  fundamental  confession  before 
made  by  Peter,  that  Jesus  was  the  Son  of  the  living  God  and  thf, 
Saviour  of  sinners  ;  in  short,  a  genuine  missionary  sermon.  The  con- 
trast here  is  remarkable  between  the  exalted  inspiration  just  exhibited  in 
the  speaking  with  tongues,  and  the  calm  self-possession  and  clearness  of 
this  sermon.  But  the  harmonious  union  of  these  two  gifts  is  a  charac- 
teristic feature  of  the  apostles,  who  were  thus  as  far  removed  from  cold 
iutellectualism,  as  from  extravagant  enthusiasm. 

Peter  begins,  with  meek  condescension  and  exemplary  mildness,  by 
refuting  the  rude  charge  of  drunkenness  with  the  very  modest  and 
apparently  trivial,  but  popular  and  conclusive  argument,  that  it  is  but 
the  third  hour  of  the  day,  (9  o'clock  in  the  morning),  before  which  time 
the  Jews  usually  indulged  in  nothing,  and  even  drunkards  were  sober. 

militas  ecclesiae  recolligit."  In  like  manner  says  ihe  celebrated  Dutch  expositor,  Gro- 
tius  :  •'  Poena  linguarum  dispersit  homines,  dnnum  linguarum  disperses  in  unum  popu- 
lum  recollesit" 


MISSIONS.]        g  56.       TIIE    SEKMON    OF    PETEK    AND    ITS    RESULTS.  205 

This  appearance,  he  goes  on  to  say,  is  nothing  else  than  the  glorious  ful- 
fillment of  the  prophecy  of  Joel  concerning  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  which  was  to  be  attended  with  unusual  natural  phenomena — the 
outpouring  of  the  Spirit,  too,  not  only  upon  single  extraordinary  embas- 
sadors of  God,  as  under  the  Old  Dispensation,  but  upon  all  people,  even 
the  most  insignificant  and  illiterate.  This  communication  of  the  Spirit  is 
brought  about  by  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  the  promised  Messiah,  who  was 
powerfully  accredited  to  you  as  such  by  works  and  miracles.  Ye  did, 
indeed,  deliver  him  up,  according  to  the  eternal  counsel  and  foreknowl- 
edge of  God,'  and  crucify  him  by  the  hands  of  heathen  Romans.  But 
God  has  raised  him  from  the  dead,  according  to  the  promise  in  the  hx- 
teenth  Psalm  f  and  of  this  fact  we  all  are  living  witnesses.  This  risen 
One,  exalted  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  hath  sent  us  his  Spirit,  as  ye 
here  see.  Know,  therefore,  that  God  himself  has,  by  indisputal)le  facts, 
shown  this  Jesus,  crucified  by  you,  to  be  the  Messiah,  from  whom  ye 
yourselves,  as  Israelites,  look  for  all  salvation. 
.  The  great  point  of  the  apostle  evidently  was,  to  show,  in  few,  but  im- 

*  The  death  of  Jesus  was,  on  the  part  of  God,  the  fulfillment  of  the  eternal  decree  of 
redemption;  on  the  part  of  Jesus,  a  free  act  of  love  ;  on  the  part  of  the  Jews,  a  crime 
for  which  they  were  accountable,  the  climax  of  their  sin  against  Jehovah.  Here  only 
the  first  and  last  relations  are  brought  to  view.  Peter  charges  all  present  with  '.he 
murder  of  Jesus;  first,  because  the  act  of  the  magistrate  is  the  act  of  the  people,  whom 
he  represents,  and  who,  in  this  case,  moreover,  had  directly  cooperated,  crying  '  Cru- 
cify him  !  Crucify  him  !" — secondly,  because  the  death  of  the  Lord  is,  by  reason  of  the 
universal  sinfulness,  the  common  act  and  crime  of  the  human  race.  When  JMeyer,  on 
Acts  2  :  23,  replies  to  this  latter  statement,  that  then  Peter  must  have  spoken  in  the 
first  person,  including  himself,  instead  of  the  second, — he  does  not  consider,  that  the 
apostle  here  speaks  in  the  name  of  God  and  Christ,  and  that  he,  as  a  believer,  was  ac- 
quitted of  his  share  in  the  crime. 

"^  David  composed  this  Psalm  with  his  mind  and  heart  upon  the  theocracy,  which 
God  had  promised  should  stand  forever,  and  he  looked  with  the  eye  of  prophecy  to  the 
Messiah,  through  whom  death  and  the  grave  were  to  be  abolished,  and  the  theocracy 
was  to  be  fully  unfolded.  Olshausen  explains  the  matter  thus  :  "The  dread  of  disso- 
lution and  of  the  dark  valley  of  death  awoke  in  David  a  longirg  to  have  death  com- 
pletely conquered  :  and  this  desire  the  prophetic  Spirit  enabled  him  to  see  fulfilled  in 
the  person  of  the  Messiah."  Hengstenberg,  in  his  Commentar  zu  Psalmen,  I.  p.  306 
sqq.,  after  the  example  of  Calvin,  views  the  pious  Psalmist  as  the  primary  subject  of 
the  sixteenth  Psalm  :  but  since  David,  v.  10,  triumphs  over  death  and  the  grave  in  the 
consciousness  of  his  union  with  God,  he  could  do  this,  in  truth,  only  as  a  member  of  the 
body  of  Christ;  and  so  far  the  Psalm  is  Messianic.  "  Out  of  Christ,"  says  Hengsten- 
berg, (p.  337),  "this  hope  must  be  regarded  as  a  mere  visionary  expectation,  which 
would  in  the  end  be  disappointed.  David  served  God  in  his  generation,  and  then  died, 
was  buried,  and  returned  to  dust.  But  in  Christ,  who  brought  life  and  immortality  to 
light,  this  hope  has  its  full  truth.  David  in  Christ  is  perfectly  justifiable  in  speakini^as 
he  does.  Christ  has  vanquished  death  not  only  for  himself,  but  also  for  his  members 
His  resurrection  is  our  resurrection." 


206         §  56.     THE  sekmon  of  peter  and  its  eesults.       [-•  book. 

prcssive  words,  the  official  character  of  Jesus  as  Messiah,  from  a  com- 
parison of  the  present  occurrences  with  the  clear  prophecies  of  the  Old 
Testament,  which  the  hearers  themselves  acknowledged  ;  and  at  the 
same  time,  by  touching  upon  the  crucifixion,  of  which  the  Jews  were  the 
authors,  to  lead  these  Jews  to  earnest  repentance.  The  sermon  had  its 
designed  effect.  The  convicted  and  alarmed  hearers  anxiouslj^  asked  : 
"  What  shall  we  do  ?"  Peter  required  them  to  repent  and  be  baptized 
in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  they  should 
receive  the  same  Holy  Spirit  whose  wonderful  workings  they  perceived 
in  the  apostles.  For  the  promise  was  intended  for  them,  and  for  their 
children,  even  for  all  the  Gentiles,'  whom  the  Lord  should  call.  Thus 
repentance  and  faith,  the  turning  of  the  heart  away  from  the  world  and 
sin,  and  towards  God  through  Christ,  appear  here,  as  in  all  the  Scrip- 
tures, as  the  first  condition  of  participation  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
in  the  blessings  of  salvation,  namely,  the  .forgiveness  of  sins,  imparted 
and  sealed  by  Christian  baptism,  and  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  as  the 
new  positive  principle  of  life. 

After  several  other  exhortations  to  repentance,  those  who  received 
the  word  gladly  were  baptized,  and  about  three  thousand  souls  were 
gathered,  on  this  harvest  festival  of  the  new  covenant,  into  the  garners 
of  Christ's  kingdom.  Here  for  the  first  time  was  fulfilled  the  word  of 
the  Lord,  that,  in  consequence,  and  by  virtue  of  his  ascension  to  the 
.Father,  his  disciples  should  do  greater  works,  than  he  himself  wrought 
in  the  days  of  his  humiliation,  (Jno.  14  :  12).  The  awakening  testi- 
mony of  Peter,  and  the  extraordinary  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  sup- 
plied the  want  of  longer  preparation  for  the  solemn  act  of  baptism, 
which  here  coincided  with  true  conversion.  But  the  young  plant  needed 
strengthening  and  care.  The  believers  were  constant  and  united  in 
attention  to  the  four  essential  elements  of  all  truly  Christian  associate 
life, — the  instruction  of  the  apostles  ;  brotherly  fellowship  in  active,  self- 
denying  love  ;  breaking  of  bread,  i.  e.  partaking  of  the  Lord's  Supper  in 
connection  with  the  daily  love-feasts  ;  and  prayer,  (Acts  2  :  42).  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God  and  Son  of  Man,  the  fulfiUer  of  the  whole  Old 
Testament,  was  the  centre  of  their  faith  ;  and  Christianity  proved  itself 
not  merely  a  theory,  nor  an  emotion,  nor  a  collection  of  moral  precepts 
and  actions  ;  but  life,  in  the  deepest  and  most  comprehensive  sense  ;  a 
power  of  God  to  make  happy  all,  who  believe  in  it.  "  And  the  Lord 
added  to  the  church  daily  such  as  should  be  saved." 

This  was  the  pre-formative  beginning  of  the  church.       It  has  never 

So  we  understand  the  phrase  :  rotf  e/f  [laKgdv,  Acts  2  :  39,  comp.  Zech.  6:15. 
For  Peter  already  knew,  that  the  Gentiles  also  were  called  to  salvation;  only  he 
thought  they  nnust  first  become  Jews,  until  the  vision,  (c.  10) ,  taught  hiai  better. 


MISSIONS.']  g  56.       THE    SEKMOX    OF    PETER    AND    ITS    RESULTS.  207 

yet  had  its  like  in  history,  but  it  will  one  day  be  repeated  ;  for  the 
promise  of  Joel  has  not  yet  reached  its  absolute  fulfillment.  This  young 
band  of  believers,  with  their  successors,  were  to-be  the  salt  of  the  earth, 
to  preserve  the  mass  of  humanity  from  spiritual  putrefaction  ;  and  the 
communion  then  founded  was  to  be  thenceforth  the  basis  of  eveiy  true 
advance  in  morality,  science,  art,  social  life,  and  outward  civilization,  as 
well  as  the  spring  of  all  great  events  in  later  history.  The  apostles, 
before  shy  and  timid,  we  find,  from  this  day  forth,  armed  with  undaunted 
courage  in  bearing  witness  of  the  truth.  Before  unknown,  or  little 
cared  for,  they  become  at  once  the  heroes  of  the  day,  and  soon  attract 
the  attention,  not  only  of  Palestine,  but  of  the  whole  world.  A  few 
honest,  plain  fishermen  of  Galilee,  raised  to  be  the  official  witnesses  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  ;  transformed  from  illiterate  men  into  infallible  organs 
of  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  teachers  of  all  ages  ; — truly,  this  is  mar- 
vellous in  our  eyes  1 


208  §    57.       GKOWTH    AND    PERSECUTION  [l-   ROOK. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    MISSION   IN  PALESTINE,  AND    PREPARATION   FOR    THE    MIS- 
SION TO  THE  GENTILES. 

§  5*1.    Growth  and  Persecution  of  the  Church  in  Jerusalem. 

The  mother  church  of  Christendom,  after  so  glorious  a  beginning 
grew  mightily,  both  inwardly  and  outwardly,  and  at  first  found  great 
favor  with  the  people,  (Acts  2  :  47),  for  the  purity  of  its  w^alk,  and  the 
glow  of  its  first  love  and  benevolence,  which  reached  even  to  a  commu- 
nity of  goods.  But  even  the  opposition,  which  soon  arose  against  it  in 
the  unbelieving  world,  must  according  to  a  universal  law  of  the  kingdom 
of  God,  serve  only  to  purify  and  extend  it.  As  on  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost, so  also  in  the  succeeding  history  down  to  the  appearance  of  Paul, 
Peter  is  the  great  leader,  promoter,  and  defender  of  the  church,  by  wovd 
and  deed.  Behind  him  walks  John,  in  mysterious  silence,  betokening  a 
hidden  depth  of  life  and  great  promise  for  the  future.  The  miraculous 
healing  of  one,  who  had  been  more  than  forty  years  a  cripple,  by  the 
sublime  word  of  Peter  :  "  Silver  and  gold  have  I  none  ;  but  such  as  I 
have  give  I  thee  :  In  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth  rise  up  and 
walk,"  (Acts  3  :  6),  made  a  great  noise  among  the  people,  and  increased 
the  number  of  male  members  of  the  church  to  five  thousand.'     But  at 

'  Acts  4  :  4-  Dr.  Baur  regards  this  and  other  statements  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles respecting  the  rapid  growth  of  the  church,  as  intentional  exaggerations,  and  rests 
this  assertion  upon  the  apparent  contradiction  between  Acts  1  :  15,  where  the  original 
niinnber  of  the  disciples  is  given  as  only  a  hundred  and  twenty,  and  the  statement  of 
Paul,  1  Cor.  15:  6,  that  Christ, after  his  resurrection,  was  seen  of  above  five  hundred 
brethren  at  once,  (Paulits,  der  Ap.  Jesu  Christi.  etc.  1845,  "p.  37).  But  Luke.  (1.  c.) . 
says,  not  that  the  church  consisted  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  members,  but  that  just  then 
so  many  were  assembled  in  one  place,  to  cho;)se  a  successor  to  Judas.  Besides,  it  is 
even  possible  that  the  appearance,  of  which  Paul  spsaics,  took  place  after  the  day  of 
Pentecost :  for  Paul,  in  fact,  in  the  same  place  mentions  the  appearance  of  Christ  to 
himself  on  his  way  to  Damascus-  The  criticism  of  Baur,  like  that  of  Stiauss,  is 
amazingly  ingenious  in  detecting  and  inventing  differences  and  contradictions  in  the 
sacred  history,  but  takes  not  the  least  pains  to  solve  them. 


MISSIOXS.]  OF    THE    CIIUKCn    IN    JEEL'SALKM.  209 

the  same  time  it  roused  tlie  jealousy  and  hatred  of  the  priests  ;  espe- 
cially of  the  Sadducees,  since  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord,  so  offensive 
to  them,  was  the  central  theme  of  the  apostles'  preaching  and  the  main 
argument  for  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  (Acts  4:2).  The  two  apostles 
were  arrested  and  imprisoned  by  the  temple  guard,  and  on  the  next  day 
brought  with  the  healed  cripple  before  the  Sanhedrim,  in  which  the  Sad- 
ducean  party  just  then  had  the  upper  hand.  Then  Peter,  full  of^  the 
Holy  Ghost,  boldly  declared  that  the  miracle  was  wrought  in  the  name 
and  by  the  power  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Nazareth,  whom  tliey  had  cru- 
cified, but  whom  God  had  raised  from  the  dead  ;  whom  they,  the  build- 
ers, had  rejected,  according  to  the  prophecy  of  the  118th  Psalm  ;  but 
whom  God  had  made  the  corner-stone  of  his  whole  kingdom.  Tlien, 
passing  from  the  bodily  healing  to  the  spiritual,  he  announced  the  funda- 
mental article  of  Christianity,  as  the  only  saving  religion  :  "Neither  is 
there  salvation  in  any  other  :  for  there  is  none  other  name  under  heaven 
given  among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved." 

As  the  members  of  the  council  could  not  deny  the  fact  of  the  miraculous 
healing,  and  at  the  same  time  feared  the  people,  they  discharged  Peter 
and  John  for  this  time  with  simply  a  warning  not  to  preach  any  more  in 
the  name  of  Jesus.  The  apostles  returned  to  the  Ijrethren,  who  united 
in  a  fervent  prayer  ;  when,  in  token  of  their  being  heard,  as  on  the  day 
of  Pentecost,  the  place,  where  they  were  assembled,  was  shaken,  and 
they  were  filled  anew  with  the  Holy  Ghost. 

In  this  first  persecution  we  have  a  true  type  of  all  the  subsequent 
hostilities  against  the  church  of  Christ.  "  The  moment  the  evangelical 
truth  rises,"  says  Calvin,'  "  Satan  rises  to  meet  it  in  all  possible  ways, 
and  puts  every  thing  in  motion,  to  kill  it  in  the  bud.  In  the  next  place, 
we  see  how  the  Lord  armed  his  people  with  invincible  courage,  that  they 
might  stand  firm  against  all  the  machinations  of  the  ungodly.  Finally, 
we  see  how  power  seems,  indeed,  to  lie  in  the  hands  of  the  adversaries, 
who  spare  no  pains  to  blot  out  the  name  of  Christ,  and  how  the  disciples 
of  the  Lord  are  among  them,  as  sheep  among  wolves  ;  and  yet  how 
God  extends  the  kingdom  of  his  Son,  replenishes  the  kindled  flame  of 
the  gospel,  and  can  preserve  his  people." 

According  to  their  principle,  however,  which  they  openly  avowed  before 
the  high  council,  that  theymust  obey  God  rather  than  man  (4  :  19,  comp. 
5  :  29),  the  apostles  could  not  keep  silence.  Their  preaching  and  mir;;- 
cles  (5  :  12-16),  with  the  terrible  judgment  upon  the  hypocritical 
Ananias  and  his  wife,  more  and  more  attracted  the  attention  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  awakened  their  admiration  of  the  church.  The  Sadducoa* 
party,  therefore,  again  had  the  apostles  arrested  and  confined.     T>ut''?hie 

aoifjoft  . 

Commcntar  ad  Acta,  4:1, 

'  '  it  V-:-  't 

14 


210  §    57.       GROWTH    A^T>    PERSECUTION.  [i.   BOOK. 

angel  of  the  Lord  opened  the  doors  of  the  prison  (5  :  19),  and  they 
taught  all  the  more  joyfully  in  the  temple.  Brought  again  before  the 
council,  they  reiterated  their  protest  against  the  prohibition  to  teach,  as 
conflicting  with  their  obedience  to  God  ;  and  testified  anew  of  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus,  whom  the  counselors  had  slain,  but  whom  God  had  exalted 
at  his  right  hand,  as  a  Saviour  to  give  repentance  and  forgiveness  of 
sins  to  the  people  of  Israel  The  enraged  fanatics  desired  at  once  to 
pass  sentence  of  death  on  the  apostles,  when  the  Pharisee,  Gamaliel, 
grandson  of  the  renowned  Hillel,  and  one  of  the  most  distinguished 
Rabbins,  brought  them  to  moderation,  and  the  apostles  this  time  escaped 
with  scourging,  which  was  the  customary  punishment  of  disobedience, 
auw  with  a  repetition  of  the  injunction  to  cease  preaching.  "  If  this 
counsel  or  this  work,"  said  Gamaliel,  "  be  of  men,  it  will  come  to  nought : 
but  if  it  be  of  God,  ye  cannot  overthrow  it,"  (5  :  38  sq.).  In  these 
famous  words  he  betrays  his  undecided  posture  towards  Christianity. 
He  had  not  yet  clearly  made  up  his  mind  respecting  the  new  religion,  and 
he  wished,  from  human  prudence  and  caution,  to  wait  the  judgment  of 
time  ;  convinced,  that  what  was  good  and  of  God  would  ultimately  prevail 
over  all  opposition,  and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  fanaticism  and  wicked- 
ness would  only  gain  from  attempts  to  suppress  them  by  force  ;  and 
hence  it  were  better  to  leave  them  to  condemn  themselves,  as,  sooner  or 
later,  they  surely  would.'  Gamaliel  here  shows  himself  an  impartial, 
justice-loving  man,  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  Old  Testament  faith  in 
a  divine  providence,  which  would  not  leave  false  prophets  long  unpunish- 
ed. But  this  expression  by  no  means  warrants  us  to  suppose,  that  he 
was  a  secret  adherent  of  Christianity.  We  should  rather  infer  the  con- 
trary from  the  fact,  that,  down  to  his  death,  he  remained  a  Pharisee  and 
in  great  esteem  with  the  Jews.  He  probably  passed  from  neutrality  to 
hostility,  as  soon  as  Christianity  came  into  open  conflict  with  Pharisaism  ; 
as  we  may  conclude  from  the  earlier  spirit  of  the  apostle  Paul,  who  pro- 
ceeded from  his  school. 

This  opposition  of  Christianity  to  Pharisaical  Judaism  soon  showed 
itself  in  Stephen,  who,  though  not  an  apostle,  was  certainly  a  man  of 
apostolic  spirit,  and  marks  an  epoch  in  the  development  of  Christianity. 

^  In  such  a  state  of  indecision,  and  in  the  case  of  a  phenomenon  as  yet  altogether 
experimental,  Gamaliel's  counsel  must  certainly  be  regarded  as  wise.  But,  absolutely 
considered,  it  is  by  no  means  safe.  For,  in  the  first  place,  the  long  continuance  of  a 
system  is  no  criterion  at  all  of  its  divinity.  Look,  for  instance,  at  Heathenism  and 
Mohamnrfedanism.  And  then,  his  principle,  consistently  carried  out  in  every  case, 
would  put  an  end  to  all  punishment,  and  introduce  perfect  indifference  in  place  of  the 
earnestness  of  law.  As  soon  as  a  man  ascertains  the  nature  of  a  cause,  he  must  either 
decidedly  approve  and  actively  support  it,  or  condemn  it  and  seek  to  counteract  its  in- 
fluence. We  say  this  against  a  thoughtless  over- valuation  of  Gamaliel's  advice,  which 
manv  treat  as  an  oracle,  and  as  a  part  of  the  word  of  God  himself. 


MIFVIONS.]  §    58.       STEPHEJf,    THE    FIRST    MAETYE.  211 

Thus  far  the  division:  between  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  had  been 
favorable  to  the  church.  But  after  the  appearance  of  Stephen,  the 
Pharisees  also  became  decidedly  hostile,  and  Pilate  and  Herod  leagued 
themselves  anew  for  the  suppression  of  the  common  foe. 

§  58.    Stephen,  the  first  Martyr. 

If  the  preaching  of  the  resurrection  and  the  moral  earnestness  of  the 
Christians  had  called  forth  at  first  the  hatred  of  the  worldly-minded 
Sadducees  ;  so  also,  in  process  of  time,  must  Christianity  show  its  oppo- 
sition to  the  stiff  and  cold  formality  and  the  hypocritical  self-righteous- 
ness of  the  Pharisees.  This  it  did  through  Stephen,  one  of  the  seven 
deacons  of  the  church  iu  Jerusalem,  distinguished  for  his  wisdom  and 
miraculous  powers.  He  was  probably  a  Hellenist,  i.  e.  of  G/Y/eco-Jewish 
descent.  This  may  be  inferred  partly  from  the  occasion  of  appointing 
these  deacons, — the  complaint  of  the  foreign  Jewish  Christians  respecting 
the  neglect  of  their  widows, — partly  from  his  Greek  name,  and  partly 
from  his  liberal,  evangelical  views.  As  to  his  place  in  history,  he  was 
the  man,  who  first  clearly  brought  out  the  opposition  of  Christianity  to 
hardened  Judaism  ;  and  lie  thus  became  a  forerunner  of  the  apostle 
Paul,  who  sprang  from  the  blood  of  his  martyrdom.'  His  views  seem 
to  have  been  especially  influenced  by  the  discourses  of  Jesus  against  the 
Pharisees  (Matt.  23),  and  his  threatenings  respecting  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  and  the  temple.^  Stephen  had  many  disputations  with  foreign 
Jews  of  Grecian  education  (Acts  6:9),  and  probably  even  with  Saul 
of  Tarsus  ;'  and  no  one  was  able  to  resist  "  the  wisdom  and  the  spirit, 
by  which  he  spake."  Without  doubt  his  object  was,  to  convince  them 
from  the  Old  Testament  itself,  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah,  and  the 
founder  of  a  new  spiritual  worship,  and  that  the  Jewish  nation  had 
sealed  its  doom  by  rejecting  the  Salvation,  which  had  appeared.  This 
drew  upon  him  the  cliarge  of  blaspheming  Moses,  which  was  the  same 
as  blaspheming  God.  False  witnesses  accused  him  before  the  high  coun- 
cil of  having  said,  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  would  destroy  the  temple  and 
change  the  laws  of  Moses."     The  truth  at  the  bottom  of  this  charge  was 

"  Had  not  Stephen  prayed,"  said  Augustine,  •'  the  church  would  have  had  no 
Paul." 

"^  Matt   24  :  1  sqq.     21  :  19  sq.     Luke  17  :  22  sqq. 

^  As  may  be  interred  partly  from  the  prominent  part  which  Paul  took  in  the  perse- 
cution of  Stephen  (7  :  58  and  8:1),  and  partly  from  the  fact,  that  among  the  syna- 
gogues of  extra-Palestinian  Jews,  who  disputed  with  Stephen,  that  of  Cilicia,  Paul's 
native  province,  is  expressly  mentioned  (6  :  9). 

*  Acts  6  :  11-14.  Precisely  the  same  charge  was  brought  against  Christ,  Matt.  26  : 
61  :  "  This  fellow  said,  I  am  able  to  destroy  the  temple  of  God,  and  to  build  it  in  three 
days  " — a  perversion  of  the  true  expression  of  Jesus  (Jno.  2  :  19),  which  referred  pri- 


ll3  §  58.       STEi=nE2v,    TUl:;    FIRST    MAiiTYK.  [l-  BOOK. 

probably  Stephen's  opposition  to  tlie  Pliarisees'  over-valuation  of  the 
ceremonial  law  and  the  temple,  and  bis  reference  to  the  overthrow  of 
the  old  economy  of  salvation.  His  views  on  these  points  he  might  have 
derived  from  our  Lord's  prophecy  respecting  the  destruction  and  re- 
building of  the  temple  (Jno.  2  :  19),  and  the  cessation  of  all  national 
worship  confined  to  a  particular  place,  be  it  Gerizim  or  Jerusalem  (Jno. 
4  :  21-24).  But  it  was  a  calumny,  when  his  enemies  accused  him,  ou 
this  account,  of  blaspheming  Moses  and  God.  For  the  whole  Old  Tes- 
tament itself  points  beyond  itself  to  Christianity,  as  the  fulfilling  of  the 
law  and  the  prophets. 

The  defense,  which  this  bold  witness  delivered  before  the  Sanhedrim, 
(7  :  2-53),  on  the  inspiration  of  the  moment,'  and  with  a  heavenly 
serenity,  which  reflected  itself  in  his  angelic  countenance  (Acts  6  :  15), 
was  not  a  direct,  but  a  remarkable  indirect  refutation  of  the  charge 
brought  against  him.  In  the  genuine  spirit  of  the  Christian,  he  regarded 
not  his  own  person  ;  in  holy  zeal  for  the  cause  of  God  he  forgot  all  effort 
to  propitiate  his  judges.  From  his  general  vindication  of  the  divine  plan 
of  salvation,  every  reflecting  hearer  involuntarily  drew  the  ajjplication 
to  this  particular  case.  By  far  the  greater  part  of  his  discourse,  (v.  2- 
50),  is  a  review  of  the  history  of  Israel  from  the  calling  of  Abraham  to 
the  giving  of  the  Mosaic  law,  and  thence  to  the  building  of  Solomon's 
temple,  closing  with  a  quotation  from  Isaiah,  (66  :  1),  against  the  carnal, 
superstitious  notion  of  the  Jews,  that  the  Most  High  w^as  confined  to  a 
building  made  by  human  hands.  By  this  reference  to  the  sacred  history 
Stephen  wished,  in  the  first  place,  to  testify  his  own  faith  in  the  Old 
Testament  revelation,  and,  by  unfolding  the  true  office  and  relations  of 
Moses  and  the  temple,  to  refute  the  charge  of  blaspheming  them  ;  and 
secondly,  to  show,  that  the  conduct  of  the  Jews  was  always  grossly 
unworthy  of  their  relations  to  God  ;  that,  the  greater  his  favors  to  them, 
the  greater  was  their  ingratitude  and  contumacy  towards  him  and  his 
servants,  and  e.specially  towards  Moses.  He  held  before  his  accusers  the 
past,  as  a  faithful  mirror,  in  which  they  might  see  their  own  conduct 
towards  the  Messiah  and  his  followers.''     At  the  same  time  he  presents 

marily  to  the  temple  of  his  bod}',  but  also,  indirectly,  to  the  natural  consequence  of  his 
death  and  resurrection,  the  destruction  of  the  Old  Testament  sanctuary  and  the  erection 
of  the  new  Christian  system  of  worship. 

^  This  accounts  for  the  unimportant  historical  mistakes  in  his  discourse,  which  thus 
serve,  in  fact,  only  to  confirm  its  credibility.  Compare  the  expositors  on  Acts  7  :  6, 
7.  16.  53. 

-  The  venerable  antistes  of  Zurich,  Joh.  Jac.  Hess,  has  already  .strikingly  called  atten- 
tion to  the  fact,  that  this  parallel  Avas  floating  before  the  mind  of  the  speaker,  especially 
in  his  description  of  Moses;  insomuch  that  Stephen  almost  seems  to  be  rela'ing  the  his- 
tory of  Jesus  under  another  name  (Gesch.  und  Schriften  der  Apostel  Jesu.   2nd  ed.  Zurich. 


MISSIONS.]  g   58.       STEPHEN,    THE    FIKST    MARTYR.  213 

the  dealings  of  God  witli  bis  people  as  proceeding  upon  a  fixed,  theocra- 
tic plan  ;  continually  pointing  to  something  beyond,  and  reaching  their 
end  in  the  Messiah.  Even  Moses  spoke  of  a  prophet,  who  should  come 
after  him  ;  and  accordingly  the  law  itself  looks  away  to  something 
higher.  The  temple  of  Solomon  was  built  merely  with  human  hands — ' 
the  type  of  another  temple,- of  the  worship  of  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth. 
Probably  he  intended  to  enlarge  more  upon  the  third  period,  the 
Messianic  predictions  of  the  prophets,  and  their  strivings  against  the 
carnal  disposition,  the  scrupulous,  but  empty  formality,  the  ingratitude 
and  obstinacy  of  the  Jews.  But  he  was  interrupted  by  the  rage  of  the 
excited  hearers,  who  keenly  felt  the  polemical  sting  of  this  history  of 
their  conduct.  Exchanging,  therefore,  the  calm  tone  of  the  narrator  for 
the  pathos  of  the  earnest  preacher  of  repentance,  he  concluded  with  the 
fearful  denunciation  (v.  51-53),  in  which  he  represented  his  accusers 
and  judges  as  the  true  sons  of  the  murderers  of  the  prophets  ;  held  up 
their  betrayal  and  murder  of  the  Just  One,  as  the  climax  of'  their  ingra- 
titude and  iniquity  ;  and  threw  back  upon  themselves  the  charge  of 
impiety. 

But  by  this  discourse  lie,  at  the  same  time,  precluded  all  possibility  of 
his  own  acquittal.  Nor  was  it  his  object  at  all  to  save  his  life,  but  solely 
to  vindicate  tlie  truth.  The  members  of  the  council  gnashed  their  teeth 
with  rage  ;  but  Stephen  was  transported  in  the  Spirit  to  heaven,  and 
saw  Jesus  standing  at  the  right  hand  of  the  almighty  God,  ready  to 
protect  and  receive  hiui'^ — the  glorified  Son  of  Man,  who,  from  the  throne 
of  his  majesty,  puts  to  shame  all  the  machinations  of  his  enemies.  The 
fanatics  would  hear  nothing  more.  They  thrust  him  out  of  the  city 
and  stoned  him  without  a  formal  sentence,  or  a  hearing  before  the 
governor,  and  therefore  in  riot  ;  for  the  Romans  had  deprived  the  San- 

1778.  I.  p.  78  sqq.) .  '■  Here  is  a  complete  picture,"  says  he,  p.  83,  '-of  the  conduct 
of  the  Jews  towards  Jesus;  their  way  ol"  thinking,  as  it  expressed  itself  in  the  case 
of  Jesus,  is  clearly  showi;  to  them  in  their  earlier  history  as  in  a  mirror.  The  jealousy 
of  the  brethren  of  Joseph,  the  treatment  jof  Moses  before  and  after  his  flight  into 
Midian,  the  conduct  of  the  Israelites  towards  God  in  the  wilderness — are  intended  to 
show  the  hearers  their  own  disposition." 

*  Christ  is  elsewhere  uniformly  represented  as  '"sitting"  at  the  right  hand  of  God. 
The  striking  expression,  "standing,"  (tarQra,  Acts  1  :  55,  56  ,  is  accounted  for  here 
by  the  simple  fact,  that  the  Lord  appears  to  Stephen  as  a  savior  and  protector  against 
the  rage  of  foes.  Gregory  the  Great  rightly  discerned  this,  when  he  said  :  "  Sedere 
judieantis  (et  imperitantis)  est.  stare  vero  pugnantis  vel  adjuvantis.  Stephanus  stantem 
vidit,  quem  adjutorem  habuit,"  {Homil.  19.  in  fest.  Ascens) .  This  unusual  expression, 
moreover,  as  also  the  de.signation  of  Jesus  as  the  '"Son  of  Mart,  '  which  nev-r  occurs 
in  the  apostolic  epistles,  is  an  argument  for  the  genuineness  of  the  narrative.  Were 
the  discomse  com|)Osed.  as  Dr.  Haur  (I  c.  p.  51  .  assumes,  by  the  author  of  the  book 
of  Acts,  a-id  merely  put  into  Stephen's  mouth,  the  apologetic  references  would  un- 
doubtedly have  been  more  distinct  and  direct. 


214  §  59.       CIIlilSTIANITY    I2s^    SAMARIA.       PHILIP.  [l-   HOOK. 

bedrim  of  the  power  of  life  and  death.'  The  witnesses,  who,  according 
to  the  custom  of  the  Jews,  cast  the  first  stones  at  the  criminal,  in  testi- 
mony of  their  firm  conviction  of  his  guilt,  laid  their  burdensome  over- 
garments at  the-  feet  of  the  young  man,  Saul,  who  seems  thus  to  have 
taken  a  particularly  zealous  part  in  this  execution  of  a  pretended 
blasj)hemer,  and  to  have  I'egarded  it  as  an  act  well  pleasing  to  God. 
Stephen  committed  his  soul  to  the  Lord  Jesus,  as  the  dying  Lord  had 
committed  his  to  his  Father  (Luke  23  :  46).  Then,  kneeling  down,  he 
prayed,  like  his  Master  on  the  ci'oss  (Luke  23  :  34),  now  that  the  rage 
of  his  enemies  was  directed  upon  his  person,  that  the  Lord  would  not  lay 
this  sin  to  their  charge.     And  when  he  had  said  this,  he  fell  asleep. 

Worthy  was  this  man,  whose  last  moments  reflected  the  image  of  the 
dying  Redeemer,  to  lead  the  glorious  host  of  martyrs,  whose  blood  was 
henceforth  to  fertilize  the  soil  of  the  church.  The  idea,  for  which  he 
died,  the  free,  evangelical  conception  of  Christianity  as  opposed  to  the 
stiffness  of  Judaism,  died  not  with  him,  but  was  perpetuated  in  one  of 
his  most  bitter  persecutors,  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  But  even  his 
death  contributed  to  the  outward  extension  of  the  church.  It  was  the 
signal  for  a  general  persecution,  and  for  the  dispersion  of  all  the  Chris- 
tians, except  the  apostles,  who  felt  it  their  duty  to  face  the  danger 
boldly,  and  stay  in  Jerusalem  (Acts  8  :  1,  14).  Thus  were  the  sparks 
of  the  gospel  blown  by  the  stormy  wmd  into  various  parts  of  Palestine, 
and  even  to  Phenicia,  Syria,  and  Cyprus  (8  :  1,  4.  11  :  19,  20).  The 
exemption  of  the  apostles  themselves  from  this  persecution,  must  be 
attributed  either  to  a  special  divine  interposition,  or  to  the  fact,  that  the 
war  was  directed  first  and  mainly  against  the  Hellenistic  portion  of  the 
church. 

§  59.    Chrutlanlfy  in  Samaria.     Philip. 

The  gospel  was  first  brought  to  Samaria  by  Philip  ;  not  the  apostle, 
but  one  of  the  seven  deacons  (6  :  5.  21  :  8),  who,  as  colleagues  of 
Stephen,  and  as  Hellenists,  were  doubtless  among  the  chief  sufferers  by 
the  persecution.  He  was  to  reap  what  Christ  had  already  sown  in  his 
conversation  with  the  Samaritan  woman  and  his  two  days'  residence  in 
Sychar  (comp.  Jno.  4  :  35  sqq.).  The  Samaritans,  indeed,  received  no 
part  of  the  Old  Testament,  but  the  Pentateuch  ;    yet  they  were  more 

'  Hence  many  interpreters  suppose,  that  the  stoning  of  Stephen  took  place  soon  after 
the  recall  of  Pilate,  A.  D.  36,  and  before  the  arrival  of  the  new  procurator,  Marcellus, 
when  such  an  act  of  lawlessness  might  have  more  easily  gone  unpunished.  But  this 
assumption  is  unnecessary.  The  Jews,  in  their  fanaticism,  cared  but  little  for  the 
laws  of  the  hated  Romans,  and,  in  the  ht^at  of  excitement,  forgot  the  possible  conse- 
quences, or  thought  to  escape  them  by  pleading,  that,  as  there  was  no  formal  sentence 
of  death  in  the  case,  the  execution  partook  of  no  official  character. 


MISSIONS.]  §  59.       CHKISTIAJS^ITT    IN    SAMAEIA.       PHILIP.  215 

susceptible,  than  the  proper  Jews,  to  superficial  religious  impressions  and 
foreign  influences,  and,  of  course,  also  to  all  sorts  of  superstition  and 
fanaticism  ;'  and  they  expected  from  the  Messiah  the  general  restoration 
and  consummation  of  all  things.     They  were  thrown  into  great  excite- 
ment by  Simon,  one  of  those  wandering  Goetae,  to  whom  the  door  was 
then  opened  by  the  general  longing  after  something  higher,  and  by  the 
prevailing  receptivity  for  the  secret  wisdom  of  the  East ;  and  who,  with 
their  deceitful  arts,  presented  the   same   contrast  to  the   apostles  and 
evangelists,  as  did  the   Egyptian  sorcerers    to    Moses  and  his  divinely 
wrought  miracles.     This  Simon,  who  received  from  the  church  fathers 
the  surname  Magus,  the  Magician,  and  was  regarded  by  them  as  the 
patriarch  of  all  heretics,  especially  of  the  Gnostics,''  gave  himself  out  for 
a  higher  being,  and  on  account  of  his  sorceries,  including  perhaps  astro- 
logy, necromancy,  exorcism  by  formulas  of  the  Graeco-Oriental  theosophy, 
&c.,  was  gazed  upon  by  old  and  young  as  an  emanation  or  incarnation 
of  deity.     But  when  Philip,  by  the  unostentatious  power  of  faith   and 
the  shnple  invocation  of  the  name  of  Jesus,  wrought  miracles,  especially 
of  healing,  which  Simon,  with  all  his  jugglery,  could  not  imitate,  the 
people  fell  over  to  the  evangelist  and  were  baptized.    The  magician  then 
thought  it  best  to  yield  to  the  higher  power  and  likewise  to  be  baptized  ; 
doubtless  hoping  thus  himself  to  obtain  the  miraculous  gifts  of  his  rival. 
For  the  result  forbids  us  to  regard  him  as  having  been  truly  converted. 
He  probaljly  perceived  in  the  gospel  a  superior  divine  power,  and  was 
for  a  moment  subdued  by  it,  but  never  truly  and  honestly  embraced  it. 
He  wished  to  hold  fast  to  his  heathen  views,  as  Ananias  to  his  gold,  and 
to  make  the  Christian  name  a  tool  of  his  avarice  and  ambition. 

This  rapid  success  of  the  gospel  among  a  mixed  people,  mortally  hated 
by  the  Jews,  and,  though  circumcised,  not  considered  by  them  as  belong- 
ing to  the  theocratic  race,  must  make  no  little  stir  among  the  believers 
in  Jerusalem.  Many,  perhaps,  under  the  influence  of  old  prejudices, 
might  doubt  the  genuineness  of  the  new  conversions.  At  all  events  the 
work  was  imperfect.  The  faith  of  the  Samaritan  converts  was  based  less 
on  inward  experience,  than  on  the  miracles  of  Philip,  as  formerly  on. the 
juggleries  of  Simon.  The  baptism  with  water  needed  to  be  confirmed 
and  completed  by  the  baptism  with  the  Spirit  (Acts  8  :  16).  The 
apostles,  therefore,  sent  two  of  their  number,  Peter  and  John,  to  Samaria, 
to  examine  the  Matter  and  supply  what  was  wanting.  These  apostles, 
no  doubt,  first  gave  the  Samaritans  more  accurate  instruction  concerning 

'  As  appears  from  the  acceptance,  which  three  successive  sect-founders  in  the  first 
century  met  with  among  the  Samaritans ; — Dositheus ;  Simon  Magus,  who  equally 
deserves  mention  ;  and  Menander,  his  disciple. 

"  Of  his  relation  to  Gnosticism  we  shall  speak  more  particularly  under  the  head  of 
heresies  in  the  apostolic  church. 


21G  §  •^^-     ciiri3tia:nity  in  samauta.     rniLip,  [i.  booe. 

the  Iilstory  of  Jesus,  and  couccnung  repentance  and  faith  in  iiini  •  and 
then,  by  the  symbol  of  the  laying  on  of  hands,  imparted  to  tliem  the 
Holy  Ghost,  who  now  revealed  himself  by  tokens  like  those  on  Pente- 
cost. Simon,  still  more  astonished,  sought  to  buy  of  the  apostles  the 
art  of  communicating  the  Holy  Ghost  by  the  laying  on  of  hands,'  that 
he  might  thus  obtain  the  greater  dominion  over  the  minds  of  men.  This, 
like  the  history  of  so  many  other  fanatics,  shows  that  there  may  be  a 
sordid  and  arbitrary  effort  to  obtain  even  the  highest  and  holiest  gifts — 
an  effort,  which,  as  it  springs  not  from  humility,  but  from  ambition  and 
selfishness,  is  an  aljomination  to  the  Lord,  and  works  destruction.  Peter 
sharply  rebuked  the  hypocrite  for  this  profane  degradation  of  the  holy 
and  the  supernatural  into  the  sphere  of  perishable  matter  ;  yet  he  did 
not  give  him  up,  but  exhorted  him  to  repent.'^  Simon,  trembling  with 
fear  of  divine  punishment,  now  besought  the  apostles,  indeed,  to  inter- 
cede for  him  with  the  Lord,  and  avert  the  fulfillment  of  their  thi-eaten- 
ing.  But  this  impression  was  merely  transient,  and,  so  far  as  we  have 
any  traces  of  his  subsequent  history,  he  remained,  as  before,  the  old  man, 
making  out  of  religion  a  miserable  trade. ^  This  remarkable  interview 
of  Simon  Peter  with  Simon  Magus  was  regarded  and  set  forth  in  varied 
colors  by  ancient  Christians,  as  typifying  the  posture  of  the  orthodox 
church  towards  deceptive  heresy. 

Two  nations,  most  obstinately  at  variance,  being  thus  united  by  the 
spirit  of  Christianity  into  one  fellowship  of  love,  the  two  apostles  returned 
to  Jerusalem,  which  was  then  the  centre  of  church  operations  ;  preaching 
the  gospel  in  many  Samaritan  villages  on  the  way  (8  :  25).  But  Philip, 
at  the  instance  of  the  Spirit,  went  to  the  road  which  leads  from  Jerusa- 
lem to  Gaza,  an  ancient  city  of  the  Philistines,  destroyed  by  Alexander 
the  Great,  but  rebuilt  by  Herod. ^     Here  he  met  an  Ethiopian,  court 

'  Hence,  through  the  whole  Middle  Age,  the  traffic  in  church  offices  and  dignities 
was  termed  simony. 

"  The  mildness  of  the  apostle  here  presents  a  striking  contrast  to  his  severity  in  the 
terrible  punishment  of  Ananias  (c.  5) .  But  we  may  account  for  the  diffiirence  of  treat- 
ment by  considering,  that  Simon,  in  whom  we  must  suppose  a  mixture  of  deceit.and 
superstition,  had  not  yet  experienced  the  Holy  Ghost  in  his  heart,  and  did  not  really 
know  what  he  was  doing ;  whereas  Ananias  exhibited  the  height  of  conscious  hypocrisy 
and  selfishness,  amidst  the  virgin  purity  and  glowing  love  of  the  primitive  church. 

^  It  cannot  be  made  out  with  certainty,  but  it  is  not  improbable,  that  this  Simon,  as 
Neander,  for  example,  supposes  (1.  c.  p.  108),  is  the  same  as  the  Simon,  who,  according 
to  Jose|)hus  [Archaeol.  XX.  7.  ^  2\  appears  some  ten  years  afterwards  in  confidential 
intercourse  with  the  vile  procurator,  Felix,  aiding  him  by  his  magical  arts  in  gratifying 
his  adulterous  lust.  It  is  certain,  that  the  beginnings  of  the  Gnostic  sect  of  the  Simonians 
are  to  be  traced  back  to  the  magician  Simon. 

*  The  question  might  her<^  arise  :  Why  did  he  not  rather  return  to  Jerusalem  ?  Hess 
thinks  (1   c.  p.  104),  because  the  persecution  was  still  raging  there,  and  the  deacons,  on 


MISSIONS. J  I  60.       CONVEESION   OF    COENELIUS.  217 

officer  and  treasurer  of  queen  Candace,'  jiist  returning  from  a  visit  to 
the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  and  reading  the  fifty-third  chapter  of  the  pro- 
phet Isaiah.^  Phijip  explained  its  meaning  to  him,  preached  to  him 
Jesus,  as  the  grand  subject  of  the  prophecy,  and  baptized  him.  We 
have  no  moans  of  knowing,  whether  any  further  results  followed  this  con- 
version. Church  history  tells  us  indeed,  that  Frumentius  and  .^desius, 
in  the  fourth  century  were  the  first  missionaries  of  Ethiopia.  Yet  the  gos- 
pel might  have  been  spread,  before  this,  in  another  part  of  that  country  ; 
and  a  tradition  of  the  Abyssinian  church  derives  the  origin  of  this  church 
from  tl)at  chaml3erlain,  whom  it  calls  Indich  ;  and  many  of  its  doctrines 
and  usages  seem  to  point  to  a  Jewisli  Christian  origin. 

Philip  next  went  to  Azotus  and  preached  in  the  cities  southward  and 
northward  on  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean,  till  he  settled  for  some 
time  in  Caesarea  Stratonis,  the  capital  of  Palestine,  where  the  governor 
resided,  (8  :  40,  comp.  21  :  8).  Here  he  prepared  the  way  for  the  visit 
of  Peter,  shortly  after,  and  for  the  conversion  of  Cornelius  ;  to  which  we 
DOW  pass. 

§  60.    The    Conversion  of   Cornelius.     Beginning  of  the  Mission  to  the 

Gentiles. 
Thus  far  none  had  been  received  into  the  Christian  church  but  Jews, 
and  sucli  proselytes  as  had  been  circumcised.^     But  the  missionary  work 
could  not  possibly  stop  here.     The  salvation  of  the  gospel  was  for  all 

account  of  the  dispersion  of  the  church,  had  nothing  more  to  do.  But  the  church  can- 
not have  been  entirely  dissolved,  and  the  "  all,"  (Acts  S  :  1),  must  be  taken  as  hyper- 
bolical. Otherwisi-  the  apostles  would  hardly  have  remained  there.  Baiir.  in  his  work 
on  Paul  (p.  .'39),  supposes,  that,  after  the  time  of  Stephen,  there  was  a  formal  separa- 
tion between  the  strictly  Judaizing,  Hebrew  Christians,  and  the  more  liberal,  Hellenis- 
tic portion  of  the  church.  Philip  belonged  to  the  last ;  and  it  was  only  the  first,  who 
remained  in  Jerusalem.  But  this  is  at  once  contradicted  by  c.  9  :  27,  where  it  appears, 
that  the  Hellenist  Barnabas  was  in  Jerusalem,  when  Saul  first  came  there  after  his 
conversion ;  not  to  mention,  that  Baur  presupposes  a  degree  of  hostility  and  jealousy 
between  the  two  parties  altogether  at  variance  with  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  by  which  if 
any  men  were  actuated,  the  apostles  were.  The  simplest  answer  is,  that  Philip  was 
called  rather  to  be  a  missionary  and  evangelist,  as  in  fact  he  is  so  styled  (21  :  8,  comp. 
8  :  40) . 

According  to  Pliny  this  was  the  official  title  of  all  the  princes  of  Meroe  in  upper 
Egypt.     So  the  Egyptian  kings  were  called  Pharaoh. 

"^  Whence  it  appears,  that  he  was  either  a  proper  Jew  or  a  proselyte.  If  we  take 
the  word  •■  eunuch,"  (8  :  27) ,  literally,  the  Ethiopian,  accoiding  to  the  law  (Deut. 
23  :  r,  could  have  been  only  a  proselyte  of  the  gate,  and  we  should  then  have  here  the 
first  example  of  the  reception  of  such  a  person  into  the  Christian  fellowship,  and  a 
prelude  to  the  conversion  of  Cornelius.  But  that  expression  frequently  denotes  a  court 
officer  in  generul,  without  respect  to  the  bodily  mutilation. 

^  As  the  deacon,  Nicc>las  of  Antioch,  mentioned  in  c.  6  :  5. 


218  §  60.      CONVERSION   OF   COKNELIUS.  [l-   BOOK. 

people,  Gentiles,  as  well  as  Jews.  This  was  implied  even  in  the  promise 
to  Abraham,  that  in  his  seed  all  families  of  the  earth  should  be  blessed.^ 
Isaiah  had  expressly  predicted  the  conversion  of  the  Gentiles.'^  And  the 
Lord,  at  his  departure,  had  charged  his  disciples  to  teach  all  nations  and 
baptize  them  in  the  name  of  the  holy  Trinity,  (Matt.  28  :  19,  20). 
But  nothing  particular  had  been  revealed  respecting  the  tvay  of  bringing 
the  Gentiles  into  the  church.  The  apostles  and  primitive  Christians 
were  at  first  of  the  opinion,  that  this  could  be  only  through  the  medium 
of  Judaism,  and  that  the  Gentiles  must,  therefore,  first  be  circumcised. 
They  were  still  too  much  restricted  to  the  letter  in  their  views  of  the 
Old  Testament,  which,  though  it  ordains  circumcision  for  all  time,  and 
threatens  the  uncircumcised  with  being  cut  oft'  from  the  people  of  God, 
(Gen.  It  :  10,  13,  14),  yet  intimates,  on  the  other  hand,  the  typical 
import  of  this  rite,  its  reference  to  the  circumcision  ^of  the  heart,  as  the 
main  thing,'  and  contains  occasional  hints  of  the  abolition  of  the  ancient 
worship  and  the  establishment  of  an  entirely  new  covenant.*  Then 
again,  the  plain  declaration  of  the  Lord,  that  he  came  not  to  destroy  the 
law,  (Matt.  5  :  17),  seemed  to  favor  their  scrupulous  attachment  to  it. 
The  idea  of  such  an  abstract  separation  of  the  moral  and  ceremonial 
laws,  as  is  current  with  many  modern  theologians,  was  utterly  foreign  to 
them.  Their  doubts  respecting  the  legality  of  admitting  the  uncircum- 
cised into  the  Christian  fellowship  flowed,  therefore,  very  naturally,  from 
their  religious  training,  and  were  essentially  grounded  in  their  conscien- 
tiousness and  reverence  for  the  Old  Testament.  God  himself  must  break 
this  prejudice,  and,  give  the  apostles  to  understand,  that  the  gospel, 
which  they  very  properly  preached  first  only  to  the  chosen  people,  after 
the  example  of  their  Master,  they  should  also  carry  to  the  Gentiles. 
Larger  views  of  Christianity  as  related  to  Judaism  were  suggested,  it  is 
true,  by  the  converted  Hellenists,  especially  Stephen,  and  by  the  marked 
success  of  the  gospel  among  the  Samaritans.  But  the  scruples  of  the 
stricter  Palestinian  Jewish  Christians,  the  "  Hebrews,"  could  be  over- 
come only  by  a  special  revelation,  like  that  made,  before  the  baptism  of 
Cornelius,  to  Peter,  then  leader  of  the  church,  and  of  the  Hebrew  party 
in  particular. 

From  this  we  see,  that  the  knowledge  even  of  the  apostles  was  pro- 
gressive. The  communication  of  the  Spirit  on  the  day  of  Pentecost 
must  not  be  regarded  as  a  magical  bestowment  of  all  possible  articles  of 
knowledge    and   information,  but   as  a   central   enlightenment,    as   the 

'  Gen.  12  :  3.     18  :  18.     22  :  18-     Comp.  Gal.  3  :  8,  16. 

Is.  60  :  3  sqq.     66  :  19  sqq.     Comp.  Zech.  6  :  15. 
''  Deut.  10  :  16.     30  :  6      Jer.  4:4. 
*  Jer.  3  :  16.     31  :  31-33,  etc. 


MISSIONS.]  §  60.       CONVEESION    OF   COKNELHIS.  219 

implanting-  of  the  living  principle  of  all  religious  truth,  the  unfolding  and 
particular  application  of  which  was  left  to  the  regenerate  human  mind  in 
its  organic  cooperation  with  the  divine  Spirit.  The  gracious  control  of 
Providence  appears  much  more  adorable  in  this  accommodation  to  the 
wants  and  laws  of  human  nature,  than  if  it  had  proceeded  in  an  imme- 
diate, abrupt,  magical  way.  The  gradual  providential  preparation  for 
the  great  work  of  converting  the  heathen  must  be  obvious  to  every  one, 
who  attentively  reads  the  artless  narrative  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
from  the  appearance  of  Stephen  onward.  All  the  events  wonderfully 
and  yet  naturally  conspire,  each  in  its  right  time,  until  the  foundation  is 
inw^ardly  and  outwardly  completed  for  the  grand  superstructure  of  the 
apostle  Paul.  None  but  a  perverted  sense  can  turn  this  objective  prag- 
matism of  the  history  itself  into  a  purely  subjective  one,  and  everywhere 
see  here  not  the  operation  of  God,  but  merely  the  designed  fictions  of  a 
later  writer.' 

Premising  these  general  remarks,  we  pass  to  the  history  of  Cornelius 
itself.  From  this  we  shall  see,  first,  how  the  Lord  opens  the  way  for  his 
work  independently  of  the  wisdom  and  erroneous  notions  of  men,  and  yet 
exactly  at  the  right  time  ;  secondly,  how  the  Holy  Ghost  gradually 
enlarged  the  knowledge  of  the  apostles,  and  loosed  the  shackles  of  their 
Jewish  prejudices,  while  they,  on  their  part,  readily  submitted  to  the 
higher  instruction  ;  and  finally,  that  Christianity  is  originally  not  doc- 
trine nor  a  system  of  thoughts,  but  life  and  experience. 

Cornelius,  the  first  fruits  of  the  faith  from  the  heathen  w^orld,  was 
captain  of  a  cohort  of  Italians,  stationed  in  the  maritime  city  of  Caesa- 
rea,  (Acts  10  :  1),  and  was  probably  himself  an  Italian,  perhaps  a 
Roman.  In  religion  he  was  Pagan  ;  for  Peter  calls  him  "  one  of 
another  nation,"  with  whom  the  Jews  dared  not  hold  intercourse,  (10  : 
28)  ;  he  was  numbered  among  the  uncircumcised  and  therefore  unclean, 
(11  :  3)  ;  and  it  was  as  the  conversion  of  a  Gentile,  that  his  conversion 
made  so  great  a  noise,  (10  :  45.  11  :  1.).  But,  unsatisfied  with  poly- 
theism, and  honestly  longing  for  the  true  religion,  he  with  all  his  family, 
had  embraced  the  monotheism  of  the  Jews,  and  doubtless,  also,  their 
Messianic  hopes.  He  was  therefore  one  of  the  proselytes  of  the  gate,'* 
and  stood  in  high  esteem  with  the  Jews  for  his  fear  of  God  and  his  be- 
nevolence, (10  :  2,  22,  35).  The  address  of  Peter,  (10  :  37),  implies 
that  Cornelius  was  acquainted  with  the  historical  facts  of  Christianity  ; 
as  he  might  very  well  have  been,  since  the  deacon  Philip  preached  in 
Caesarea,  (8  :  40),  and  Peter's  miracles  in  the  neighboring  regions  made 

'  As  Dr.  Baur  does  with  a  lamentable  abuse  of  his  acumen  and  power  of  combina- 
tion in  the  works  frequently  cited  above. 
*  Comp.  respecting  these  §  50  supra. 


220  §■  60.       CONVERSION    OF    CORNELIUS.  [l-  BOOK. 

no  small  stir,  (9  :  32-43).  This  knowledge  only  increased  his  inward 
discjuietude,  and  his  desire  to  be  clearly  instructed  respecting  the 
weightiest  concern  of  the  heart.  He  might  suspect,  that  this  new 
religion,  vehemently  condemned  by  some,  and  by  others  zealously 
embraced,  was  perhaps  the  true  one,  and  the  only  one,  which  could  meet 
the  deepest  wants  of  his  soul.  He  sought  information  respecting  it  in 
prayer,  and,  that  he  might  devote  himself  with  less  disturbance  to^the 
contemplation  of  divine  things,  he  adopted  the  Jewish  custom  of  fasting. 
At  the  third  hour  of  prayer,  (three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon),  he  fell  into  an 
ecstasy,  and  an  angel  appeared  to  him,  telling  him  that  the  Lord  had 
graciously  regarded  his  sincere  and  earnest  prayers  for  salvation  and 
his  works  of  love,  and  directing  him  to  send  for  Simon  Peter  from  Joppa. 
In  pursuance  of  the  divine  suggestion,  the  centurion  immediately  sent 
two  slaves  with  a  faithful,  devout  soldier  to  Joppa  (now  Jaffa),  also  on 
the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  a  good  day's  journey  (thirty  Roman 
miles)  from  Caesarea. 

By  a  miraculous  coincidence,  Peter  also,  on  the  next  day,  experienced 
an  inward  revelation,  by  which  he  was  prepared  to  understand  the  unex- 
pected invitation  of  a  Gentile.  "When  the  persecution  had  ceased,  this 
apostle,  in  virtue  of  his  gift  for  leading  the  church,  made  a  tour  of  visit- 
ation to  the  churches  in  Judea,  Galilee,  and  Samaria,  especially  in  the 
fertile  plain  of  Sarou  on  the  Mediterranean.  In  this  tour  he  preached 
and  wrought  miracles,  among  which  the  raising  of  the  benevolent 
Tabitha  from  the  dead  is  minutely  related,  (9  :  36-41).  In  Joppa  he 
abode  some  days  in  the  house  of  a  tanner  by  the  name  of  Simon,  (9  : 
43).  This  circumstance  is  particularly  noted,  perhaps,  to  show  how, 
even  then,  the  apostle  had  begun  to  lay  aside  his  Jewish  prejudices  ;  for 
the  trade  of  a  tanner  was  considered  half  unclean,  and  those  wdio  follow- 
ed it  had  to  live  by  themselves.  At  noon,  when  the  messengers  of  Cor- 
nelius were  approaching  the  city,  Peter  went  up  to  the  flat  roof,  to  offer 
his  prayer,  which  doubtless  referred  to  the  spread  of  the  kingdom  of 
God.  While  his  spirit  hungered  for  souls,  to  win  them  to  Christ,  his 
body,  weakened  perhaps  by  protracted  fasting,  craved  earthly  food.' 
Suddenly  he  fell  into  a  trance,  in  which  his  ordinary  consciousness  was 
suspended,  and  God  gave  him  new  information  respecting  the  way  of 
spreading  the  gospel.  The  vision  was  clothed  in  a  form  exactly  suited 
to  the  condition,  the  spiritual  and  bodily  desires  of  the  apostle.  Food 
was  set  before  him,  which  he,  as  a  Jew,  shrank  from  touching.     Peter,  in 

'  Perhaps  bis  vehement  hunger,  (rr^oaneLvoc,  10  :  10),  which  is,  at  all  events,  related 
to  the  subsequent  vision,  forming,  so  to  speak,  its  physical  basis,  was  intended  to  pre- 
sent  to  him  the  law  against  eating  unclean  animals,  (which  are,  nevertheless,  designed 
for  the  nourishment  of  man) ,  as  an  unnatural  restriction,  to  be  henceforth  abolished. 


MISSION'S.]  g  60.       CONVERSION    OF   CORNELIUS.  221 

the  Spirit,  saw  a  vessel,  like  a  great  sheet,  fastened  at  the  four  corners 
(witli  cords  from  heaven  ?),  filled  with  animals  clean  and  unclean,  and 
let  down  from  the  opened  heavens  to  the  earth.  At  the  same  time  he 
received  a  command  from  the  Lord  :  "  Rise,  Peter  ;  kill  and  eat." 
When  he  refused,  saying-  he  had  never  yet  eaten  anything  unclean,  he 
heard  the  significant  words  :  "  What  God  hath  cleansed,  that  call  not 
thou  connuon."  When  the  voice  had  thrice  repeated  this  command,  the 
vessel  was  drawn  up  again  to  heaven,  (10  :  11-16). 

The  symbolical  import  of  this  vision  we  can  easily  conjecture.  The 
vessel  denotes  the  creation,  especially  mankind  ;  the  letting  down  of  it 
from  heaven,  the  descent  of  all  creatures  from  the  same  divine  origin  ; 
the  four  corners  are  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe  ;  the  clean  and 
unclean  beasts  represent  the  Jews  and  Gentiles  ;'  and  the  command  to 
eat  contains  the  divine  declaration  that  the  new  creation  in  Christ  has ' 
henceforth  annulled  the  Mosaic  laws  respecting  food,  (Lev.  10  :  10),  as 
well  as  the  distinction  between  clean  and  unclean  nations  ;  and  that  even 
the  heathen,  therefore,  were  to  be  received  into  the  Christian  church 
without  the  intervention  of  Judaism  ;  as  the  cloth,  Avith  all  the  animals, 
was  taken  up  again  to  heaven. 

Scarce  had  Peter  awaked  from  his  trance  and  begun  to  reflect  on  the 
meaning  of  this  appearance,  when  the  Gentile  messengers  presented 
themselves  at  the  door  of  the  house,  and  the  Spirit  at  once  showed  him 
the  object  of  the  vision.  He  entertained  the  strangers,  and  on  the  next 
day  went  with  them  and  six  brethren,  (comp.  11  :  12),  to  Caesarea. 
Cornelius,  who  in  the  mean  time  had  called  together  his  kinsmen  and 
near  friends,  fell  upon  his  knees  before  the  desired  divinely  commissioned 
teacher,  as  before  a  superhuman  being.  The  apostle  refused  this  well- 
meant,  but  heathenish  idolatry,  saying  :  "  Stand  up  ;  I  myself  also  am 
a  man."  After  hearing  from  the  centurion  the  reason  of  his  sending  for 
him,  perceiving  the  wonderful  coincidence  of  the  two  visions,  and  being 
convinced,  by  his  own  eyes,  of  the  Gentile's  humble  readiness  to  receive 
religious  instruction,  he  broke  forth  in  the  remarkable  words,  which 
show  that  his  new  view  of  the  relation  of  the  Gentiles  to  the  gospel  had 
now  ripened  into  a  clear  and  firm  assurance  :  "  Of  a  truth  I  perceive 
that  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons  ;  but  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth 
him,  and  worketh  righteonsuess,  is  accepted  with  him,"^  (10  :  34,  35). 

'  Tlie  Jfiwish  distinction  between  animals  was  closely  connected  with  the  national 
segregation.  The  Levitical  laws  respecting  food  forbade  the  Jews  eating  unclean  beasts, 
and  with  this  all  table  intercourse  with  the  Gentiles,  who  did  not  regard  this  distinc- 
tion, and,  on  that  account,  were  themselves  considered  unclean 

-  Thi.-;  is,  of  course,  to  be  understood,  not  of  the  righteousness  of  fnith.  but  of  the 
righteousness  of  the  law,  and  of  this,  too,  only  in  a  relative  sense;  as  Paul  says  of  cer- 
tain Gentiles,  (Rora.  2  :  13,  U,  26,  27) ,  that  they  do  by  nature  the  works  of  the  law. 


223  §  GO.       CONVEKSION    OF    CORNELIUS.  [l-  BOOK. 

Here  Peter  bring-s  ont  tlie  principle  of  tlic  uiiiversalism  of  Cliristianity 
in   op])osition  to   the  Je^visli  partienlaristri.      National    distinctions,  he 
would  say,  have  nothing  to  do  with  admission  into  tlie  kingdom  of  God. 
The  great  requisite  is,  not  descent  from  Abraham,  not  circumcision,  but 
simply  a  sincere  desire  for  salvation.     God  looks  upon  the  heart  ;  and  to 
every  one  who  reveres  him  according  to  the  measure   of  his  knowledge 
and  advantages,  and  lives  accordingly,  he  will  graciously  show  the  way 
to  the  Saviour,  who  alone  can  satisly  the  cravings  of  his  soul.     This  is 
the  sense  of  the  words  in  their  connection.     It  is,  therefore,  as  De  Wette 
says,  (on  Acts  10  :  35),  "  the  height  of  exegetical  frivolity,"  for  Ration- 
alistic interpreters  to  draw  from  these  words  of  the  apostle  the  equality 
of  all  religions,  and  an  extenuation  of  indifferentism.     Peter  is  plainly 
speaking,  not  of  being  absolutely  well  pleasing  to  God,   but  only  of 
acceptance  with  him  in  reference  to  admission  into  the  Messianic  king- 
dom.    "  Accepted  with  him,"  denotes  the  capacity  of  becoming  Chris- 
tian, not  the  capability  of  being  saved  without  Christ.     Otherwise  Cor- 
nelius might  as  well  have  remained  a  heathen,  and  need  not  have  been 
baptized  at  all.     On  the  contrary,  Peter  immediately  after,  (10  :  43), 
announces   Jesus    as    the    one,    who    alone  imparts  forgiveness  of  sins 
through  faith,  and  in  another  place,  (A^  s  15  :  11),  he  expressly  says, 
we  all  shall   be    saved   only   through   the    grace    of  the    Lord   Jesus. 
Wherever,  therefore,  in  the  natural  man,  there  is  an  earnest  longing  for 
righteousness,  a  yearning  of  the  soul  after  God,  there  preparing  grace  is 
already  at  work,  continually  urging  the  soul,  consciously  or  unconscious- 
ly, towards  Christ,  who  alone  can  satisfy  its  wants. 

Peter  then  reminded  Cornelius  and  his  friends  of  the  historical  facts 
of  the  life  of  Jesus,  which  he  took  for  granted  were,  in  general,  already 
known  (10  :  37  sqq.)  ;  spoke  of  his  death  and  resurrection  ;  and  showed 
how,  according  to  the  testimony  of  all  the  prophets,  men  should  obtain 
remission  of  sins  and  salvation  by  believing  in  him,  as  the  Messiah  and  the 
judge  of  all.  While  he  was  yet  speaking  the  Holy  Ghost  fell  on  the 
waiting  hearers,  and  made  it  impossible  and  useless  to  continue  the 
sermon.  They  spoke  with  tongues  and  magnified  God  (10  :  4G).  In 
short,  the  day  of  Pentecost  here  repeated  itself  for  the  Gentiles.  The 
communication  of  the  Spirit,  and  consequently  regeneration,  in  this  case, 
Icfo'-e  ba^jtism,  is  striking,  and  without  parallel  in  the  New  Testament. 
In  all  other  cases,  as  with  the  Samaritans,  the  gift  of  the  Spirit  accom- 
panied or  followed  baptism  and  the  laying  on  of  hands.  Man  is  bound 
by  the  ordinances  of  God,  but  not  God  himself ;  He  can  anticipate  them 
witli  his  spiritual  gifts.  This  exception  to  the  general  rule  was  undoubt- 
edly ordered,  though  not  for  the  benefit  of  Peter  himself,  as  Olshauseu 
supposes,  yet  for  that  of  his  Jewish   Christian  companions  :    and  was 


MISSIONS.]     -  §  60.      CONVEKSION   OF   CORNELIUS.  223 

intended  to  give  them,  and  through  them  the  whole  Jewish  Christian 
party  in  Jerusalem,  who  could  conceive  of  no  baptism  with  the  Spirit 
without  the  baptism  with  water,  incontestable  proof  of  the  participation 
of  the  Gentiles  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  to  free  them  from  their 
narrow,  legalistic  views.  The  apostle,  however,  even  in  this  case,  bore 
the  strongest  testimony  to  the  importance  of  baptism  with  water,  by 
causing  this  sacrament  still  to  be  administered  as  an  objective  divine  seal 
and  pledge  of  the  gifts  of  grace  (10  :  48). 

At  the  request  of  the  Gentile  converts,  Peter  remained  some  days  in 
Caesarea,  and  then  returned  to  Jerusalem.  Here  he  set  the  rigid  Jew- 
ish Christians  at  rest  respecting  his  conduct,  by  giving  them  a  full  account 
of  the  whole  wonderful  transaction,  so  that  they  also  praised  God,  that 
he  had  given  repentance  and  the  Holy  Ghost  to  the  Gentiles  (11  :  18). 
And  now  that  God  himself  had  so  plainly  broken  down  the  partition 
wall  between  Jews  and  Gentiles,  and  had  glorified  his  grace  in  the  latter, 
the  narrow  Judaism,  which  made  circumcision  the  condition  of  salvation, 
became  henceforth  a  formal  heresy. 

Yet  we  could  not  but  expect,  that  the  deeply  rooted  prejudices, 
especially  of  those  churchmembers,  who  had  formerly  been  Pharisees 
(comp.  15  :  5),  would  long  continue  to  work  and  destroy  the  peace  of 
the  church.  Of  this  testify  the  transactions  of  the  apostolic  council, 
(Acts  15),  and  almost  all  Paul's  epistles.  Even  Peter  himself,  on  a 
subsequent  occasion,  acted  against  his  own  better  conviction,  from  fear 
of  some  narrow-minded  Jewish  Christians  ;  for  which  he  had  to  be 
sharply  rebuked  by  Paul  (Gal.  2  :  11  sqq.).' 

§  61.    The  Church  at  Antioch.     Origin  of  the  Christian  Name. 
About  the  same  time,*  or  at  least  soon   after,  a   step  preparatory  to 

'  But  when  such  critics  as  Gfrorer  [Die  he'd.  Sage,l  part.  p.  444  sq.),  and  Baur 
(1.  c. ),  make  this  circiinnstance  evidence  against  the  credibility  of  the  whole  narrative 
respecting  Cornelius,  they  run  counter  to  the  clear  representation  of  Paul  himself,  who 
describes  the  conduct  of  Peter  at  Antioch  as  a  fault,  not  of  his  views,  but  of  his  charac- 
ter, as  a  practical  inconsistency,  as  hypocrisy  (Gal.  2  :  12,  13,  14),  and  thus  presup- 
poses what  is  related  in  Acts.  Baur  acknowledges  (p.  80),  that  the  history  of  Corne- 
lius cannot  be  a  myth.  But  he  makes  it  what  is  still  worse,  a  fiction,  purposely 
invented  by  the  author  of  the  Act.s,  to  justify  Paul's  position  towards  the  Gentiles, 
(p.  78  sqq.l.  The  author  of  the  book  of  Acts  was,  therefore,  in  plain  terms,  a  pious  (?) 
impostor,  consciously  palming  his  own  fictions  upon  his  readers  as  objective  history ! ! 
This  manifestly  savors  too  much  of  the  obsolete  standpoint  of  Bahrdt,  Venturini,  and 
the  Wolfenbiittel  Fragmentists,  and  is  too  unworthy  of  a  theologian,  to  merit  a  serious 
refutation. 

"  Perhaps  about  A.  D.  40  ;  at  all  events,  two  years  before  the  famine,  predicted  by 
Agabus,  which  occurred  in  44  or  4-').  For  Luke  mentions  this  afterwards  (II  :  2S) , 
and  in  the  portion,  too,  respecting  the  Atitiochian   church,  where  he  evidently  follows 


224  §  61.     THE  crimtcH  at  antioch.  [i-  booe. 

the  conversioa  of  the  Gentiles  was  taken  in  another  quarter.  Though 
most  of  the  members  of  the  church  at  Jerusalem,  who  fled  after  the 
martyrtlom  of  Stephen,  preached  the  gospel  only  to  the  Jews  in  Phenicia 
and  Syria  (11  :  19)  ;  yet  there  were  some  Hellenistic  converts  among 
them,  from  Cyprus  and  Cyrene,  men  of  kindred  spirit  with  Stephen,  who 
addressed  themselves  also  to  the  Gentiles  at  Antioch  (v.  20),'  and  with 
great  success,  xintioch,  the  former  residence  of  the  Seleucidian  kings, 
was  then  the  seat  of  the  Roman  proconsul,  the  capital  of  Syria  and  of 
all  the  Roman  provinces  in  the  East,  and  at  the  same  time  a  renowned 
centre  of  eloquence  and  general  culture.  The  church  at  Jerusalem  now 
sent  Barnabas  to  Antioch,  as  formerly  it  had  sent  Peter  and  John  to 
Samaria,  to  inspect  and  to  water  this  new  plantation.  Joses,  surnamed 
Barnabas,  (son  of  exhortation,  of  consolation),  the  subsequent  companion 
of  the  apostle  Paul,  had  already  'distinguished  himself,  in  the  earliest 
days  of  the  church,  by  his  self-denying  benevolence,  and  was  also  a 
Grecian  Jew,  a  native  of  the  island  of  Cyprus  (Acts  4  :  36,  3T).  Thus, 
being  a  mean  between  Jewish-Christian  and  Gentile-Christian  views,  he 
was  peculiarly  fitted  for  this  mission.  By  his  preaching,  and  especially 
by  bringing  the  converted  Saul  from  Tarsus,  he  did  much  to  strengthen 
and  enlarge  the  infant  church  (11  :  23-26). 

Thus  this  important  city  came  to  be  a  second  centre  of  Christianity  ; 
the  church  there  holding  the  same  relation  to  the  Gentile  mission,  that 
the  church  at  Jerusalem  held  to  the  Jewish.  It  was  from  Antioch,  and 
with  the  cooperation  of  its  church,  that  Paul  undertook  his  great  mis- 
sionary tours  into  Asia  Minor  and  Greece. 

But  Antioch  was  important  also  in  another  respect.  It  was  there,  and 
probably  soon  after  the  formation  of  the  church  there,  that  the  name. 
Christians,  originated  (Acts  11  :  26).  This  appellation  was  not  assumed 
by  the  Christians  themselves.  They  rather  called  themselves  "  disciples," 
"believers,"  (in  reference  to  their  relation  td  the  Lord),  "saints,"  (with 
respect  to  their  character  and  the  great  problem  of  their  lives),  "bre- 
thren," (referring  to  their  mutual  fellowship).    Still  less  was  it  given  them 

the  course  of  events ;  as,  in  fact,  he  is  generally  very  careful  to  preserve  the  chronolo- 
iiical  order.  Wieseler  (1.  c.  p.  152)  admits  this  in  reference  to  the  first  part  of  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  c.  1-8  :  3  and  the  whole  section  about  Paul,  c.  13  :  1-28  :  31  ; 
but  thinks  that,  from  c.  8  :  4  to  12  :  25.  the  synchronistic  method  prevails.  For  this 
supposition,  however,  there  seems  to  me  no  sufficient  ground.  I  place  the  events  from 
the  martyrdom  of  Stephen  to  the  bringing  of  Paul  from  Tarsus,  (11  :  2.5) ,  in  the  years 
37-43,  and  essentially  in  the  same  order,  in  which  Luke  relates  them. 

'  I  here  suppose,  with  most  modern  critics,  that,  according  to  cod.  A.  D.,  the  Vul- 
sate,  and  other  authorities,  '"Y.7.Ar)vaq  is  the  true  reading  in  the  passage  in  question. 
For  li  e  lect  rec ,  'EZAT^rtcr-Kf,  form.s  no  antithesis  whatever  to  'lovda'unr^  v.  J  9.,  since 
the  Hellenists  were  likewise  Jews. 


MISSIONS.]  §  61.      THE   CHUKCH   AT   ANTIOCH.  225 

by  the  Jews,  who  would  have  been  far  from  applying  to  the  hated  heretics 
the  hallowed  name  of  Christ,  Messiah,  and  who  contemptuously  called 
them  rather  "  Galileans,"  "Nazarenes."  The  name  came  from  the  hea- 
then, who  applied  it  to  the  followers  of  Jesus  Christ,'  either  in  mockery, 
or  from  a  mere  misunderstanding,  taking  the  term,  Christ,  for  a  proper 
name,  instead  of  an  official  title.  In  the  New  Testament  the  name  occurs 
in  but  two  places  besides  the  above,  viz..  Acts  26  :  28,  in  the  mouth  of 
Agrippa  ;  and  1  Pet.  4  :  16,  as  an  honorable  nickname.  It  was  soon, 
however,  universally  adopted  by  the  believers  ;  and  we  may  hence  suppose, 
that,  notwithstanding  its  heathen  origin,  it  arose  not  without  a  divine 
purpose,  as  a  kind  of  unconscious  prophecy,  like  the  words  of  Caiaphas. 
The  name,  Christians,  expresses  most  briefly  and  clearly  the  divine  destiny 
of  man,  and  always  holds  before  the  believer  the  high  idea,  after  which  he 
should  strive  ;  that  is,  to  have  his  own  life  a  copy  and  a  continuation  of 
the  life  of  Christ  and  of  his  threefold  office.^  Man,  indeed,  in  virtue  of 
his  inherent  likeness  to  God,  is  already  by  nature,  in  some  sense,  the 
prophet,  priest,  and  king  of  the  whole  creation.  Sin  has  obscured  this 
original  quality  of  his  nature  and  checked  its  development.  But  regene- 
ration and  vital  union  with  Christ  deliver  it  from  the  power  of  sin  and 
death,  and  gradually  unfold  it  in  all  its  glorious  proportions. 

'  According  to  the  analogy  of  the  names  of  other  parties,  as  Pompejani,  Caesariani, 
Herodiani,  &c. 

''  So  the  Heidelberg  Catechism  explains  the  name  in  the  32nd  question  :  "  Why  art 
thou  called  a  Christian  1  Because  I  am  a  member  of  Christ  by  faith,  and  thus  am 
partaker  of  his  anointing,  that  so  I  may  confess  his  name,  and  present  myself  a  living 
sacrifice  of  thanksgiving  to  him  ;  and  also  that  with  a  free  and  good  conscience  I  may 
fight  against  sin  and  Satan  in  this  life,  and  afterwards  reign  with  him  eternally  over 
all  creatures." 

15 


226  §  62.      PAUL    BEFORE   HIS   CONYERSION.  [l-  BOOK. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  APOSTLE  PAUL  AND  THE  MISSION  TO  THE  GENTILES. 

§  62.  Paul  Icfore  his  Conversion. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  seen  how  the  Christian  community, 
after  the  death  of  tlie  first  martyr,  extended  itself  in  Palestine  and  the 
neighboring  countries,  and  began  to  shake  off  its  narrow  Jewish  preju- 
dices respecting  the  admission  of  the  Gentiles  into  the  church.  Soon 
after  the  death  of  Stephen,  and  before  the  conversion  of  Cornelius,  God 
had  prepared  a  powerful  instrument,  who  was  destined,  though  not  exclu- 
sively, yet  preeminently,  to  carry  the  word  of  the  cross  to  the  heathen, 
and  at  the  same  time,  in  his  writings,  to  present  Christianity  free,  and 
independent  of  Judaism,  as  a  new  creation,  and  as  the  absolute  religion 
for  the  world.  The  missionary  activity  of  this  extraordinary  apostle, 
who,  in  speaking,  writing,  and  acting,  labored  more  than  all  the  others 
(1  Cor.  15  :  10),  will  be  the  subject  of  this  third  chapter. 

Saul  (according  to  the  Hebrew  form),  or  Paul  (according  to  the 
Hellenistic)/  was  the  son  of  Jewish  parents,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin, 

'  It  was  customary  with  the  Jews  to  have  two  names,  and  in  intercourse  with 
foreigners  to  use  the  Greek  or  Latin  one;  as  John,  Mark,  (Acts  12  :  12,  25) ;  Simeon, 
Niger  (13  :  1);  Jesus,  Justus  (Col.  4  :  11) .  This  best  accounts  for  the  appearance  of 
the  name,  Paul,  exactly  from  the  time,  when  this  apostle  comes  out  as  the  independent 
apostle  of  the  Gentiles  (13  :  9) ;  while  previously,  and  during  the  first  period  after  his 
conversion,  where  Luke  followed  Palestinian  documents,  he  is  called  Saul.  He  had 
probably,  however,  already  used  the  Graeco-Roman  form  during  his  former  residence 
in  Tarsus.  According  to  the  old  view  of  Jerome  [De  vir.  illustr.  c.  5),  which  has  been 
ndvocatedof  late  by  Olshausenand  Meyer,  Paul  assumed  this  name  in  grateful  remem- 
brance of  the  first  fruits  of  his  apostolic  labors,  the  conversion  of  the  Roman  pro- 
consul, Sergius  Paiilus  (Acts  13  :  7) :  "Apostolus  a  primo  ecclesiae  spolio,  Proconsule 
Sergio  Paulo,  victoriae  suae  trophaea  retulit  erexitque  vexilla,  ut  Paul  us  a  Saulo  voca- 
retur."  But  we  must  reject  this  explanation  for  the  following  reasons  :  (1.)  The  new 
name  appears  before  the  conversion  of  Sergius,  in  Acts  13:9;  whereas  one  would  not 
expect  it  to  occur  till  c.  13  :  13.  To  this  point  Fritzsche  has  justly  called  attention 
{Epist.  P.  ad.  Roman-  torn.  I.  p.  XI.  note  2).    (2.)  It  was,  indeed,  customary  in  ancient 


MISSIONS.]  §  62.       PAUL    BEFORE    HIS    CONVEKSION.  227 

(Phil.  3  :  5.  2  Cor.  11  :  22).  He  was  born  probably  but  few  years 
after  the  birth  of  Christ,'  at  Tarsus,  the  capital  of  Cilicia  in  Asia  Minor, 
and  one  of  the  most  renowned  seats  of  Grecian  culture,"  (Acts  9:11. 
21  :  39.  22  :  3),  and  was  by  birth  a  Roman  citizen,  (22  :  28.  16  :  37). 
Though  destined  for  a  theologian,  he  nevertheless,  according  to  the 
Jewish  custom,  learned  a  trade,  viz.,  tent-making,^  (18  :  3),  by  which 
he  mostly  supported  himself,  with  noble  self-denial,  even  after  he  became 
an  apostle,  that  he  might  be  no  burden  to  the  churches,  and  might  pre- 

times  to  name  pupils  after  their  teachers,  but  not  the  reverse  (vid.  Neander,  Apostel- 
gesck.  I.  p.  135.  Note).  (3.)  Paul  had  undoubtedly  before  this  converted  many  Gentiles, 
though  the  Acts  take  no  special  notice  of  it,  (comp.,  however,  11  :  25,  26),  as  also  they 
make  no  mention  of  Paul's  three  years'  residence  in  Arabia,  and  only  briefly  touch  upon 
his  residence  in  Tarsus.  At  all  events  we  can  see  no  reason  why  this  particular  con- 
version, which  seems  to  have  been  attended  with  no  further  results,  should  appear  to  the 
apostle  so  important,  as  to  induce  him  to  change  his  name. 

In  homilies  and  practical  discourses  it  is  still  usual  to  refer  the  double  name  of  the 
apostle  to  the  great  religious  antithesis  of  his  life,  just  as  Simon's  new  name,  dates 
from  his  contession  of  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  and  denotes  his  peculiar  position,  as 
foundation,  in  the  history  of  the  church.  Thus  Augustine  (Serm.  315)  draws  a 
parallel  between  Saul  the  persecutor  of  the  Christians,  and  Saul  the  persecutor  of 
David  :  "Saulus  enim  nomen  est  a  Saule,  Saulus  persecutor  erat  regis  David.  Talis 
fuerat  Saul  in  David,  qualis  Saulus  in  Stephanum."  And  the  new  name,  which  he  de- 
rives from  the  Latin  adjective  paulus^  he  regards  as  involving  the  idea  of  humility: 
"  Quia  Paulus  modictis  est,  Paulus  parvus  est.  Nos  solemus  sic  loqui :  videbo  te  post 
paulum,  i.  e.  post  modicum.  Unde  ergo  Paulus  :  '  ego  sum  minimus  Apostolorum,' 
1  Cor.  15  :  9."  Still  more  arbitrary  and  ungrammatical  is  the  etymological  trifling, 
noticed,  but  decidedly  condemned  by  Chrysostom  (De  nominum  mutationc) ,  which  de- 
rives Saul  from  craAet'etv  so.  ti^v  iKKTiTjoiav,  and  Paul  from  iTavaaa-&ai  sc.  tov  <5tw/cetv, 
making  the  first  name  denote  the  persecution  of  the  Christians,  and  the  second,  the 
cessation  of  the  persecution  !  Saul,  it  is  well  known,  is  a  Hebrew  word,  meaning 
rather  "  the  longed  for,"  "  the  prayed  for."  All  these  and  such  like  allegorical  inter- 
pretations are  forestalled  by  the  fact,  that  Luke  several  times  calls  our  apostle  Saul, 
even  after  his  conversion  (Acts  9:8,  11,  17,  19,  22,  26.  U  :  25,  30.  12  :  25. 
13  :  2,  9) . 

For  at  the  time  of  his  imprisonment  in  Rome,  when  he  wrote  his  epistle  to  Phile- 
mon (v.  9) ,  about  A.  D.  63,  he  was  an  old  man,  npEajSdTtjr,  therefore  doubtless  upwards 
of  sixty. 

^  Strabo,  contemporary  with  Caesar  Augustus,  in  his  Geography,  XIV.  5,  places 
Tarsus,  iu  point  of  philosophical  and  literary  culture,  even  above  Athens  and  Alexandria. 

^  Tents  were  then  used  for  a  great  variety  of  purposes,  in  war,  in  navigation,  by 
shepherds  and  travellers.  They  were  made  mostly  of  the  hair  of  the  Cilician  goat, 
which  was  peculiarly  coarse  and  well  adapted  to  this  purpose ;  whence  kiIlkloq  Tguyog 
denoted  a  coarse  man.  Comp.  Hug:  Einl.  ins  N.  T.  II.  p.  328  sq.  3rd  ed.  The  Jew- 
ish custom  of  pursuing  a  trade  along  with  the  study  of  the  law  was  not  designed  solely 
to  secure  the  means  of  temporal  subsistence,  but  also  to  counteract  temptations  to  sen- 
suality,  and  its  destructive  influence  on  the  higher  spiritual  life.  For  the  same  twofold 
purpose  the  Christian  monachism  united  manual  labor  with  meditation. 


2l'8  §  62.       PAUL   BEFORE    HIS   CONVERSION.  [l-  BOOK. 

serve  his  independence.'  In  his  native  place  he  had  the  best  opportunity 
of  olitaining  an  early  acquaintance  with  the  Greek  language  and  na- 
tionality, which  was  of  great  advantage  to  him  in  his  subsequent  calling. 
On  the  question  whether  he  received,  properly  speaking,  a  classical  edu- 
cation, scholars  are  not  agreed.  Certain  it  is  that  the  groundwork  of 
his  intellectual  and  moral  training  was  Jewish.  Yet  he  had  at  least  some 
knowledge  of  Greek  literature,  whether  he  acquired  it  in  Tarsus,  or  in 
Jerusalem  under  Gamaliel,  who  himself  was  not,  like  most  of  the  Jewish 
Rabbis,  altogether  averse  to  the  Hellenistic  philosophy,  or  afterwards  in 
his  missionary  journeyings  and  his  continual  intercourse  with  Hellenists. 
This  is  evinced  not  only  by  his  quotations  from  heathen  poets,  and  some 
of  them,  too,  not  much  known,  Aratus  and  Cleauthes  (Acts  1*1  :  28), 
Menander  (1  Cor.  15  :  32),  and  Epimenides  (Titus  1  :  12)  ;  but  still 
more  by  his  command  of  the  Greek  language,  his  dialectic  skill,  and  his 
profound  insight  into  the  nature  and  development  of  the  heathen  religion 
and  philosophy. 

While  yet  a  youth,  Saul  was  sent  by  his  parents  to  Jerusalem,  and 
there  educated  under  the  sage,  Gamaliel,  (Acts  22  :  3.  26  :  4,  5), 
who  was  at  the  head  of  the  rigoristic  school  of  Jewish  scriptural  learn- 
ing, founded  by  his  grandfather,  Hillel  ;  who,  moreover,  showed  a  cer- 
tain moderation  towards  Christianity,  (5  :  38  sq.),  was  in  high  esteem 
with  all  the  people,  (5  :  34),  and,  according  to  the  Talmud,  was  called 
"  the  glory  of  the  law." 

Supported  by  fine  natural  talents,  gifted  with  a  creative  profundity 
and  rare  acuteness  and  energy  of  thought,  he  made  himself  master  of 
the  whole  Kabbinical  system,  including  jurisprudence  as  well  as  theology, 
and  of  the  various  modes  of  interpreting  the  Scriptures,  allegory,  typol- 
ogy, and. tradition.  This  his  epistles  abundantly  prove.  It  was  by  this 
course  of  theoretical  training  that  he  was  qualified  afterwards  to  oppose 
with  such  convincing  power  the  errors  of  the  Pharisees  and  Judaizers, 
and  to  develope  the  doctrinal  contents  of  Christianity  more  extensively 
and  profoundly  than  all  the  other  apostles.  Naturally  fiery,  resolute, 
bold  and  persevering,  possessing  that  mixture  of  the  choleric  and  melan- 
choly temperament  wlvich  is  peculiar  to  most  religious  Reformers,  he 
embraced  with  his  whole  soul  whatever  he  thought  to  be  right  ;  but  for 
this  very  reason  was  inclined  to  be  harsh,  and  run  to  extremes.  Hence 
he  was  a  Pharisee  of  the  strictest  sort,  and  a  blind  zealot  for  the  law  of 
his  fathers,  (Phil.  3  :  6.  Gal.  1  :  13,  14).  No  doubt,  however,  he 
was  among  the  most  earnest  and  noble  of  this  sect  ;  for  that  the  Phari- 
sees were  by  no  moans  all  hypocrites  is  proved  by  the  examples  of  Nico- 

'  Only  Irom  the  Christians  of  Philippi,  towards  whom  he  held  a  relation  of  peculiai 
friendship,  he  sonneiinfie.s  received  presents  (Phil.  4  :  15-j 


MISSIONS.]  g  62.       PAUL   BEFORE   HIS    CONVEKSION.  229 

demus,  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  and  Gamaliel.  He  aspired  most  honestly 
after  the  ideal  of  Old  Testament  piety,  as  he  then  conceived  it.  Bitterly 
as  he  afterwards  condemned  his  zeal  in  persecuting  the  Christians,  and 
sorrowfully  as  he  looked  back  upon  his  former  fanaticism,  he  yet  added 
that  he  acted  "  ignorantly,"  (1  Tim.  1  :  13)  ;  though  he  made  not  his 
ignorance  a  palliation  of  his  guilt.  Often,  in  his  eagerness  for  the  per- 
fect righteousness  of  the  law,  might  he  have  felt  the  disharmony  in  his 
soul,  of  which  he  afterwards  drew  so  sad  and  life-like  a  picture  in  the 
seventh  chapter  of  Romans.  This  course  of  practical  training  it  was, 
which  enabled  him,  after  he  had  found  the  righteousness  of  faith,  to  give 
so  masterly  an  exhibition  of  the  relation  of  the  gospel  to  the  law,  man's 
need  of  redemption,  the  worthlessness  of  all  the  righteousness  of  the 
natural  man,  and  the  power  of  faith  in  the  only  Redeemer. 

Sfvul,  at  first,  might  have  been  indifferent  towards  Christianity,  or 
might  have  proudly  ignored  it  as  a  contemptible  sect.'  But  the  moment 
it  came  into  open  conflict  with  Pharisaism,  as  we  have  seen  that  it  first 
did  in  Stephen,  it  must  have  appeared  to  him,  in  his  fanaticism,  as  blas- 
phemy against  the  law  of  his  fathers,  and  rebellion  against  the  authority 
of  Jehovah.  He,  therefore,  regarded  the  extermination  of  the  new  sect 
as  a  solemn  duty  and  an  act  well  pleasing  to  God.  Hence  the  zealous 
part  he  took,  while  yet  young,  (about  thirty  years  of  age),  in  the  exe- 
cution of  Stephen  and  the  ensuing  persecution.  He  entered  houses  to  find 
Christians,  and  dragged  off  men  and  women  to  be  tried  and  thrown  into 
prison,  (Acts  8:3.  22  :  4).  Not  satisfied  with  this,  "yet  breathing 
out  threatenings  and  slaughter  against  the  disciples  of  the  Lord,"  he 
went  to  the  high  priest,  the  president  of  the  Sanhedrim,  which  had  the 
oversight  of  all  the  synagogues  and  the  fixing  of  all  disciplinary  punish- 
ments for  the  despisers  of  the  law,  and  procured  fi*om  him  full  power  to 
arrest  all  Christians.  Thus  provided,  he  set  out  for  the  Syrian  city, 
Damascus,  (9  : 1  sqq.,  comp.  22  :  5),  whither  many  had  fled,  and  where 
there  were  many  synagogues  of  the  Jews."''  But  here  the  gracious  hand 
of  Him,  whom  he  persecuted,  interfered  to  rescue  him  and  change  his 
whole  course.  The  summit  -of  apostasy  was  for  him  the  turning-point 
towards  salvation. 

'  It  is  possible,  that  he  may  have  personally  known  Jesus,  but  not  probable,  as  we 
have  no  distinct  trace  of  it  in  his  writings.  For  we  can  by  no  means,  as  Olshausen 
does,  infer  it  with  certainty  from  2  Cor.  5  :  16  :  "Wherefore  henceforth  know  we  no 
man  after  the  flesh  :  yea,  though  we  have  known  Christ  after  the  flesh,  yet  now  hence- 
forth know  we  him  no  more."  Comp.  Neander  :  Apostelgesch.  I.  p.  142,  and  De  Wette 
ad  loc. 

^  Josephus  relates,  (De  bello  Jud.  II.  20,  2),  that  under  Nero  almost  all  the  women  in 
Damascus  were  attached  to  Judaism,  and  that  at  one  time  ten  thousand  Jews  were  ex- 
ecuted. 


330  §  63.      CONYEKSION    OF   PAUL.  [l-  BOOK. 

§  63.    Conversion  of  Paul.     A.D.  37. 

On  the  way  to  Damascus  occurred  that  miracle  of  grace,  which  trans- 
formed the  persecuting  Saul  into  the  praying  Paul,  the  self-righteous 
Pharisee  into  the  humble  Christian,  the  most  dangerous  enemy  of  the 
church  into  its  most  powerful  apostle,  the  noble  endowments  of  his 
nature  into  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Paul  himself  mentions  this 
crisis  several  times  in  his  epistles,  in  controversy  with  his  Judaistic  oppo- 
nents, as  a  credential  of  his  apostolic  call,  but  without  going  into  the 
particulars,  which  in  these  cases  were  already  sufl&ciently  known  ;  since 
he  was  writing  to  believers  and  acquaintances.  In  the  epistle  to  the 
Galatians  he  lays  special  emphasis  on  the  fact,  that  he  was  called  to  be 
an  apostle,  not  through  human  mediation,  not  even  that  of  the  elder 
apostles,  but  by  the  risen  Saviour  in  person,  (1:1);  and  that  he 
received  the  gospel,  which  he  was  to  preach  to  the  Gentiles,  not  through 
human  instruction,  but  directly  through  a  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ,  ( 1  : 
11-16).  "With  this  agrees  2  Cor.  4  :  6,  where  Paul  ascribes  his  Chris- 
tian knowledge  to  a  creative  act  of  God,  which  he  compares  to  the  call- 
ing forth  of  the  natural  light  out  of  the  darkness  of  chaos.  If  these 
passages  leave  it  undecided,  whether  this  enlightening  of  the  apostle  was 
simply  an  inward  fact,  or  accompanied  by  an  outward  appearance  ;  he 
more  distinctly  testifies  in  1  Cor.  9  :  1,  that  he  had  "  seen  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord."  That  he  here  means  a  real,  objective  appearance  of  Christ, 
is  proved  by  1  Cor.  15  :  8,  where  he  associates  the  manifestation  of 
Christ  to  hmiself  with  the  other  manifestations  of  the  risen  Saviour  to 
the  disciples  :  "  Last  of  all  he  was  seen  of  me  also,  as  of  one  born  out 
of  due  time." 

Of  the  manner  of  his  conversion  we  have  three  detailed  accounts  in 
the  book  of  Acts  ;  one  from  the  pen  of  Luke,  (9  :  1-19)  ;  and  two 
from  the  mouth  of  Paul  himself — the  first  in  his  discourse  to  the  Jews  in 
Jerusalem,  (22  :  3-16), — the  second  in  his  defence  before  king  Agrippa 
and  the  procurator  Festus  during  his  imprisonment  in  Caesarea,  (26  :  9 
-20).  They  all  agree  in  the  main  fact,  that  the  conversion  was  wrought 
by  a  personal  appearance  of  the  glorified  Redeemer.  As  Paul  was  ap- 
proaching Damascus,  he  and  his  companions  were  suddenly  surrounded 
at  noon  by  an  extraordinary  radiance,  more  dazzling  than  the  sun,  (26  : 
13).  In  this  raiment  of  light  he  saw  the  glorified  Saviour,'  and  heard 
his  voice  saying  to  him  in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  (26  :  14)  :  "  Saul,  Saul, 
why  persecutest  thou  me  ?     It  is  hard  for  thee  to  kick  against  the 

*  Acts  9  :  17,  27.     Comp.  1  Cor.  9  :  1,  and  15  :  8. 


MISSIONS.]  §  63.       CONTEESION    OF   PAUL.  231 

pricks.'"  When  Saul,  smitten  to  the  earth  by  the  overwhelming  power 
of  this  appearance,  asked  :  "  Who  art  thou,  Lord  ?"  the  Redeemer, 
regarding  every  persecution  of  his  disciples,  by  reason  of  his  vital  union 
with  them,  as  a  persecution  of  himself,  replied  :  "I  am  Jesus,  whom 
thou  persecutest.  But  arise,  and  go  into  the  city,  and  it  shall  be  told 
thee  what  thou  must  do."  This  phenomenon  gave  Paul  a  preliminary 
glimpse  of  the  mystery  of  the  divine  nature,  and  the  almighty  dominion 
of  Christ,  of  the  union  of  the  Lord  with  his  body,  the  church,  as  also 
of  the  utter  fruitlessness  of  any  assaults  upon  that  church.  Thus  all  his 
previous  doings  were  condemned,  and,  as  a  natural  man,  he  lay  power- 
less in  the  dust.  When  he  arose,  he  saw  no  one.  The  supernatural 
si)lendor  had  blinded  him.  His  former  light,  in  which  he  fancied  himself 
able  to  guide  every  body  else,  was  extinguished.  He  had  to  be  led  like 
a  child.  He  now  staid  in  Damascus  three  days  in  blindness,  fasting  all  the 
time,  reflecting,  and  humbly  imploring  the  higher  light  of  grace  and  faith. 
In  these  birth-throes  of  a  new  life,  well  might  he  feel  most  intensely  the 
wretchedness  of  the  natural  man,  the  insufferable  bondage  of  the  law, 
and  exclaim  from  his  inmost  soul  :  "  0  wretched  man  that  I  am  !  Who 
shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ?"  (Rom.  1  :  24).  After 
this  preparation  by  "  godly  sorrow,"  he  was  inwardly  assured  of  the 
approaching  deliverance,  and  directed  in  a  vision  to  the  man,  who  should 
be  the  instrument  of  his  bodily  and  spiritual  restoration,  and  introduce 
him  into  brotherly  fellowship  with  the  church.  Ananias,  an  esteemed 
disciple  of  Damascus,  whom  the  Lord  had  likewise  prepared  by  a  vision, 
as  he  did  Peter  for  the  conversion  of  Cornelius,  restored  to  the  praying 
Saul  his  bodily  sight,  according  to  the  divine  commission,  by  laying  his 
hands  upon  him  ;  baptized  him  for  the  forgiveness  of  sins  ;  imparted  to 
him  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  made  known  to  him  his  divine  call- 
ing, that,  as  a  chosen  vessel,  he  was  to  bear  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  to 
Gentiles  and  Jews,  and  was  to  be  honored  by  many  sufferings  for  this 
name's  sake." 

'  This  phrase,  employed  respecting  horses  and  oxen :  Trgog  KevTQU  ?i.aKTL^eiv,  adversus 
stimulum  calcare,  to  kirk  against  the  goads  used  for  urging  the  animals,  may  denote  either 
the  subjective  impossibility  of  resisting  the  power  of  divine  grace ;  in  which  case  it 
would  furnish  an  argument  for  Augustine's  doctrine  of  "gratia  irresistibilis;"'  or,  as 
seems  to  us  more  probable,  it  may  express  the  objective  fruitlessness  of  opposition  to 
the  church  of  Christ,  which  is  founded  on  an  immovable  rock.  This  interpretation  is 
supported  by  the  parallel  passage  in  Gamaliel's  address,  5  :  39  :  "  But  if  it  be  of  God, 
ye  cannot  overthrow  it ;  lest  haply  ye  be  found  even  to  light  against  God." 

^  The  acknowledged  discrepancies  among  these  three  accounts,  to  which,  of  late, 
Baur,  (1.  c.  p.  60  sqq.) ,  has  attached  extravagant  importance,  in  the  interest  of  his  my- 
thological theory,  relate  merely  to  immaterial  circumstances,  and,  with  every  unbiased 
mind,  serve  only  to  enhance  the  credibility  of  the  narratives,  and  to  refute  Schnecken- 
burger's  and  Baur's  hypothesis  of  constant  design  and  calculating  reflection  on  the  part 


232  §    63.      CONVEKSION   OF    PAUL.  [l-  BOOK. 

Leaving  out  of  view  those  theories  respecting  this  momentous  conver- 
sion, which  own  no  sympathy  with  Bibhcal  Christianity/  we  still  meet  the 
inquiry,  whether,  while  we  fully  acknowledge  the  historical  fact  and  the 
agency  of  God,  we  may  not  suppose  a  previous  psychological  preparation 
in  the  mind  of  Paul  ;  for  God  never  works  magically  on  men.  With 
this  view  some  have  referred  to  the  lingering  influence  of  the  wise  counsel 
of  his  teacher,  Gamaliel,  (Acts  5  :  38,  39),  and  especially  to  the  impres- 
sion, which  he  must  have  received  from  the  discourse  and  glorious  aspect 
of  the  dying  Stephen  and  of  other  Christians, — an  impression,  which 
perhaps  he  thought  to  get  rid  of  by  persecuting  the  Christians  the  more 

of  the  author  of  the  Acts.  (1)  According  to  c.  9  :  7,  the  companions  of  Paul  heard 
the  voice  which  spoke  with  him;  but  in  22  :  9,  they  did  not.  These  statements  may 
be  reconciled  by  simply  supposing  that  the  attendants  heard  the  sound  of  the  voice,  but 
did  not  understand  the  words,  which,  besides,  were  intended  only  for  Saul.  (2)  In  Acts 
22  :  9,  (comp.  26  :  13) ,  the  attendants  saw  the  light,  which  shone  around  Paul ;  in  Acts 
9  :  7,  they  saw  no  one  (firjSsva)  i.  e.  no  definite  form  in  the  splendor ; — which  by  no 
means  contradicts  the  first  assertion.  (3)  In  26  :  16-18,  Jesus  himself  reveals  to  Paul 
liis  call  to  be  an  apostle,  whereas  in  both  the  other  accounts  this  is  done  through  Ana- 
nias. This  is  explained  by  considering  that  Paul  before  Agrippa  condenses  his  story 
for  the  sake  of  brevity.  And,  in  fact,  the  first  representation  is  by  no  means  untrue ; 
since  Ananias  acted  under  commission  from  the  Lord,  and  Paul,  while  yet  on  his  way, 
was  referred  to  this  transaction,  (9:6). 

^  The  rationalistic  explanation,  for  instance,  of  Ammon  and  others,  long  ago  refuted, 
which,  in  entire  opposition  to  the  plain  sense  of  the  text,  converts  the  unearthly  efful- 
gence of  the  glorified  Godman  into  lightning,  and  his  voice,  which  spoke  Hebrew,  into 
thunder,  and  regards  all  the  rest  as  additions  of  a  heated  oriental  fancy.  No  better, 
however,  is  the  mythical  theory  lately  advanced  by  Dr.  Baur,  according  to  which  we 
would  here  have  no  objective  appearance  at  all,  natural  or  supernatural,  but  simply  a 
subjective  process,  which  took  place  in  Paul's  own  mind.  "  The  light,"  says  Baur,  "  is 
nothing  else  than  the  symbolical,  mythical  expression  of  the  certainty  of  the  real  and 
immediate  presence  of  the  exalted  Jesus,"  {Paulus,  p.  68),  in  whom  Baur  himself  does 
not  believe,  except  in  a  pantheistic  sense.  This  view  rests  on  no  exegetical  and  his- 
torical grounds  whatever,  but  upon  unproved  philosophical  assumptions,  such  as  the 
impossibility  of  a  miracle,  and  especially  upon  the  denial  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ. 
It  moreover  makes  Paul,  that  clear,  logical,  and  searching  spirit,  a  blind  and  stubborn 
enthusiast.  For,  after  all,  even  Baur  cannot  deny,  that  according  to  the  passages,  1 
Cor.  9  :  1  and  15  :  8,  aside  from  the  narratives  in  Acts,  the  apostle  believed  he  had  actu- 
ally seen  the  Lord  ;  that  he  regarded  the  resurrection  of  Christ  as  the  best  accredited 
and  most  important  of  all  facts  ;  nay,  that,  ivithoiit  this,  he  declared  his  preaching  and 
all  faith  empty  and  groundless,  and  Christians  of  all  men  most  miserable,  (1  Cor.  15  :  14 
-19).  But  which,  now,  is  the  more  rational  :  to  give  implicit  credit  to  the  plain  state- 
ments of  such  a  man,  authenticated  by  the  most  brilliant  results,  and  to  correct  our  own 
philosophy  by  history,  where  the  two  conflict ;  or  to  deny  the  history,  and,  for  the  sake 
of  some  preconceived  opinions,  to  attribute  a  life,  next  to  that  of  the  Saviour,  the  most 
laborious  and  beneficent,  which  history  can  show,  a  life,  which  yet  serves  for  the  daily 
instruction,  edification,  and  consolation  of  millions,  to  an  empty  conceit,  a  radical  .self- 
deception?  But  a  small  portion  of  sound  common  sense  (which  is  sometimes  much 
better  than  uncommon  sense)  is  amply  sufficient  to  decide. 


MISSIONS.]  §  63.       CONVERSION   OF   PAUL.  233 

violently.  But  the  account  in  Acts,  and  the  epistles  of  Paul  give  us  no 
more  hints  of  such  preparations,  than  of  thunder  and  lightning.  They 
expressly  tell  us,  rather,  that  he  took  pleasure  in  the  death  of  Stephen, 
{ijv  avvEvdoKuv,  8:1.  22  :  20).  This  hypothesis,  moreover,  does  not 
suit  well  the  energetic,  resolute  character  of  the  apostle,  who,  in  his  zeal 
for  the  law,  was  finely  convinced,  that  hj  persecuting  the  Christians  he 
was  doing  God  service  and  working  out  his  own  soul's  salvation,  and  who 
must  be  converted  suddenly,  or  never.  Upon  such  proud,  heroic 
natures  the  Spirit  of  God  comes,  not  in  the  still,  gentle  breeze,  but  in 
the  earthquake,  the  fire,  and  the  storm.  The  suddenness  of  his  transi- 
tion from  fanatical  Judaism  to  enthusiastic  faith  in  the  Messiah  is  char- 
acteristic for  his  position  as  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  and  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  most  liberal  and  evangelical  conception  of  Christianity. 
On  the  other  hand,  however,  it  is  easy  to  see  that  his  faith  in  the  Old 
Testament  revelation,  his  earnestness  and  energy  of  will,  and  his  honest, 
though  mistaken  efforts  after  righteousness  and  the  glory  of  God,  fur- 
nished a  foothold  for  the  operations  of  grace.  For,  had  he  persecuted 
the  Christians  not  in  ignorance,  but  from  wanton  malice,  like  a  JS'ero  and 
Domitian,  had  he  been  a  frivolous  worldling,  like  Caiaphas  or  Herod,  or  a 
hypocrite,  like  Judas  ;  no  appearance  from  the  spiritual  world  could  have 
produced  such  a  moral  revolution  in  him,  (comp.  Luke  16  :  31).  Then 
again,  after  he  had  once  been  miraculously  enlightened  by  Christ  him- 
self, the  very  discourse  of  Stephen,  with  its  profound  conception  of  the 
Old  Testament,  and  of  the  prophetic,  prospective  character  of  the 
Mosaic  law  and  worship,  must  have  risen  before  him  in  a  most  significant 
light,  and  formed  a  starting-point  for  the  unfolding  of  his  own  system  of 
Christian  doctrine.  We  do  not  mean  then  to  deny  at  all  the  powerful 
influence  of  the  first  martyr  upon  his  persecutor  ;  but  we  suppose  that 
it  took  efiTect  much  more  after  than  before  his  conversion. 

But  in  what  relation  did  Paul  stand  to  the  original  cullege  of  apos- 
tles ?  He  was  called  by  Christ  in  person,  without  human  intervention, 
and  could  testify  of  the  resurrection  from  what  he  himself  had  seen,  as 
well  as  from  the  glorious  success  of  his  labors  ;  and  this  fact  places  his 
apostolic  dignity  beyond  doubt,  as  it  was  also  fully  acknowledged  by  the 
elder  apostles,  (Acts  15.  Gal.  2:9).  But  this  seems  to  compel  us 
either  to  regard  the  choice  of  Matthias  in  place  of  the  traitor,  (Acts  1  : 
15  sqq.),  as  null  and  void,  or  to  give  up  the  necessity  and  symbolical 
import  of  the  number  twelve.  The  last  we  cannot  well  do  ;  for  the 
number  twelve  is  made  particularly  prominent  by  Christ  himself,  (Matt. 
19  :  28.  Luke  22  :  30),  and  even  in  the  Apocalypse,  (21  :  14),  only 
twelve  "  apostles  of  the  Lamb  "  are  mentioned.  But  if  it  be  said  that  the 
number  twelve  includes  only  the  apostles  of  the  Jews,  and  that  Paul 


234:  §  63.       CONVEKSION    OF    PAUL.  [l.  BOOK 

being  the  thirteenth,  stood  alone,  as  the  apostle  to  the  Gentile  world  ;* 
we  see  at  once  that  this  is  not  entirely  satisfactory.  For  Paul  was  com- 
missioned to  bear  the  name  of  Christ  also  to  the  Jews,  (comp.  Acts  9  : 
15)  ;  and  in  his  missionary  journeys  he  went  always  first  to  the  syna- 
gogues, whilst  Peter  and  John,  in  their  later  ministry  labored,  at  least 
partly,  among  the  Gentiles.  At  all  events  this  hypothesis  would  leave 
the  passages  which  speak  of  tivelve  apostles,  strangely  silent  respecting 
Paul.  In  general,  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel  typify  not  a  part,  but  the 
whole  of  the  Christian  church.  Others,  therefore,  have  decided  for  the 
somewhat  hazardous  assumption,  that  the  choice  of  Matthias,  though 
well-meant,  was  premature.  In  favor  of  this  it  may  be  adduced,  (1) 
that  the  choice  took  place  before  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit,  and  there- 
fore before  the  formal  inspiration  of  the  apostles  ;  (2)  that  it  was  made 
without  any  express  command  of  Clirist,  simply  upon  the  proposition  of 
Peter  and  by  human  means  ;  (3)  that  Matthias  is  never  afterwards  even 
mentioned,  and  seems  to  have  disappeared  even  before  his  defeated  rival 
candidate  Barnabas  :  while  Paul,  called  immediately  by  the  Lord  him- 
self without  the  foreknowledge  or  privity  of  the  disciples,  labored  more 
than  all  the  other  apostles,  (1  Cor.  15  :  10.  2  Cor.  11  :  23).'  But, 
however  this  may  be,  the  whole  mode  of  his  call,  his  position,  and  his 
eflBciency,  have,  at  all  events,  something  extraordinary  about  them,  which 
does  not  fit  into  the  mechanism  of  fixed  order.'  He  himself  never 
grounds  his  apostolic  office  on  the  occurrence  of  a  vacancy  in  the  origi- 
nal apostolate,  either  through  the  treachery  of  Judas  or  the  martyrdom 
of  the  elder  James.     He  derives  it  directly  from  Christ,  and,  particularly 

*  As  is  assumed  especially  by  Olshausen,  in  the  third  volume  of  his  Commentary,  p. 
5  sqq.  A  peculiar  modification  of  this  view  Dr.  Heinr.  Thiersch  takes  occasion  to 
propound  in  favor  of  Irvingism,  which  is  well  known  to  teach  a  restoration  of  the 
apostolic  office  for  the  last  age  of  the  church-  "  Paul  is  not  the  thirteenth  of  the  first 
apostolatf^,  but  the  first  of  a  second,  which,  being  designed  for  the  Gentile  world  and  the 
clinrch  arising  in  it,  was  in  those  times  not  yetfilled,^^  {Vorlesimgen  uber  Katholicismus 
und  Protestantismus,  Part  I.  p.  309.  Note.  2nd  ed.  Comp.  also  Thiersch's  Gcschichte  dcr 
apost.  Kirche,  p.  121  sq. 

^  If  Judas,  the  traitor,  had  not  the  powers  of  a  Paul,  he  was  still  designed  for  great 
things ;  otherwise  Jesus  would  not  have  taken  him  into  the  number  of  his  disciples. 
From  his  tragical  end  we  may  infer  the  greatness  of  his  original  destiny,  as  we  may 
judge  of  a  demolished  building  by  its  ruins.  On  this  point  comp.  my  work  :  Ueber  die 
Si'mde  wider  den  heiligen  Geist.     Halle,  1841,  p.  41  sqq. 

'  The  strict  hierarchical  view,  be  it  Roman  or  Puseyite,  which  always  Looks  for  an 
outward,  palpable  succession,  admits  no  satisfactory  explanation  of  the  fact,  that  the 
apostles  had  no  share  whatever  in  the  ordination  of  Paul  after  his  conversion  (Acts  9  : 
17),  and  in  his  being  sent  to  the  Gentiles  by  the  church  of  Antioch,  (13  :  3)  The 
divine  irregularity  of  his  call  and  the  subsequent  independence  of  his  labors  make 
Paul,  so  to  speak,  a  prototype  of  evangelical  Protestantism,  which  has  always  looked 
to  him  as  its  main  authority,  as  Romanism  to  Peter. 


MISSIOXS]  §  63.       CONVERSION    OF    PAUL.  235 

in  the  epistle  to  the  Galatians,  places  it  over  against  the  authority  of 
the  elder  apostles,  as  altogether  independent  and  equal.  Hence,  too,  he 
has  always  been  the  main  support  and  representative  of  liberal  move- 
ments in  the  church. 

Finally,  as  to  the  chronology  of  the  conversion  of  Paul  ;  among  the 
various  dates  proposed,  ranging  through  ten  years,  (from  A.D.  31, 
adopted  by  Bengel,  to  A.D.  41,  by  Wurm),  that  seems  to  have  most  in 
its  favor,  which  places  this  event  in  the  year  3T,  seven  years  after  the 
resurrection  of  Christ,' 

'  Our  arguments  for  this  date  are  the  following  :  (1)  The  statement  of  Paul,  that, 
three  years  after  his  conversion,  he  fled  from  Damascus  before  the  ethnarch  of  king 
Aretas,  (2  Cor.  11  :  32,  33),  furnishes  no  certain  datum,  owing  to  our  imperfect  knowl- 
edge of  the  time  of  this  Aretas  and  of  the  history  of  Damascus.  It  only  determines 
that  the  conversion  of  Paul  cannot  be  put  earlier  than  the  year  34,  since  Aretas  cannot 
have  come  into  possession  of  Damascus  before  the  death  of  Tiberius,  A-D.  37.  (Comp. 
Wieseler,  1.  c.  p.  167-175-)  (2)  The  conversion  cannot  have  been  long  after  the  death 
of  Stephen;  which,  on  account  of  the  mob-like  nature  of  the  proceeding,  may  best  be 
referred  to  the  time  immediately  succeeding  the  deposition  of  Pilate,  A.D.  36,  or  to  the 
beginning  of  the  reign  of  Caligula,  (after  37),  who,  in  the  first  year  of  his  reign,  showed 
himself  mild  towards  his  subjects,  as  Josephus  expressly  observes,  Antiqu.  XVIII.  8,  2. 
(3)  A  sure  datum  is  furnished  by  Paul's  seconc^  journey  to  Jerusalem,  (Acts  11  :  29,30), 
which  cannot  have  taken  place  before  the  year  44  or  45  ;  since  in  this  year  the  famine 
appeared  in  Palestine,  which  occasioned  the  sending  of  Paul  and  Barnabas  wiLh  sup- 
plies. Between  this  journey  of  Paul  to  Jerusalem  and  Xhe  first,  (Acts  9  :  26),  some  four 
or  five  years  must  have  intervened  ;  for  the  apostle  in  the  meantime  had  spent  a  whole 
year  in  Antioch,  (11  :  26),  probably  from  two  to  three  years  in  Syria  and  Tarsus,  (9 ; 
30.  Gal.  1  :  21),  and  some  time  in  travelling.  If,  according  to  this,  the  first  journey 
fell  in  the  year  40,  then  the  year  of  the  conversion  is  also  settled ;  since,  according  to 
the  statement  in  Gal.  1  :  18,  it  happened  three  years  before,  therefore  in  the  year  37. 
This  calculation  is,  indeed,  at  once  made  uncertain  by  our  not  knowing  the  length  of 
Paul's  residence  in  Tarsus  either  from  himself  or  from  Luke  ;  and  conjectures  respect- 
ing it  vary.  Anger,  for  example,  makes  it  two  years,  Schrader  and  Wieseler,  only 
half  a  year.  (4)  The  surest  guide  to  the  date  is  afforded  by  Gal.  2  :  1,  according  to 
which  the  apostle,  "  fourteen  years  after,  went  up  again  to  Jerusalem."  Reckoning 
this,  with  most  interpreters,  from  Paul's  conversion,  as  the  great  era  of  his  life  ;  and 
understanding  the  journey  here  mentioned  to  be  the  one  to  the  apostolic  convention, 
Acts  1.5,  which,  according  to  a  tolerably  certain  calculation,  was  held  in  the  year  50  or 
51  ;  we  again  have  the  year  37  for  the  latest  date  of  his  conversion.  It  is  true  that 
this  calculation  also  can  be  easily  disputed,  as  chronologists  and  interpreters  differ  on  the 
question,  whether  the  fourteen  years  should  begin  at  the  conversion,  or  at  the  first  jour- 
ney to  Jerusalem,  (Gal.  1  :  18),  as  well  as  on  the  question,  whether  Gal.  2  :  1  refers  to 
the  second  journey,  (Acts  11  :  30.  12  :  2-5).  or  the  third,  (15),  or  the  fourth,  (18  :  21, 
22)  Wieseler.  for  instance,  1.  c.  p.  179-208,  endeavors  at  some  length  to  prove,  that 
Paul,  in  Gal.  2,  had  in  view  his /oitrM  journey  to  Jerusalem.  (Acts  18:22);  and 
putting  this  in  the  year  54,  and  deducting  fourteen  years,  he  obtains,  in  harmony  with 
his  other  combinations,  A.D.  40  for  the  year  of  the  apostle's  conversion.  But  the 
reasons  for  identifying  the  journey.  Gal.  2  :  1,  with  that  mentioned  Acts  15,  are  very 


236     §  64.     Paul's  pkepajiation  fok  apostolic  labor,    [i.  book. 

§  64.  PauVs  Preparation  for  his  Apostolic  Labors. 

Paul  had  now  reached  the  pouit,  where,  without  "  conferring  with 
flesh  and  blood,"  he  bound  himself  unconditionally,  joyfully,  and  forever, 
to  the  service  of  the  Redeemer ;  where  he  counted  every  thing,  which 
had  formerly  been  his  pride  and  boast,  worthless  compared  with  the 
"  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus  his  Lord,"  (Phil.  3  :  4-9). 
Already  in  the  scene  on  the  road  to  Damascus  had  he  heard  his  call : 
"I  send  thee  to  the  Gentiles,"  (Acts  26  :  11  sq.  comp.  9  :  15).  But 
not  till  seven  years  afterwards,  A.  D.  44,  in  pursuance  of  a  still  plainer 
revelation  in  the  temple  (22  :  17-21),  did  he  make  his  formal  appear- 
ance, with  independent  authority,  as  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles. 
Meanwhile  he  served  the  Lord,  partly  in  quiet  preparation,  partly  in  the 
subordinate  place  of  a  simple  "prophet  and  teacher,"  (13  :  1). 

After  so  violent  a  convulsion  of  his  inmost  being,  he  must  have  felt  the 
need,  first  of  all,  of  silent  meditation  on  the  impressions  he  had  received. 
Having  strengthened  himself,  therefore,  by  a  few  days'  intercourse  with 
the  Christians  in  Damascus  (9  :  19),  he  went  into  the  neighboring  part 
of  the  desert  of  Arabia  (probably  the  region  now  called  the  Syrian 
desert),  and  remained  there  a  considerable  time.  Paul's  object  in  this 
residence  in  Arabia,  which  he  himself  mentions.  Gal.  1  :  1*1,  was  not  to 
preach  the  gospel  among  the  Jews  or  Gentiles  there — at  least  no  infor- 
mation of  his  having  done  so  has  come  down  to  us, — but  to  enjoy  a  sea- 
son of  undisturbed  preparation  for  his  high  and  holy  calling.  This 
period,  therefore,  belongs  more  properly  to  the  history  of  the  apostle's 
inward  life  ;  and  this  affords  the  simplest  explanation  of  the  silence  of 
the  book  of  Acts  respecting  it.  It  was  for  him  a  sort  of  substitute  for 
the  three  years'  personal  intercourse  with  the  Lord,  enjoyed  by  the  other 
apostles.  Without  doubt  he  devoted  himself  mainly  to  prayer  and  me- 
ditation, to  the  study  of  the  Christian  tradition,  and  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, on  which  he  now  looked  with  new  eyes,  as  a  continuous  and  clear 
prophetic  testimony  concerning  Jesus  Christ,  the  crucified  and  risen 
Saviour  ;  and  by  inward  I'evelation  he  obtained  a  deeper  insight  into  the 
nature  and  connection  of  the  gospel  doctrines  of  salvation. 

Prom  Arabia  he  returned  to  Damascus,  (Gal.  1  :  11),  to  testify  of 
the  Messiahship  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  first  of  all  in  the  place  where 
the  new  light  arose  within  him  ;  to  build  up  the  church,  where  he  had 
formerly  sought  to  raze  it  to  the  ground.  His  preaching  enraged  the 
Jews,  who  had  lost  in  him  their  most  gifted  and  zealous  champion.    They 

strong,  and  we  think  it  impossible,  that  Paul,  in  his  epistle  to  the  Galatians,  would 
have  passed  over  in  perfect  silence  his  attendance  at  the  apostolic  council,  where  yet 
the  point  in  controversy  was  the  very  one  spoken  of  in  Gal.  2.  For  a  more  full  refu- 
tation of  Wieseler's  view,  see  below,  §  67. 


MISSIONS.]   g  64.     Paul's  pkepakation  foe  apostolic  labor,       237 

stirred  up  against  bira  the  deputy  of  king  Aretas  of  Aralna,  who  set  a 
watch  over  the  gates  of  the  city  to  take  Paul.  But  the  believers  saved 
the  life  of  the  apostle,  who  was  destined  yet  to  the  most  important  ser- 
vice, and  was  as  far  removed  from  fanatical  contempt  of  death,  as  from 
cowardly  fear  of  it.  They  let  him  down  by  night  in  a  basket  through 
some  opening  in  the  wall,  probably  the  window  of  a  house  built  upon  it.' 
Paul  now  went,  for  the  first  time  as  a  Christian,  to  Jerusalem,  to  the 
mother-church  of  Christendom,  three  years,  as  he  himself  says,^  after  his 
conversion,  and  therefore,  according  to  our  chronology,  in  the  year  40. 
His  main  object  was  to  become  personally  acquainted  with  Peter,  the 
great  leader  of  the  Jewish  mission  and  of  the  whole  church.  He 
endeavored  to  approach  the  brethren  with  freedom  and  confidence  ;  but 
they  were  at  first  shy  of  him,  and  doubted  the  genuineness  of  his  conver 
sion  (Acts  9  :  26).  Nor  can  we  wonder.  His  persecution  of  the  saints 
was  still  fresh  in  their  memory,  and  what  had  since  befallen  him  was 
probably  little  known  as  yet  in  Jerusalem  ;  he  having  spent  most  of  the 
time  in  retirement  in  Arabia.  Peculiar  doubts  must  have  arisen  in 
regard  to  his  apostolic  calling.  The  apostles  themselves  had  filled  up 
the  number  of  the  twelve  by  the  election  of  Matthias  ;  and  nothing  short 
of  a  special  revelation  (of  which,  however,  we  have  no  account),  or  in- 
timate personal  acquaintance,  and  particularly  the  extraordinary  results 
of  his  subsequent  labors,  could  convince  them,  that  this  former  enemy  of 
the  Christians  was  called  to  so  distinguished  a  post.**  This  suspicion  of 
the  brethren  must  have  been  a  severe  trial  for  Paul  ;  but  his  patience 

*  Acts  9  :  23-25 ;  with  which  agrees  Paul's  own  statement  (2  Cor.  1 1  :  32,  33) , 
with  the  easily  adjusted  difference,  that,  according  to  Luke,  the  Jews,  according  to 
Paul,  the  ethnarch  (i.  e.  both  in  concert),  set  watch  over  the  city.  This  and  other  cases 
of  an  undesigned  coincidence  between  Luke's  narrative  and  Paul's  epistles  in  such  in- 
trinsically unimportant  historical  notices,  as  well  as  the  frequent  indications  of  Luke's 
accurate  knowledge  of  contemporary  circumstances,  make  it  absolutely  impossible, 
aside  from  higher  considerations,  to  suppose,  with  Baur,  that  the  book  of  Acts  was 
written  so  late  as  the  second  century. 

*  Gal.  1  :  18.  Luke  has  for  this  (Acts  9  :  23)  the  less  definite,  indeed,  but  by  no 
means  contradictory  expression  :  rifisqai,  laavai,  "  many  days,"  for  which  Dr.  Baur  in 
Tvibingen  (p.  106)  reads  him  a  sharp  lecture  !  From  our  heart  we  wish  the  historical 
and  critical  sins  of  this  scholar  a  more  merciful  judge.  Were  the  Acts,  as  Baur  sup- 
poses, not  composed  till  the  beginning  of  the  secon:t  century,  how  easily  might  the 
author,  for  his  own  sake,  have  secured  himself  against  such  reproaches,  with  the  more 
minute  statement  of  the  epistle  to  the  Galatians  before  his  eyes.  For  intentional  dis- 
tortion (as  such  the  above  named  critic  would  brand  this  and  other  insignificant  differ- 
ences'), no  reasonable  ground  whatever  can  here  be  imagined. 

^  At  first,  where  Paul  and  Barnabas  are  named  together  in  Acts,  the  latter  is  named 
before  the  former  (11  :  30.  13  :  2),  and  even  in  the  apostolic  council  (15  :  12).  The 
reverse  order  appears,  however,  in  the  same  chapter,  vs.  2  and  22,  and,  in  fact,  as  early 
as  13  :  43,  46,  50. 


238         §  64.    Paul's  pkepaeation  foe  apostolic  labor,    [i-  book. 

nnder  it  proved  the  sincerity  of  his  profession.  Barnabas,  the  liberal- 
minded  Hellenist,  pei'haps  also  a  former  acquaintance  of  Paul's,  acted  as 
mediator  ;  introduced  him  to  Peter,  and  to  James,  the  brother  of  the 
Lord  ;  and  told  them  of  the  appearance  of  Christ  to  him,  and  of  his 
fearless  confession  of  Jesus  in  Damascus.  Besides  these,  Paul,  at  that 
time,  saw  no  other  apostle.'  Perhaps  the  others  were  absent  on  missions 
in  the  country.  He  abode  fifteen  days  with  Peter  (Gal.  1  :  18),  until 
the  murderous  machinations  of  the  Hellenists,  with  whom  he  disputed 
(Acts  9  :  29),  as  Stephen  had  formerly  done,  made  it  advisable  for  him 
to  leave  the  city. 

He  no  doubt  conversed  with  Peter  on  the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus, 
on  the  relation  of  the  gospel  to  the  law,  and  on  the  spread  of  the  church. 
But  we  know  not  to  what  extent  they  at  that  time  came  to  an 
understanding  respecting  their  principles.  Perhaps  this  interview  served 
to  prepare  Peter,  in  some  degree,  for  larger  views  respecting  the  calling 
of  the  Gentiles  ;  for  the  conversion  of  Cornelius  did  not  take  place  till 
some  time  after.  Peter,  on  his  part,  might  have  been  of  service  to  Paul 
in  what  pertained  to  the  historical  tradition  of  Christianity.  Yet  the 
substance  of  this  was,  of  course,  already  known  to  him,  partly  through 
his  intercourse  with  Ananias  and  other  Christians,  partly  through  reve- 
lation from  above.'  But  his  peculiar  conception  of  the  gospel,  as  ex- 
pressed in  his  epistles,  and  his  conviction  of  his  vocation  to  be  the 
Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  we  must  regard  as  altogether  independent  of 
human  instruction.  In  fact,  he  explicitly  assures  us,  in  his  epistle  to  the 
Galatians  (1  :  11,  12,  16),  that  he  received  his  doctrine  not  from  men, 
but  by  direct  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  Gentiles.^  This  inward 
enlightenment  by  the  Holy  Ghost  we  must  regard,  like  that  of  the  other 
apostles  on  Pentecost,  as  referring  to  the  inmost  life,  the  central  principle 
of  his  being  ;  giving  him  for  the  first  time  the  general  experimental  un- 
derstanding of  Christian  truth,  especially  of  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus,  as 
the  living  fountain  of  all  salvation  ;  and  awakening  him  to  a  new  view 
of  the  world  and  man's  relation  to  God.  This,  of  course,  does  not  pre- 
clude subsequent  special  disclosures  of  the  Spirit  respecting  single  points 
of  Christian  doctrine  and  practice  ;  for  we  are  to  conceive  the  inspiration 
of  the  apostles  in  general  as  not  merely  an  act,  done  once  for  all,  but  a 

'  As  he  expressly  remarks,  Gal.  1  :  19;  by  which  the  more  indefinite  statement  in 
Acts  9  :  27  must  be  limited. 

*  Thus,  for  example,  he  refers  his  knowledge  of  the  institution  of  the  Holy 
Eucharist  (1  Cor.  11  :  23)  to  the  Lord  ;  where,  however,  the  diro  does  not  necessarily, 
like  Trapa,  denote  the  immediate  source,  but  may  also  possibly  mean  a  corhmunication 
through  tradition. 

'  On  the  sources  of  Pauls  Christian  knowledge,  comp.  the  instructive  remarks  of 
Dr.  Neander  in  his  Geschichte  der  Pflanzung  etc.  I.  p.  166-176. 


MISSIONS.]  §  65.       SECOND   JOTJKJSTEY    TO   J^EBUSALEM.  239 

pei'manent  influence  and  state,  varying  in  strength  as  occasion  required. 
Paul  speaks  expressly  of  several  revelations,  with  which  he  was  favored 
(2  Cor.  12  :  1,  1),  and  carefully  distinguishes  from  them  his  own  opinion, 
formed  in  the  way  of  reflection  and  deduction  (1  Cor.  7  :  6,  25).  It 
was  during  this  first  residence  in  Jerusalem  after  his  conversion,  that, 
while  praying  in  the  temple,  he  was  entranced,  and  directed  by  the  Lord 
to  leave  Jerusalem  quickly,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  the  distant  Gentile 
nations  (Acts  22  :  17-21).' 

After  this  two  weeks'  visit,  Paul  went,  accompanied  by  the  brethren, 
to  Caesarea,  and  thence  to  Syria  and  his  native  city,  Tarsus  (Acts  9  :  30. 
Gal.  1  :  21).  No  doubt  he  preached  the  gospel  in  Cilicia.  For,  ac- 
cording to  Acts  15  :  23,  41,  Christian  churches  already  existed  there, 
when  he  came  thither  on  his  second  missionary  tour,  though  he  had  not 
visited  this  region  on  his  first.  Having  labored  a  few  (perhaps  two  or 
three)  years'^  in  his  native  place,  he  was  brought  by  Barnabas  to  Antioch 
(Acts  11  :  26),  where,  meanwhile,  the  first  mixed  congregation  of  Gen- 
tile and  Jewish  converts  had  arisen,  and  where  a  new  and  glorious  pros- 
pect had  opened  for  the  extension  of  the  kingdom  of  God.*  In  this, 
the  mother  church  of  the  Gentile  mission,  Paul  found  a  centre  for  his 
activity,  which,  in  its  public  character  and  on  its  grand  scale,  dates  from 
this  point  its  proper  beginning. 

§  65.   Second  Joiirney  to  Jerusalem.     Persecution  of  the  Church  there. 

After  Paul  had  successfully  labored  a  whole  year  in  Antioch  as 
"prophet  and  teacher"  (11  :  26.  13  :  1),  in  the  reign  of  the  emperor 
Claudius,  in  the  year  44  or  45,  a  great  famine  spread  over  Palestine.* 

*  "Wieseler,  1.  c.  p.  165  sqq.,  endeavors  to  show,  in  behalf  of  his  system  of  chronology, 
that  this  trance  was  the  same  as  the  one  related  in  2  Cor.  12  :  2-4,  which  befell  the 
apostle  fourteen  years  before  the  writing  of  the  epistle  (A.  D.  57) ;  so  that  we  should 
have  the  year  43  for  the  date  of  Paul's  first  journey  to  Jerusalem,  and  the  year  40  for 
the  time  of  his  conversion.  But  a  simple  comparison  of  the  two  passages  will  certainly 
not  lead  to  this.  In  the  Corinthians  nothing  is  said  of  a  command  to  leave  Jerusalem 
and  go  to  the  Gentiles,  as  in  Acts  22  :  but,  on  the  contrary,  Paul  then  heard  "  unspeak- 
able vi^ords,  which  it  is  not  lawful  (possible)  for  a  man  to  utter."  We  can,  theiefore, 
attach  no  weight  whatever  to  Wieseler's  inference  from  this  supposed  identity  respect- 
ing the  date  of  the  first  journey  to  Jerusalem. 

"^  As  Anger  {De  temp,  in  Act.  rat.  p.  171),  and  Neander  (1.  c.  I.  p.  177),  suppose. 
Schrader,  on  the  contrary,  and  Wieseler,  (1.  c.  p.  147  sq.) ,  allow  only  half  a  year,  or  at 
most  one  year,  for  the  residence  in  Tarsus.  Luke  confessedly  gives  no  hint  respecting 
this  interval,  thus  leaving  a  chasm  in  the  chronology. 

'  Comp.  supra,  §  61. 

^  Acts  11  :  28,  compared  with  the  more  minute  statement  of  Josephus  in  his  Archae- 
ology, B.  XX.  c.  2.  §  5,  and  xx.  5,  2  ;  which  thus  furnishes  a  fixed  chronological  datum, 
only  Josephus  points  to  the  3'ear  45,  and  the  account  of  Luke  rather  to  -14.    Luke  inserts 


2-iO  §  65.      SECOND   JOTJENET   TO   JERUSALEM.  [i-  BOOK. 

This  caused  the  church  at  Antioch,- which  had  been  forewarned  of  the 
impending  calamity  by  the  prophet  Agabus  of  Jerusalem  (11  :  28),  to 
send  Barnabas  and  Paul  with  aid  to  the  suffering  brethren  in  Judea, 
and  thus  in  some  measure  to  discharge  their  debt  of  gratitude  for  the 
spiritual  blessings  they  had  received  (11  :  29,  30).'  This  was  the 
second  journey  of  our  apostle  to  Jerusalem  after  his  conversion.  The 
church  there  had  enjoyed  some  seven  years  of  repose  (comp.  9  :  31), 
when  king  Herod  Agrippa,  a  heathen  at  heart,  and  a  minion  of  the 
Romans,  to  ingratiate  himself  with  the  people,  beheaded  the  elder  James 
(the  brother  of  John),  who,  being  one  of  the  two  "  sons  of  thunder," 
had  probably  enraged  the  Jews  by  his  bold  confession  ;  and  thus  became 
the  first  martyr  in  the  apostolic  college  (12  :  2).^  He  intended  to  treat 
Peter  in  the  same  way  at  the  approaching  festival  of  Easter,  to  make 
mirth  for  the  multitude.  But  Peter  was  released  from  prison  by  a  mira- 
culous interposition  of  Providence  ;  and  thenceforth  he  left  Jerusalem, 
the  seat  of  his  labors  thus  far,  and  entrusted  the  church  there  to  the 
other  James,  who  presided  over  it  till  his  death  (12  :  3-19).  Instead 
of  the  apostle,  Agrippa  himself  soon  after  died.  Like  his  grandfather, 
Herod  the  Great,  he  met  a  terrible  end  (12  :  20-23)  at  Caesarea, 
during  a  festival  in  honor  of  the  emperor,  after  having  allowed  himself 
to  be  called  God  by  the  people  in  the  theatre.  This  occurred  late  in 
the  summer  of  the  year  44.^  It  is  very  possible,  that  the  after-storm 
of  this  persecution  continued  during  the  time  of  Paul's  second  visit  to 
Jerusalem,  and  made  a  longer  stay  there  at  that  time  unadvisable. 
Luke  also  intimates,  that  the  delegates  returned  immediately  after 
executing  their  commission,  bringing  with  them  John  Mark,  the  kinsman 

the  death  of  king  Agrippa  between  the  departure  of  Paul  in  consequence  of  the  famine 
and  his  return  from  Jerusalem ;  and  this  death,  it  is  certain,  took  place  in  the  year  44< 
He  also  expressly  remarks,  that  those  two  events  happened  about  the  same  time,  comp. 
11  :30.  12  :  1.  and  12  :  25.     This  difference  Wieseler  seems  to  have  overlooked- 

'  The  Jewish  historian  relates,  1.  c,  that  at  that  time  many  starved,  and  that  Helena, 
queen  of  Adiabene,  a  proselyte,  and  her  son,  king  Izates,  sent  grain,  figs,  and  money  to 
Jerusalem  to  relieve  the  wants  of  the  poor. 

^  Unlbrtunately  we  have  no  certain  knowledge  respecting  the  labors  of  this  apostle, 
who  wa.s  one  of  the  three  favorite  disciples  of  the  Lord.  Clement  of  Alex,  (in  Euse- 
bius  :  Hist.  Eccl.  II,  9)  relates,  that  the  accuser  of  James,  on  the  way  to  the  place 
of  execution,  stung  by  remorse,  himself  confessed  faith,  and  begged  his  forgiveness ; 
whereupon  James  said  to  him  :  ''Peace  be  with  thee,"  gave  him  the  brotherly  kiss, 
and  had  him  for  a  companion  in  martyrdom. 

'  This  second  certain  date  in  the  life  of  Paul  is  furnished  by  the  passage  quoted  from 
Acts  in  connection  with  Josephiis,  Antiqu.  xix.  8,  2.  Comp.  on  this  "Wieseler,  p.  129 
sqq.,  who  thinks  he  can  determine  even  the  day  of  Agrippa's  death  (the  6th  of 
August). 


MISSIONS.]  §  QQ.      FIKST  TOUK  OF  PATTL  AJSTD  BAENAJ3A8.  241 

of  Barnabas  (12  :  25).*     Tliis  makes  it  the  easier  to  explain  Paul's 
silence  respecting  tMs  journey  in  the  epistle  to  the  Galatians." 

§  66.  First  Missionary  Tour  of  Paul  and  Barnabas.     A.D.  45. 

Soon  after  the  return  of  the  delegates,  the  prophets  and  teachers  of 
the  church  at  Antioch, — among  whom,  besides  Simeon  Niger,  Lucius, 
and  Manaen,  are  named  also  Barnabas  and  Saul  themselves, — while  fast- 
ing, and  praying  to  be  enlightened  respecting  the  spread  of  the  kingdom 
of  God,  were  inwardly  prompted  to  set  apart  these  two  men  by  the  lay- 
ing on  of  hands,  and  to  send  them  out  on  a  mission  (13  :  1-3). 
Accordingly  Paul  and  Barnal^as,  accompanied  by  Mark,  under  the 
authority  of  this  church,  and  with  the  higher  commission  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  repaired  first  to  the  island  of  Cyprus,  the  birth-place  of  Barna- 
bas, whose  previous  connections  there  seemed  to  present  a  favorable  open- 
ing for  the  missionary  work. 

This  is  i\\Q  first  of  Paul's  three  great  preaching  tours,  described  in  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles.  The  missionaries  traversed  the  island  from  East 
to  West,  from  Salamis  to  Paphos.  Taking  the  course  which  history 
itself  had  marked  out  for  them,  they  addressed  themselves  first  to  the 
.Tews  (13  :  5.  14  :  1).  For  the  synagogues,  and  the  freedom  of 
speech  which  prevailed  in  them,  afforded  at  once  the  most  suitable 
places,  and  the  best  opportunities,  for  preaching  the  gospel.  Then  again, 
these  oases  of  the  true  religion  in  the  desert  of  heathen  idolatry  were 
also  the  places  of  assembly  for  those  pious  proselytes  of  the  gate,  who 
formed  a  natural  bridge  between  Jews  and  Gentiles,  and  thus  might 
vastly  facilitate  the  transmission  of  the  gospel  to  the  latter.  But  finally 
and  chiefly  :  the  Jews,  by  virtue  of  their  peculiar  position  in  the  history 
of  religion  and  the  express  promises  of  a  faithful  God,  had,  so  to  speak, 
the  first  claim  on  the  gospel.^  In  spite  of  all  the  persecution  he  suffered, 
Paul  therefore  continually  yearned  over  his  "  kinsmen  according  to  the 
flesh,"  and  cherished  the  hope  of  their  future  conversion  (Rom.  11  :  26). 
Nay,  like  Moses  (Ex.  32  :  32),  he  could  even  wish  to  be  banished  from 

'  The  well  known  evangelist.  His  original  Hebrew  name,  John  (Acts  12  :  12,  25. 
(5  :  37.  13  :  5,  13),  afterwards,  when  he  entered  on  his  missionary  work  in  foreign 
•ands,  gave  place  entirely  to  the  Roman  name,  Mark  (15  :  39.  Col.  4  :  10.  Philem. 
24.  2  Tim.  4:11.  1  Pet.  5  :  13);  precisely  as  the  name,  Saul,  was  changed  into 
Paul ; — a  proof  of  the  correctness  of  our  explanation,  §  62,  first  Note. 

*  Many  interpreters  and  chronologists  (the  Chronicon  joascA.,  Calvin,  Kiihnol,  Paulus, 
Flalt,  Fritzsche,  and  others)  have  supposed,  indeed,  that  Paul,  Gal.  2  :  1,  means  this 
second  journey  to  Jerusalem,  and  that,  therefore,  this  was  the  time  of  the  important 
transactions  between  him  and  the  Jewish  apostles.  But,  not  to  mention  other  difficul- 
ties, this  hypothesis  is,  even  chronologically,  absolutely  untenable  ;  for  there  is  not  a 
single  critical  authority  for  reading  reaad^^uv  instead  of  deKaTeaaupuv. 

*  Acts  13  :  46.     18  :  6.     Rom.  1  :  16.     Comp.  Jno.  4  :  22. 

16 


242  §  66.      FIRST  TOUE  OF  PAUL  AND  BAENAEAS.  [l-  BOOK. 

Christ  (not,  mdeed,  from  the  holy  service, — then  were  the  wish  impious, 
— but  from  the  blissful  enjoymeut  of  Christ),  if  by  this  heaviest  sacri- 
fice he  might  procure  the  faith  and  salvation  of  his  unbelieving  brethren, 
— which,  however,  was  of  course  impossible  (Rom.  9  :  1-3).  Such  a 
love  reminds  us  of  the  actual  self-sacrifice  of  the  Saviour,  who  willingly 
left  the  throne  of  his  heavenly  Father,  was  made  a  curse  for  us  (Gal. 
3  :  18),  and  suffered  the  ignominious  death  of  the  cross,  to  give  life  and 
happiness  to  the  lost  world  !  In  consequence  of  this  conduct  of  Paul, 
almost  all  his  churches  were  composed  of  converted  Jews  and  Gentiles. 
Yet  even  in  this  first  journey  the  greater  susceptibility  appeared  on  the 
part  of  the  Gentiles.  Where  there  were  no  Jews,  or  at  least  no  syna- 
gogues, as  in  Lystra,  the  apostolic  missionaries  entered  into  conversation 
with  individuals  in  the  public  places  and  walks,  till  a  crowd  collected 
from  curiosity,  and  the  dialogue  could  be  turned  into  a  sermon. 

As  to  the  most  important  events  and  results  of  this  tour  ; — Luk^ 
mentions  first  the  conversion  of  the  Roman  proconsul,  Sergius  Paulus, 
who  resided  at  Paphos,'  At  that  time,  when  infidelity  and  superstition 
bordered  so  closely  on  one  another,  this  man  had  yielded  himself  to  the 
sorceries  of  a  Jewish  false  prophet  by  the  name  of  Bar-Jesus.'^  But, 
unsatisfied  with  these,  he  desired  to  hear  the  Christian  missionaries.  As 
the  kiudi-ed  spirit,  Simon  Magus,  was  rebuked  by  Peter,  so  this  deceiver, 
attempting  to  withstand  tne  preaching  of  Paul,  because  it  threatened 
ruin  to  his  craft,  was  met  by  the  apostle,  as  by  an  indignant  judge,  and 
smitten  with  blindness.  This  miraculous  punishment  decided  the  conver- 
sion of  the  proconsul  to  Christianity. 

From  Cyprus  the  company  sailed  northward  to  Perga  in  Pamphylia. 
Here  Mark  left  them  and  returned  to  Jerusalem  (13  :  13);  probably 

*  The  island  of  Cyprus  was  at  that  time  a  senatorial  province,  and  therefore  govern- 
ed by  a  "  proconsul''  {dv&vwarog)  ;  while  the  governor  of  an  inaperial  province  was 
termed"  propraetor,"  or  "  legatus  Csesaris"  (avTiarpuTyp/og) .  The  careful  observance 
of  this  distinction  in  the  terminology  of  the  Acts  (19  :  38.  IS  :  12-  Comp.  Luke  2  : 
2) ,  is  one  of  the  many  proofs  of  the  reliable  historical  character  and  early  composition 
of  that  book.  Comp.  Wieseler,  p.  224  sq.  and  especially  Tholuck :  Glaubwurdigkeit 
d.  evang.  Gesch.  p.  171  sqq. 

^  So,  under  Marcus  Aurelius,  the  juggler,  Alexander  of  Abonoteichos  (a  small  town 
of  Paphlagonia),  found  favor  even  with  the  most  respectable  Romans,  particularly  with 
the  statesman,  Rutilianus.  So  says  Lucian,  in  c.  30  of  his  biography  of  this  man,  dedi- 
cated to  the  philosopher,  Celsus.  He  calls  Alexander  as  great  an  impostor,  as  the 
Macedonian  Alexander  was  a  hero  (c.  1).  Making  all  due  allowance  for  the  poetical 
coloring  of  the  work,  we  may  take  it,  on  the  whole,  as  a  life-like,  moral  picture  of  the 
times  ;  and  Neander,  therefore,  notwithstanding  the  arbitrary  protest  of  Baur  (p.  94)  > 
is  perfectly  right  in  appealing  to  this  parallel.  Also  what  Josephus  relates  of  the  influ- 
ence of  the  magician,  Simon  of  Cyprus,  on  the  Roman  procurator  Felix  {jintiqu.XX. 
7  2),  goes  to  confirm  the  statements  of  the  Acts. 


MISSIONS.]  §    QQ,       FIRST    TOUK    OF    PAUL    AND   BARNABAS.  243 

discouraged  by  the  hardships,  and  becoming  homesick  ;  but  perhaps  also. 
as  he  was  a  disciple  of  Peter  and  a  member  of  the  strictly  Jewish- 
Christian  church  of  Jerusalem,  unable  rightly  to  sympathize  with  the 
Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  in  his  liberal  views  and  practice  (comp.  15  : 
37,  38.  Gal.  2  :  11  sq.).  From  Perga  they  went  to  Antioch  in  Pisidia. 
Here,  on  the  Sabbath,  in  the  synagogue,  at  the  invitation  of  its  rulers, 
Paul  delivered  a  discourse  cf  eminent  wisdom,  mildness,  and  earnestness 
(13  :  16-41)  ;  reviewing  the  gracious  dealings  of  God  with  Israel  ; 
announcing  the  appearance  of  the  Messiah  in  the  family  of  David,  his 
death,  and  his  resurrection  ;  pointing  the  people  to  faith  in  him  as  the 
condition  of  pardon  and  justification  ;  and  concluding  with  an  awful 
warning  against  unbelief.  The  discourse  made  an  impression,  and  the 
apostle  was  urged  to  present  his  doctrine  more  fully  on  the  ensuing  Sab- 
bath.' In  the  mean  time,  the  more  teachable  among  the  Jews  and 
proselytes  received  more  minute  instruction  ;  the  news  of  the  gospel 
spread  to  every  house  ;  and  on  the  next  Sabbath  the  whole  city.  Gen- 
tiles and  all,  flocked  to  the  synagogue.  This  roused  the  envy  of  the 
Jews,  who  made  great  account  of  their  lineage  and  privileges  ;  and  they 
interrupted  Paul's  discourse  with  violent  contradiction  and  blasphemy. 
He  then  declared  to  them  :  "  We  were  bound  by  the  divine  counsel,  and 
by  our  duty  as  apostles,  to  preach  the  word  of  God  to  you  first.  But 
since  ye  thrust  it  from  you,  and  judge  yourselves  unworthy  of  everlasting 
life,  lo,  we  turn  to  the  Gentiles  ;  according  to  the  promise  of  the 
prophet  (Is.  49  :  6),  that  the  Messiah  should  be  a  light  and  the  foun- 
tain of  salvation  for  the  nations  to  the  ends  of  the  earth."  Then  were 
the  Gentiles  glad  ;  "  as  many  as  were  ordained  to  eternal  life,"  believed  ; 
and  the  word  of  God  spread  throughout  the  province  of  Pisidia.  But 
the  fanatical  Jews  succeeded  in  stirring  up  the  honorable  women,  who 
leaned  towards  Judaism,  and,  through  them,  their  husbands  also  ;  and 
they  drove  Paul  and  Barnabas  away. 

The  missionaries  then  went  eastward  to  Iconium,'*  a  city  at  the  foot  of 
Mt.  Taurus,  and  at  that  time  the  capital  of  Lycaonia.  After  laljoriug 
there  a  long  time  with  great  success,  they  were  compelled  to  flee  from 
the  persecution  of  the  unbelieving  Jews,  who  sought  their  lives.  They 
next  came  to  Lystra  and  Derbe,  cities  of  Lycaonia.  In  Lystra  the 
miraculous  healing  of  a  cripple  by  Paul  made  a  great  stir  among  the 
heathen  inhal^itants,  who,  on  account  of  their  obscurity,  were  still  firm 
believers  in  the  old  popular  mythology.     They  thought  that  the  gods, 

'  The  fiera^v,  v.  42,  must  evidently  mean  the  same  as  t^iic  (from  fA'">)  or  fiETt-ELTa, 
" in  succession,"  "afterwards,"  as  sometimes  in  the  later  Greek;  e.  g.  very  certainly 
in  Josephus  :  De  bcllo  Jud.  V.  4,  2.     The  interpretation :  "  In  the  intervening  week, 
is  inconsistent  with  v.  44. 

"  Now  Conieh,  the  residence  of  a  Turkish  Pasha. 


244  §  66.       FIEST   TOUK   OF   PAUL   AND   BARNABAS.  [l-  BOOK. 

who  were  said  to  have  once  been  hospitably  entertained  in  that  very 
region  by  the  pious  couple,  Philemon  and  Baucis/  had  come  down  in 
human  form  to  dispense  their  favors.  Barnabas,  the  elder  of  the  two, 
and  probably  also  the  more  commanding  in  personal  appearance,  they 
took  for  Jupiter,  their  tutelar  deity,  to  whom  they  had  dedicated  a  tem- 
ple in  front  of  the  city.  Paul,  who  was  always  the  speaker,  and  possess- 
ed the  gift  of  persuasive  eloquence, — not,  indeed,  an  eloquence  of  display 
and  transient  effect,  but  that  "  of  the  Spirit  and  of  power"  (1  Cor.  2  : 
4),''' — they  supposed  to  be  Mercury,  the  messenger  of  the  gods.^  The 
priest  even  went  so  far,  as  to  provide  oxen  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  supposed 
gods,  when  Paul  and  Barnabas,  indignant  at  this  idolatrous  demonstra- 
tion, rending  their  clothes,  rushed  in  among  the  multitude,  and  pointed 
them  from  vain  idols  to  the  living  God,  the  Creator  of  all  things  and 
Giver  of  all  good,  (14  :  8-18). 

The  crude,  sensuous  superstition  of  these  heathens  readily  accounts  for 
their  sudden  change  from  idolatrous  veneration  to  the  opposite  extreme 
of  fanatical  hatred  towards  the  enemies  of  their  gods.  At  the  instiga- 
tion of  Jews,  who  had  come  from  Antioch  in  Pisidia  and  from  Iconium, 
the  people  rose  against  Paul  in  a  mob,  stoned  him,  and  dragged  him  out 
of  the  city  for  dead.  But  he  revived,  and,  spending  the  rest  of  the  day 
with  the  believers  in  Lystra,  he  and  Barnabas  went  the  next  day  to 
Derbe.  Having  here  won  many  to  the  gospel,  the  missionaries  revisited 
the  cities,  where  they  had  already  preached  ;  exhorted  the  new  con- 
verts to  be  steadfast  ;  and,  having  given  them,  by  the  election  of  elders, 
a  fixed  church  organization,  sailed  from  Attalia  back  to  their  starting- 
point,  the  Syrian  capital,  and  reported  to  the  Antiochian  church  the 
result  of  this  mission  (14  :  19-21). 

'  Ovid  :  Metamorph.  VIII.  611  sqq.  From  the  same  region  sprang  the  famous  goet, 
ApoUonius  of  Tyana,  who,  according  to  Philostratus,  was  held  by  his  countrymen  to 
be  a  son  of  Zeus. 

^  As  is  abundantly  evident  from  his  discourses  in  Acts,  such  as  the  one  at  Athens, 
and  from  his  epistles,  e.  g.  Rom.  8  :  31-39,  and  1  Coi.  13,  which  are  among  the  most 
sublime  passages  in  the  whole  history  of  eloquence  and  poetry.  Paul  tells  us,  indeed 
(2  Cor.  10  :  J  0),  that  it  might  be  said  of  him  :  "  His  letters  are  weighty  and  power- 
ful ;  but  his  bodily  presence  is  weak  ((i(7i?ev?/f ),  and  his  speech  contemptible  {t^ov&evrj- 
fievog).^^  But  this  last  is  no  doubt  a  superficial  judgment,  which,  according  to  the 
degenerate  taste  of  the  times,  looked  to  the  outward  pomp  and  ornament  of  the  later 
heathen  rhetoricians,  as  the  principal  criterion  of  eloquence.  That  he  had  some  bodily 
infirmity,  however,  might  be  gathered  also  from  such  passap;es  as  1  Cor.  2  :  3.  Gal. 
4  :  13  sq.,  and  2  Cor.  12  :  7.  A  tradition  {jlcta  Pauliet  Thcdae,  and  Nicephorus  Call.  II, 
37),  which,  however,  certainly  cannot  be  relied  on,  represents  him  as  small  and 
un'^omely  in  stature. 

'  In  .Tamblichus,  De  Myster.  Jcg.  I,  Ibis  god  is  called  :  i?fdf  6  riov  loyuv  7/ye/iWV. 
Macrobius  describes  Mercury  as  "  vocis  et  sermonis  potens"'  {Sat.  I,  8). 


MISSIONS.]        g  67.       JOUENET   TO    THE   APOSTOLIC    COUNCIL.  245 

§  67.  Journey  to  the  Apostolic  Council  in  Jerusalem.      Settlement  of  the 
Dispute  between  the  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christians.     A.D.  50. 

After  again  spending  some  time  in  Antioch  (14  :  28),  Paul  about  the 
year  50/  made  a  third  journey  to  Jerusalem,  and  that  on  business  of 
the  utmost  importance,  which  required  first  to  be  clearly  settled,  before 
he  could  freely  prosecute  his  great  work  of  converting  the  Gentiles. 

Paul's  successful  propagation  of  the  gospel  among  the  Gentiles,  which 
was  the  main  seal  of  his  apostleship,  threatened  to  produce  a  schism  in 
the  church  itself,  between  the  two  leading  communities  of  Jerusalem  and 
Antioch,  and,  in  general,  between  the  believers  of  the  circumcision  and 
those  of  the  uncircumcisiou.  Many  of  the  Jewish  Christians,  especially 
those,  who  had  formerly  belonged  to  the  narrow-minded  sect  of  the 
Pharisees  (Acts  15  :  5),  could  not  yet  divest  themselves  of  their  old 
national  prejudices  and  their  exclusive  spirit.  They  regarded  the  observ- 
ance of  the  vv^hole  Mosaic  law,  especially  circumcision,  as  the  necessary 
condition  of  salvation  ;  erroneously  resting  in  the  authority  of  the  Jew- 
ish apostles,  particularly  of  the  strictly  legal  James.  Hence  when  Paul 
made  salvation  depend  solely  on  faith  in  Christ,  they  looked  with  decided 
displeasure  on  his  free  proceedings  ;  doubted  his  divine  commission  and 
apostolic  dignity  (as  we  see  especially  from  the  epistles  to  the  Galatians 
and  Corinthians),  and  caused  disturbance  in  the  Antiochian  church, 
which  contained  so  many  uncircumcised  Gentile  Christians.  This  led 
that  church  to  send  Paul  and  Barnabas,  with  some  others,  to  the  apos- 
tles and  elders  in  Jerusalem,  to  settle  the  dispute  (15  :  2). 

Before  proceeding  to  consider  the  transactions  of  this  first  synod  of 
the  Christian  church— the  apostolic  council,  as  it  is  called — we  have  the 
difficult  question  to  decide,  whether  the  important  visit  to  Jerusalem, 
which  Paul  mentions  in  the  second  chapter  of  Galatians,  and  places  four- 
teen years  after  his  conversion,  is  identical  with  the  journey  to  this  apos- 
tolic convention  (Acts  15),  or  with  the  fourth  journey  to  Jerusalem 
(Acts  18  :  21,  22)  four  years  after,  A.  D.  54. 

Prof.  Wieseler,  in  support  of  his  learned  and  in  other  respects  very 
satisfactory  system  of  chronology,  has  decided  for  the  latter  hypothesis.* 
His  chronological  arguments,  on  which  he  seems  mainly  to  rest,  are  with- 

*  This  date  is  obtained  by  adding  to  the  time  of  Paul's  conversion  (A.D.  37)  the 
fourteen  years  of  Gal.  2  :  1, — assuming,  that  the  journey  there  mentioned  is  identical 
with  this  to  the  apostolic  convention  ; — and  also  by  subtracting  a  year  and  a  half  or 
two  years  from  the  time  of  his  arrival  in  Corinth  (Acts  18  :  1).  For  this  arrival  was 
in  the  autumn  of  the  year  52  (vid.  Wieseler,  p.  118  and  128) ;  he  was  one  year,  or  at 
most  two  years,  on  the  way ;  and  he  began  this  second  missionary  tour  soon  after  his 
return  from  the  apostolic  council  (15  ;  33,  36).  This  council,  accordingly,  must  be 
placed,  at  the  latest,  in  the  beginning  of  51 ;  more  probably  in  50. 

*  1.  c,  p.  180-208. 


246  §  67.      JOUENEY   TO   TETE   APOSTOLIC   COUNCIL.  [l-  BOOK. 

out  weight  for  us  ;  since  we  place  the  couversiou  of  Paul,  not  in  the 
rear  40,  as  he  does,  but  iu  3*1.  And  his  other  reasons  are  by  no  means 
satisfactory.  (1)  According  to  Gal.  2  :  2,  Paul  went  to  Jerusalem  in 
pursuance  of  a  revelation  ;  according  to  Acts  15  :  2,  he  went  under 
commission  from  the  church  of  Antioch.  But  there  is  no  contradiction 
here.  The  former  was  the  inward,  personal  reason,  whicli,  with  Paul, 
was  the  most  important  ;  the  latter,  the  outward,  public  occasion,  with 
which  Luke  was  chiefly  concerned.  And  besides,  there  is  no  mention  of 
a  revelation  even  in  respect  to  his  fourth  journey  (Acts  18  :  21,  22). 
(2)  According  to  Gal.  2:1,  the  apostle  took  Titus  with  him  ;  while  of 
this  nothing  is  said  in  Acts  15.  But  neither  is  Titus  mentioned  in  Acts 
18,  nor  anywhere  else  in  this  book  (his  name  only  occurs  in  the  epistles 
of  Paul)  ;  whereas,  in  Acts  15  :  2,  it  is  expressly  stated,  that,  besides 
Paul  and  Barnabas,  "  certain  others"  went  to  the  apostolic  council,  and 
these  might  surely  have  included  Titus,  who,  being  an  undoubtedly  faith- 
ful and  zealous,  though  uncircumcised.  Gentile  Christian,  was  eminently 
fitted  for  such  a  mission.  (.3)  While  Paul,  Gal.  2  :  3,  firmly  opposes 
the  circumcision  of  Titus,  which  was  demanded  by  the  Judaizers  in  Jeru- 
salem ;  he  yet,  according  to  Acts  16  :  3,  therefore  after  the  apostolic 
council,  himself  circumcised  Timothy.  This  apparent  inconsistency,' 
"Wieseler  thinks,  can  be  explained  only  by  supposing,  that  the  circumcision 
of  Timothy  took  place  hefore  the  journey  mentioned  in  Gal.  2:1.  But 
this  is  not  the  case  ;  for  Paul  certainly  had  at  all  events  adopted  his  free 
principles  before  the  time  of  the  apostolic  council,  and  might  far  sooner 
allow  an  exception,  from  prudential  considerations,  when  once  his  princi- 
ple had  been  secured  by  the  endorsement  of  the  Jewish  apostles.  This 
procedure  must,  therefore,  be  explained  otherwise.  In  the  case  of  Titus, 
who  had  no  connection  whatever  with  the  Jewish  Christians,  circumcision 
was  positively  demanded  by  others,  and  that,  as  a  demonstration  in  favor 
of  Judaistic  error.  But  iu  the  case  of  Timothy,  who  was,  on  his  mo- 
ther's side,  a  Jew  by  birth,  and  might  thus  be  claimed  by  the  Jewish 
Christians  as  in  some  sense  theirs, '^  the  circumcision  was  optional  with 
Paul  and  Timothy,  and  was  performed,  not  on  dogmatical  grounds,  as  a 
sacrament  necessary  to  salvation,  but  as  an  indifferent  ceremony  observ- 
ed in  the  way  of  self-denying  concession  to  the  weak  consciences  of 
the  Jews,  and  for  the  sake  of  the  greater  influence  of  Timothy  among 

•■  Of  which  Baur.  1.  c.  p.  129,  makes  great  account,  as  impairing  the  credibility  of 
the  book  of  Acts. 

2  According  to  the  principles  of  the  Talmud,  the  son  of  a  mixed  marriage  must  be 
circumcised  :  and  only  on  this  condition  would  such  a  marriage  be  considered  allow- 
able. The  Roman  Catholic  church  is  well  known  to  maintain  the  same  principle, 
sanctioning  mixed  marriages  only  on  condition,  that  the  children  receive  Catholic 
baptism. 


MISSIONS.]         §  G7.       JOUKISTEY    TO   THE   APOSTOLIC    COUNCIL.  24:7 

them.  There  was  no  sacrifice  of  principle  iu  this  case  at  all.^  (4)  The 
strongest  argument  against  the  identity  of  the  journey  in  Gal.  2  with 
the  journey  to  the  apostolic  convention,  is,  that  Paul,  in  the  passage 
referred  to,  says  nothing  of  any  synodical  transaction  ;  whereas  Luke, 
on  the  contrary,  makes  no  record  of  any  ^private  conference  among  the 
apostles.  Dr.  Baur,  who  supposes  the  journeys  iu  question  identical, 
attempts  even  to  prove,  that  between  the  representation  of  Paul,  Gal.  2, 
and  that  of  Luke,  Acts  15,  there  is  an  irreconcilable  contradiction  ;  and 
this  he  then  employs  against  the  credibility  of  the  book  of  Acts.'''  Wiese- 
ler,  on  the  contrary,  rightly  maintains,  that  there  is  no  such  contradic- 
tion. His  chronological  work  is  a  thorough,  and,  indeed,  triumphant  vin- 
dication of  the  historical  truth  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  Yet  he 
thinks  he  can  fully  escape  the  force  of  Baur's  argument  only  by  assign- 
ing the  transactions  iu  Gal.  2  to  a  later  date.  But  closer  inspection  will 
show,  that  this  gains  him  nothing  for  his  own  view,  and  that  the  above 
mentioned  difference,  as  will  hereafter  still  further  appear,  is  not  at  all 
against,  but  in  favor  of,  the  identity  of  the  two  journeys.  For  by 
dvE^Ejiriv  avToic,  in  distinction  from  kgt'  Idtav  6e  roig  doKovai  (Gal.  2:2),  Paul 
evidently  intimates  that,  besides  his  private  conference  with  Peter, 
James,  and  John,  there  was  also  a  public  deliberation  with  the  brethren 
of  Jerusalem  in  general.  He  says  nothing  further  about  it,  because  he 
might  presume,  that  the  Galatians  already  understood  it  ;  as  he  himself 
had  previously  communicated  the  decree  of  the  apostolic  council  to  his 
churches  in  Asia  Minor,  and  exhorted  them  to  obey  it  (Acts  16  :  4). 
He  was  opposing  the  Galatian  false  teachers,  who  unwarrantably  ap- 
pealed to  Peter  and  James,  and  refused  to  acknowledge  him  as  a  legiti- 
mate apostle.  And  here  the  great  thing  with  him  was,  the  result  of  his 
private  transactions  with  the  Jewish  apostles  themselves,  and  the  vindi- 
cation of  his  independent  apostolical  dignity,  as  acknowledged  by  them. 
Luke,  on  his  part,  has  to  do,  not  with  the  personal  relation  of  the  apos- 
tle to  his  colleagues,  and  the  JudaLzing  teachers  of  Galatia,  but  with  the 
rights  of  the  Gentile  Christians  in  general.     His-  narrative,  however,  by 

*  Instead  of  a  "  flat  inconsistency,"  as  Dr.  Baur  expresses  it,  p.  130,  being  charged 
by  the  author  of  the  Acts  upon  the  free-minded  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  we  rather 
have,  in  this  conduct,  only  a  practical  application  of  Paul's  principle,  to  become,  from 
love,  all  things  to  all  men,  that  he  might  gain  all  (1  Cor.  9  :  19,  20) ,  and  a  proof  of  the 
apostle's  freedom  from  arbitrary  dogmatism,  and  of  his  readiness  to  accommodate  him- 
self to  others  in  self-denying  charity,  for  the  good  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  whenever 
he  could  do  so  without  being  untrue  to  his  principles. 

^  P.  Ill  sqq.  This  is  one  of  the  most  plausible  parts  of  Baur's  work  on  Paul,  which 
deserves  to  be  placed  by  the  side  of  Strauss'  "  Leben  Jesu."  What  is  said  on  the  same 
point  by  Baur's  disciple,  Schwegler,  in  his  radically  unsound  and  fictitious  book  :  Das 
nachapostnlische  Zeitalter,  Tubingen.  1S46.  Part  I.  p.  116  sqq.,  makes,  after  the  represen- 
tation of  his  master,  only  the  impression  of  an  indifferent  copy. 


24:8  §  67.      JOUBNEY   TO    THE   APOSTOLIC  COUNCIL.  [l-  BOOK 

no  means  precludes  the  supposition  of  a  previous  private  interview,  which, 
in  the  nature  of  the  case  is  extremely  probable  ;  and  his  relating  merely 
the  public  transactions  is  readily  explained  by  the  documentary  charac- 
ter and  object  of  his  whole  work.  He,  in  fact,  omits  also  many  other 
things,  pertaining  chiefly  to  the  private  life  of  Paul  ;  his  residence  in 
Arabia,  for  instance,  his  inward  conflicts,  visions,  &c. 

As  there  is,  accordingly,  no  tenable  ground  in  favor  of  Wieseler's 
hypothesis  ;  so,  on  the  other  hand,  there  are  decisive  arguments  against 
it.  The  fourth  journey  to  Jerusalem,  Acts,  18  :  22,  cannot  be  intended 
in  Gal.  2  :  1  ;  in  the  first  place,  because,  according  to  Luke's  account, 
Paul,  on  this  journey,  merely  "  saluted"  the  church  there.  This  implies  a 
visit  altogether  too  short  for  so  important  transactions  as  are  mentioned 
in  Gal.  2.  Secondly  ;  nothing  is  said  in  Acts  18  of  Barnabas,  though 
in  Gal  2  he  plays,  along  with  Paul,  an  important  part  (comp.  Acts  15). 
Nay,  it  cannot  be  shown,  and  it  is  certainly  not  presumable,  that  Barna- 
bas, who  had  separated  from  Paul  shortly  after  the  apostolic  council, 
and  undertaken  with  Mark  an  indeijendent  mission  (c.  15  :  39),  rejoined 
him  so  soon  as  the  year  54. 

But,  in  fine,  our  chief  ground  for  believing  the  visit  to  Jerusalem, 
Gal.  2  :  1,  to  be  the  same  with  that  described  in  Acts  15,  is,  that  Paul, 
in  his  letter  to  the  Galatians,  could  not  possibly  have  passed  over  in 
utter  silence  his  attendance  at  the  apostolic  convention.  Grant,  that  he 
did  not  care  to  notice  all  his  journeys  to  Jerusalem — as,  for  example,  he 
omits  the  second,  mentioned  in  Acts  11  :  30.  12  :  35,  since  he  went 
then  merely  to  carry  a  collection,  and  in  all  probability  made  a  very 
short  stay  ;' — the  third  journey  would  be  the  very  last  to  be  omitted. 
For  Paul's  object  was  to  prove  to  the  Galatians,  that  his  apostolic  call 
was  not  of  human  authority  ;  and  also,  that  his  peculiar  views  were 
acknowledged  by  the  Jewish  apostles  themselves.  And  for  this  purpose 
the  third  journey  was  the  most  important  of  all.  Nay,  a  formal  silence 
respecting  it  would  even  excite  suspicion  of  some  want  of  honesty  in 
Paul. 

We  are  therefore  compelled,  on  both  negative  and  positive  grounds, 
to  adopt  the  view  proposed  already  by  Irenaeus,''  and  advocated  by  the 
most  eminent  chronologists    and  interpreters.^     We  must  accordingly 

*  That  this  second  journey  of  Paul  cannot  be  intended  in  Gal.  2  :  1,  we  have  already 
observed  above,  ^  65,  last  note.  Comp.  also  De  Wette's  Comment,  zum.  Galaterbrief, 
2nd  ed.  p.  24  ;  Meyer,  ad  loc. :  and  Wieseler,  1.  c.  p.  180  sqq. 

*  Jldv.  haer.  III.  13. 

'  By  Theodoret,  Baronius,  Pearson,  Hess,  Hug,  Winer,  Eichhorn,  Usteri,  Olshausen, 
De  Wette,  Meyer,  Schneckenburger,  Neander,  and  others.  Since  the  appearance  of  the 
German  edition  of  this  work  (1851),  Ebrard,  Thiersch,  and  Baumgarten,  independently 
of  113,  have  also    concurred  in  opposing   Wieseler,   and  in  identifying   the  journey 


MISSIOXS.]         §  68.       PKIVATE   TRANSACTIONS    IN    JERUSALEM.  249 

take  the  account  of  Paul  in  Gal.  2,  as  a  valuable  complement  of  the 
narrative  in  Acts  15.  And  as  the  private  transactions  with  the  apostles 
themselves,  which  alone  it  was  to  Paul's  purpose  to  detail,  would  natu- 
rally precede  the  public  deliberation  and  decree,  we  must  first  notice  the 
statement  of  Paul. 

§  68.    The  Private  Transactions  at  Jerusalem.     (Gal.  2  :  1  sqq). 

Paul,  therefore,  appeared  in  Jerusalem  accompanied  by  Barnabas  and 
the  Gentile  convert,  Titus,  whom  he  had  taken  with  him  as  a  living  ex- 
ample of  the  success  of  his  missionary  labor  and  a  seal  of  his  apostolic 
calling.  His  first  care,  of  course,  must  be  to  settle  matters  privately 
and  personally'  with  the  prominent  leaders  of  the  church  and  of  the 
whole  Jewish-Christian  party — the  apostles  James,  Peter,  and  John, 
"  who  seemed  to  be  pillars,'"' — and  to  bring  them  to  a  formal  recognition 
of  his  apostolic  rank,  his  principles,  and  his  successful  labor  among  the 
Gentiles.  He  sought  reconciliation  especially  with  James,  who,  on  ac- 
count of  his  strictly  legal  views,  and  his  limitation  of  his  official  labors 
to  Jerusalem,  had  the  greatest  influence  with  the  Judaizers  ;  Peter  hav- 
ing been  regarded  by  them  v\dth  suspicion  ever  since  his  interview  with 
Cornelius.  These  leading  Jewish  apostles  once  gained,  the  main  support 
of  the  secretly  intruding  "false  brethren"  (as  Paul  terms  the  Pharisaical 
errorists)"  was  gone,  and  the  fraternal  union  of  Paul's  Gentile-Christian 
communities  with  the  Jewish-Christian,  and  thus  the  unity  of  the  church, 
for  which  he  was  so  much  concerned,*  was  restored  and  confirmed.  Accord- 
ing to  the  maxim  :  "By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them,"  his  description 
of  the  great  success  of  his  preaching  among  the  Gentiles  necessarily 
made  a  deep  impression  on  the  Apostles  of  the  Jews  ;  though,  by  the 
conversion  of  Cornelius,  who,  even  without  circumcision,  had  received 
the  Holy  Ghost,  they  had  already  been  led  to  more  liberal  views, ^  and 
were  prepared  to  fall  in  with  Paul's  doctrine.  As  he,  on  his  part,  was 
far  from  denying,  that  God  had  endowed  Peter  for  the  work  of  convert- 
mentioned  in  Acts  15  with  that  of  Gal.  2  :  so  that  the  above  extended  argument  seems 
now  almost  superfluous. 

'  As  expressed  by  nar'  Idiav.^  "seorsim,"  "privatim,"  v.  2. 

*  01  doKovvreg  gtvXoi  elvai,  Gal.  2  :  9.  This  language  is  founded  on  the  conception 
of  the  church  as  a  temple.  The  true  reading  places  James  first,  and  the  naming  of 
Peter  first  is  an  alteration  by  later  transcribers  to  furnish  exegetical  support  for  the 
primacy  of  Peter. 

°  napeiaaKTot  ipev6d6E^(j>oi  v.  4,  amounts  to  :  "  false  Christians  (as  the  Christians 
called  themselves  '  brethren'),  who  had  secretly,  unlawfully  crept  in,  or  been  smuggled 
in,"  and  had  changed  only  their  name,  not  their  views  :  being  still  in  fact  Jews,  Phari- 
saical slaves  to  the  law,  and  having  no  idea  of  evangelical  freedom.  Comp.  Gal.  5  : 
23.     6  :  12-14,  and  Acts  15  :  5. 

*  Comp.  Eph.  4,  and  1  Cor-  12-14. 
'  Comp.  supra,  §  60. 


250  §  68.      PEIVATE   TRA^^SACTIONS   EST  JERUSAI.EM.        U-  BOOK. 

ing  the  Jews,  and  had  blessed  his  labors  among  them  ;  so  the  three 
other  ajjostles  were,  on  then*  part,  equally  ready  to  acknowledge,  that 
Paul  was  divinely  entrusted  with  a  like  commission  to  the  Gentile  world 
(vs.  7,  8).  They  recognized  the  grace  bestowed  upon  Paul  and  Barna- 
bas ;  gave  them  the  right  hand  of  fellowship,  and  agreed  with  them, 
that  all  should  work  peaceably  together,  each  party  in  the  field  assigned 
it  by  the  Lord,  the  former  among  the  Jews,  the  latter  among  the  Gen- 
tiles ;  adding  only  the  condition,  that  Paul  and  Barnabas  should  chari- 
tably remember  the  many  poor  Christians  in  Jerusalem  by  a  collection 
of  alms  among  the  Gentile  Christians,  and  thus  testify  their  fellowship 
of  spirit  with  the  mother  church  and  their  gratitude  to  her  (9,  10)  ; 
and  this  Paul  carefully  attended  to.' 

In  this  compromise,  therefore,  the  rights  of  both  parties  were  pre- 
served. Paul  did  not  require  the  Jewish  Christians  to  break  away 
abruptly  from  their  historical  position  ;  but,  in  genuine  liberality, 
acknowledged  the  authority  of  their  peculiar  calling.  The  Apostles  of 
the  Jews,  on  their  part,  conceded  to  Paul  the  important  principle,  that 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ  is  the  only  indispensable  condition  of  salvation. 
They  laid  no  Jewish  yoke  upon  the  Gentiles.  They  did  not  even  require 
of  Paul  the  circumcision  of  his  companion,  Titus  (Gal.  2:3);  though 
the  false  brethren,  indeed,  as  we  must  conclude  from  the  verses  immedi- 
ately following,  in  connection  with  Acts  15  :  5,  insisted  on  it  from  prin- 
ciple.*   Nay,  they  said  not  a  word,  which  is  recorded,  respecting  even 

^  Comp.  Acts  24  :  17.     1  Cor.  16  :  1  sqq.     2  Cor.  8  :  1  sqq.     Rom.  15  :  15  sqq. 

*  The  passage,  Gal.  2  :  3-5,  certainly  very  difficult,  and  variously  interpreted, — I  ex- 
plain thus :  "  But  not  even  was  my  companion,  Titus,  though  an  (uncircumcised) 
Greek,  compelled  (by  the  Jewish  apostles)  to  be  circumcised,  and  that  (i.  e.  he  was 
not  compelled),  on  account  of  intruding  false  brethren  (who  peremptorily  and  from 
principle  demanded  his  circumcision),  who  had  crept  in  invidiously  to  spy  out  our  lib- 
erty in  Christ  Jesus,  that  they  might  bring  us  under  the  bondage  (of  the  law), — to 
which  (false  brethren)  we  yielded  not  an  hour  by  (the)  subjection  (they  demanded — 
Dative  of  manner  :  'in  the  way  of  obedience  to  them'),  that  the  truth  of  the  gospel 
(the  doctrine  of  evangelical  freedom,  and  justification  by  faith  without  works  of  the 
law)  might  continue  with  you."  By  emphasizing  the  ijvaynda'&T],  and  the  6e,  which 
immediately  follows  it  (which  with  Beza,  Bengel,  Fritzsche,  De  Welte,  and  others,  we 
take  as  confirmatory^  as  in  Phil,  2  :  8.  Rom  •  3  :  22),  we  might  find  the  intimation 
implied,  that  the  Jewish  apostles  advised  circumcision,  but  merely  from  prudential 
considerations,  and  in  this  particular  case,  Trptif  upav.  James  afterwards,  we  know, 
gave  Paul  similar  advice  in  regard  to  the  Nazarite  vow  (Acts  21  :  24).  Under  other 
circumstances,  where  only  charity  to  a  weak  conscience,  and  not  the  sanction,  by  prac- 
tice, of  a  heretical  principle,  was  concerned,  Paul,  according  to  his  maxim,  1  Cor.  9  : 
20-23.  Rom.  14  :  1  sqq.,  would  undoubtedly  have  yielded,  as  is  shown  by  his  volun- 
tary circumcision  of  Timothy  (Acts  16  :  3).  But  here,  where  the  false  Christians 
were  disposed  to  make  this  thing  a  matter  of  conscience,  and  where  the  point  in  ques- 
tion was  not  yet  settled,  the  least  sign  of  concession  to  the  false  teachers  had  to  be 
avoided. 


MISSIONS.]         §  68,       PRIVATE   TRANSACTIONS   IN   JERUSALEM,  251 

the  minor  conditions,  the  observance  of  the  Noachic  precepts,  which  the 
council  immediately  after  enjoined  on  the  Gentile  Christians  in  general. 
The  Palestinian  apostles,  in  trnth,  could  go  no  furtlier.  They  conceded 
all,  that  was  allowable  in  justice  to  their  own  position,  which  was  as 
fully  authorized,  and  as  necessary  for  existing  circumstances  and  the  uni- 
versal spread  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  that  of  Paul  and  Barnabas. 
In  short,  notwithstanding  any  alienation  of  feeling,  which  may  have  at 
first  existed,  these  private  transactions  are  marked  by  the  spirit  of  true 
Christian  wisdom,  self-denial,  and  brotherly  love.  The  unprejudiced 
reader  of  the  narrative  in  Galatians  must  admit,  that  it  furnishes  not  the 
least  support  for  the  hypothesis,  lately  propounded  with  so  much  plausi- 
bility, of  an  irreconcilable  opposition  between  Paul  and  Peter  ;  but  that, 
on  the  contrary,  the  Jewish  apostles,  in  this  private  interview,  conceded 
to  Paul  even  more,  than  in  the  council  described  in  Acts  15,  where  a 
prevailing  regard  for  the  whole  church  required  them  to  take  a  middle 
course.  This  very  fact  is  one  reason,  as  already  intimated,  why  Paul,  in 
opposing  the  Galatian  errorists,  appeals  to  the  private  transactions  in 
Jerusalem,  as  more  to  his  purpose,  than  the  decree  ■  of  the  council.  For 
these  Judaizers  denied  his  apostolic  rank  (Gal.  1  :  1,  15  sqq.),  which 
was  fully  acknowledged  in  the  private  conference  ;  and  they  probably 
made  no  reference  at  all  to  the  puljlic  decree,  which  they  could  not  set 
aside,  but  appealed  to  the  practice  of  the  Jewish  apostles  ;  drawing  from 
their  observance  of  the  Mosaic  law  (which  was  kept  up  at  least  by 
James)  an  unwarrantable  doctrinal  inference,  as  is  generally  done,  in 
fact,  among  contending  parties.  And  now  when  once  Paul  had  demon- 
strated, from  what  the  Jewish  apostles  themselves  had  done,  his  perfectly 
independent  apostolical  dignity,  his  own  word  was  enough  ;  and  an 
appeal  to  the  decree  of  others  was  the  less  necessary,  since  that  decree 
had  been  already  communicated  to  the  churches,  and  was  known  to 
them. 

Note. — As  the  Tubingen  school  bases  its  hypothesis,  of  an  irreconcilable  contradic- 
tion between  the  Christianity  of  Paul  and  that  of  Peter,  mainly  upon  the  second  chap- 
ter of  the  epistle  to  the  Galatians,  some  remarks  against  the  wild  extravagances  and 
profane  hyper-criticism  of  this  latest  fashion  of  infidelity  will  he  here  in  place,  though 
we  have  already  above  positively  refuted  them.  Dr.  Baur  in  his  work  on  Paul,  to 
which  we  have  so  often  referred,  supposes,  by  the  aid  of  a  truly  monstrous  exegesis, 
that  the  Apostles  of  the  Jews  coincided  in  principle  with  the  "  false  brethren  unawares 
brought  in,"  Gal.  2  :  4  (though  Paul  so  clearly  distinguishes  the  latter  from  the 
doKovvreg,  v.  2,  6,  9) ;  that  they  continued,  all  their  lives,  to  hold  circumcision  and  the 
observance  of  the  whole  Mosaic  law  as  necessary  to  salvation  ;  in  a  word,  that  they 
were,  and  continued  to  be,  Ebionites,  and  were  first  stamped  as  orthodox  Christians  by 
writers  of  the  second  century,  as,  for  instance,  the  author  of  the  book  of  Acts.  He 
thus  revives  the  old  original  hypothesis  of  his  two  favorite  authors,  the  Gnostic,  Mar- 
cion,  and  the  unknown  composer  of  the  Pseudo-Clementine  Homilies;  degrading  the 


252  §  68.      PEIVATE   TEANSACTIOilS   IN   JERUSALEM.         [l-  BOOK. 

wise  and  moderate  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  to  an  anti- Jewish  fanatic  and  a  Gnostic 
heretic.  TVTay,  he  even  outdoes  his  worthy  forerunner,  the  pseudo-Pauline  Marcion  of 
the  second  century,  in  reducing  the  number  of  Paul's  epistles.  He  pronounces  all, 
which  do  not  square  with  his  system,  spurious,  except  tlje  four  to  the  Galatians,  Corin- 
thians, and  Romans  ;  and  even  from  the  latter  he  cuts  off  the  last  two  chapters !  !  But 
since  he  cannot,  in  the  face  of  the  plain  meaning  of  Gal.  2  :  9,  deny,  that  the  Jewish 
apostles  gave  Paul  and  Barnabas  the  right  hand  of  fellowship,  and  acknowledged  them 
as  work-fellows  in  the  gospel,  of  equal  authority  with  themselves  (p.  125),  he  must, 
to  make  good  his  position,  venture  on  the  violent,  desperate  measure  of  explaining  this 
procedure  as  inconsistent  and  weak.  They  (who,  nevertheless,  were  in  the  majority, 
and  had  the  whole  church  of  Jerusalem  on  their  side !)  could  not  withstand,  says  he, 
the  force  of  circumstances  and  the  personal  sway  of  Paul,  though,  in  justice  to  their 
convictions  they  should  have  contested  his  views  of  Christianity  (p.  126).  The  only 
thing,  which  seems  to  favor  this  assertion,  is  the  weak  conduct  of  Peter,  as  related  in 
Gal.  2  :  ]1-14.  But  this,  more  narrowly  examined,  goes  decidedly  against  Baur  and 
his  sympathizers.  Paul  expressly  says  of  Peter,  that,  before  the  arrival  of  the  Juda- 
izers  from  Jerusalem,  he  held  intercourse  with  the  imcircumcised.  and  merely  from  fear  of 
men  dissembled,  i.  e.  belied  by  his  conduct  his  better,  anti-Judaistic  conviction.  Add  to 
this  that  Barnabas  also,  whose  genuine  Pauline  views  Baur  himself  cannot  question, 
acted  just  as  Peter  did.  Furthermore,  Paul,  in  describing  the  Judaizers  as  "  false 
brethren  unawares  brought  in,"  intimates,  that  they  were  in  the  minority,  and 
even  opposed  to  the  reigning  sentiment  of  the  church  at  Jerusalem  (which  perfectly 
accords  with  Acts  15  :  1  and  5) ;  for,  in  Gal.  2  :  1-10,  Paul  plainly  reSersto this  church, 
and  not,  as  Baur  falsely  assumes,  to  that  of  Antioch.  Had  the  Jewish  apostles,  after 
God  had  condemned  their  old  prejudices  by  what  had  already  taken  place  in  the  Gen- 
tile world,  still  held  circumcision  necessary  to  salvation,  they  would  have  fallen  under 
the  curse,  which  Paul  denounces  against  all,  who  preach  any  other  gospel  than  his 
own  (Gal.  1  :  8,  9.  Comp.  5 :  1  sqq).  Paul  would  have  regarded  and  treated  them  as 
false  teachers,  and  not  by  any  means  as  apostles — for  these  two  ideas  are  in  absolute 
contradiction.  But  who  can  for  a  moment  bear  the  thought  ?  It  is  glaringly  incon- 
sistent with  the  epistle  to  the  Galatians,  and  with  such  passages  as  Eph  3  :  5  sqq.  2 : 
10  sqq.  1  Cor.  15  :  l-H,  where  Paul  acknowledges  the  divine  calling  and  authority 
of  the  elder  apostles;  asserts  their  agreement  with  him  on  the  very  point  in  dispute— 
the  relation  of  the  heathen  to  the  gospel ;  and  calls  himself  the  least  among  the  apos- 
tles. It  is  inconsistent,  moreover,  with  Paul's  continual  care  for  the  poor  Jewish 
Christians  in  Jerusalem  (these  supposed  heretics  and  unyielding  antagonists  !),  which 
was  directed  not  merely  to  the  supply  of  their  temporal  wants,  but,  as  he  explicitly 
says  (2  Cor.  9  :  12-14),  to  the  establishment  and  confirmation  of  fraternal  communion 
with  them.  The  facts,  that  the  Acts  represent  Peter  as  the  first  to  receive  Gentiles 
into  the  church  without  circumcision,  and  as  declaring  Pauline  sentiments  in  the  apos- 
tolic council ;  that  Peter  himself  unequivocally  sets  forth  in  his  epistles  the  commu- 
nity of  faith  between  himself  and  Paul  (1  Pet.  5:12.  2  Pet.  3  :  15) ;  that  the 
writings  of  John  are  far  above  all  narrow  Judaistic  views ;  that  even  James  calls 
Christianity  a  perfect  law  of  liberty,  in  tacit  antithesis  with  the  Mosaic  system  as  an 
imperfect  law  of  bondage ;— all  these,  indeed,  go  for  nothing  with  Baur,  Zeller  and 
Schwegler  ;  for,  in  spite  of  the  strongest  testimony  of  tradition,  they  assign  all  those 
documents  (except  the  Revelation  of  St.  John)  to  the  second  century,  and  declare  them 
to  have  been  forged  for  purposes  of  conciliation.  But  must  not  such  extravagances 
of  fiction  lose  all  credit,  when  the  assumptions,  on  which  they  wholly  rest,  and  which 
surely  do  not  commend  them,  are  contradicted  even  by  the  few  passages  of  Paul's  epis- 


MISSIONS.]     §  69.      PUBLIC  TRANSACTIONS.      DECREE  OF  COUNCIL.        253 

ties,  which  are  supposed  to  serve  as  their  main  supports  ?  That  the  Tubingen  critics 
for  special  reasons  still  retain  four  of  Paul's  epistles,  in  order,  like  their  predecessors  in 
the  time  of  Peter  (2  Pet.  3  :  16),  to  use  them  by  arbitrary  perversion  in  the  service 
of'their  Gnostic  infidelity,  is,  on  their  ground,  a  sheer  inconsistency,  for  which  they 
merit  no  thanks  :  since  half  the  ingenuity,  with  which  they  imagine  that  they  over- 
throw the  genuineness  of  the  gospel  of  John  and  the  other  books  of  the  New  Testament, 
M'ould  prove  also  the  epistles  to  the  Romans,  Corinthians,  and  Galatians  to  be  Gnostic 
forgeries  of  the  second  century.  In  general,  this  mode  of  proceeding  puts  an  end  to 
all  sound  criticism,  nay,  ultimately  to  all  history  :  and  in  this  Tubingen  school,  if  any- 
where, are  verified  the  words  of  Paul,  Rom.  1  :  22 :  ^uGKOvrec  elvac  cotpol  e/iuquv- 

§  69.  Public  Transactions.     Decree  of  the  Coimcil.     (Acts  15). 

As  the  dispute  respecting  the  relation  of  the  Gentiles  to  the  gospel 
was  disturbing  the  peace  of  the  whole  church,  it  was  natural  that  it 
should  be  publicly  settled.'  The  apostles,  therefore,  and  elders,  and  as 
many  private  Christians  as  were  interested  and  could  find  room  (Acts 
15  :  1,  12,  22),  came  together  for  a  general  consultation.  Here  the 
point  was,  not  so  much  the  personal  relation  of  the  apostles  to  one 
another  and  the  apostolic  rank  of  Paul,  as  the  rights  and  duties  of  the 
Gentile  Christians.  After  much  discussion  on  both  sides,  Peter,  pvobaljly 
the  president  of  the  council,  who,  in  doctrine  as  in  practice,  held  middle 
ground  between  James  and  Paul,  arose  and  testified,  from  his  own  expe- 
rience in  the  case  of  Cornelius,  of  the  acceptance  which  the  gosjDcl  met 
among  the  heathen,  and  of  the  spiritual  gifts  which  God  imparted  to 
them  without  the  intervention  of  Judaism  ;  uttering  the  purely  Pauline 
maxim,  that  even  they,  the  Jewish  Christians  themselves,  as  well  as  their 
uncircumcised  brethren,  were  saved,  not  by  the  intolerable  burden  of  the 
law,  but  only  by  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  a  living 
faith  in  him.  He  thus  appealed  to  a  notorious,  undeniable  fact,  the  con- 
version and  regeneration  of  Cornelius  and  his  household,  the  first  fruits 
of  the  Gentiles  ;  and  on  this  he  based  his  doctrine  respecting  the  claims 
of  the  heathen  to  the  free  grace  of  the  gospel.  These  words  from  the 
mouth  of  the  most  esteemed  apostle  could  not  fail  of  their  impression. 
A  solemn  silence  prevailed  in  the  assembly.  Then  Barnabas,  who  had 
long  been  in  high  repute  in  Jerusalem,  and  Paul,  presented  themselves, 
and  related  the  signs  and  wonders,  with  which  God  had  accompanied  and 
sealed  their  labors  among  the  Gentiles. 

Thus  far  the  transactions  seemed  likely  to  end  in  Paul's  complete  vic- 
tory and  the  confirmation  of  the  private  agreement  of  the  apostles. 
But  for  this  the  mass  of  the  Jewish  Christians  were  not  yet  prepared. 
To  their  more  timid  scruples,  to  their  weak  consciences,  some  temporary 

^  Hess  {Apost.  Gcsch.  I.  p.  20S)  makes  the  council,  on  the  contrary,  ])recede  the 
private  interview.     But  this  is  certainly  far  less  probable  than  t  he  reverse. 


254  §  C9,       PUBLIC  TRANSACTIONS.       DECREE  OF  COUNCIL.     [l-  BOOK. 

concession  must  be  made,  before  perfect  peace  could  be  restored.  That 
concession  ^A•as  proposed  by  James,  who  in  sentiment  and  spirit  was  most 
akin  to  the  Jewish  Christians  of  the  stricter  class,  and  therefore  most 
influential  with  them.  "With  great  practical  wisdom  and  moderation,  he 
took  a  position  of  compromise  between  the  conflicting  interests.  He 
first  announced  his  perfect  agreement,  in  princijile,  with  Peter  ;  that  God 
had  from  among  the  Gentiles  also  prepared  a  people  for  himself.  In  this 
he  saw  only  the  fulfillment  of  the  prophecy  (Amos  9  :  11  sq.)  respecting 
the  glorious  restoration  and  enlargement  of  the  theocracy  among  the 
heathen,  the  execution  of  an  eternal  decree.  This  api>eal  to  the  Old 
Testament  gave  the  matter  such  an  aspect,  as  must  commend  it  to  the 
Jewish  Christians.  But  for  their  perfect  satisfaction,  he  proposed,  not, 
indeed,  that  the  converted  Gentiles  should  submit  to  circumcision, — for 
this  would  have  been,  in  fact,  to  countenance  the  heretical  principle  of 
the  "false  brethren,"— but  that  they  should  abstain  from  those  practices, 
which  were  particularly  offensive  to  a  scrupulous  Jew,  and  which  he 
could  not  think  consistent  with  genuine  piety  ;  viz.,  from  eating  meat 
offered  to  idoh,^  blood, '^  and,  what  is  connected  with  this,  strangled  ani- 
mals,^ and  finally  from  fornication  (15  :  20).  These  restrictions  are 
among  the  seven  precepts,  which,  according  to  tradition,  were  given  to 
Noah,  and  which  were  enjoined  upon  the  proselytes  of  the  gate.  It 
might  seem  strange,  that,  in  these  prohibitions,  an  act  absolutely  unmoral 
should  be  classed  with  things  in  themselves  indiff'erent  and  only  relatively 
wrong.  But  it  must  be  remembered,  that  licentiousness  was  very  fre- 
quently united  with  the  idolatrous  sacrifices,  and  was  an  "  adiaphoron" 
to  the  pagans,  who  were  Avholly  destitute  of  the  deeper  conception  of 
chastity  in  general.  Idolatry,  which  is  so  frequently  termed  in  the  Old 
Testament  a  spiritual  whoredom,  is  necessarily  followed  by  bodily  pollu- 
tion.    Hence  it  is,  that  Paul  so  often  warns  Gentile  believers  against  this 

*  The  remains  of  the  heathen  sacrifices,  which  the  Jews  were  strictly  forbidden  to 
eat  (Ex.  34  :  15),  were  either  consumed  at  the  sacrificial  feasts,  or  sold  in  the  market. 
The  partaking  of  this  flesh  offered  to  false  gods  was  as  much  a  pollution  with  idol- 
atry, as  the  participation  in  the  sacrificial  feasts  of  the  Israelites  was  a  token  of  com- 
munion with  Jehovah  (comp.  Ex.  29  :  28,  33). 

^  Accordina;  to  Gen.  9  :  4.  Lev.  17  :  10  sqq.  Deuter.  12  ;  23  sqq. :  "  Only  be  sure, 
that  thou  eat  not  the  blood  :  for  the  blood  is  the  life  ;  and  thou  mayest  not  eat  the  life 
with  the  fle>h.  Thou  shalt  not  eat  it :  thou  shalt  pour  it  upon  the  earth  as  water,"  &c. 
The  blood  is  intended  to  atone  upon  the  altar  for  the  soul  of  man  (Lev.  17  :  11),  and 
the  prohibition  to  eat  it  rests  accordingly  upon  regard  for  the  sacrifice,  the  centre  of 
the  Old  Testament  religion.  'With  the  heathen  also,  indeed,  the  blood  was  counted  the 
proper  means  of  atonement :  but  the  eating  of  it  was  not  forbidden,  because  with 
them  the  line  was  not  so  sharply  drawn  between  the  holy  and  the  unholy. 

'  i.  e.  those  animals,  which,  like  fowls,  were  caught  in  snares,  and  whose  blood  was 
not  let.     Comp.  Lev-  17  :  13.     19  :  26. 


1 


MISSIONS.]   §  GO.       PUBLIC  TRANSACTIONS.       DECREE  OF  COUNCIL.  255 

sin.'  Besides,  the  expression  here  is  probably  to  be  taken  in  the  wider 
sense,  as  including  marriage  with  unconverted  heathen  (Ex.  34  :  16), 
and  marriage  within  those  degrees  of  affinity,  which  were  forbidden  not 
only  to  the  Jews  in  the  Pentateuch,  but  also  to  the  proselytes  of  the 
gate  in  the  Noachic  precepts,  as  partaking  of  the  character  of  incest  f 
whereas  the  heathen  made  no  conscience  of  it.' 

This  proposition  of  James  met  with  general  acceptance,  and  was  adopt- 
ed by  the  council  as  its  decree.  The  only  dissentients  were  the  false 
teachers  themselves,  who  certainly,  as  their  subsequent  intrigues  show, 
could  not  have  been  satisfied  with  it,  or  for  the  time  understood  it  in 
their  own  sense.  This  decree,  too,  was  most  easily  carried  into  execu- 
tion, as  things  then  stood,  and  best  fitted  to  restore  peace  between  the 
contending  parties,  and  gradually  to  effect  a  perfect  reconciliation.  For, 
on  the  one  hand,  it  drew  the  Jews  nearer  to  the  Gentiles  ;  on  the  other, 
it  secured  the  Gentiles  against  the  after-workings  of  their  former  habits, 
as  well  as  against  contamination  from  the  surrounding  idolatry.  Hess 
justly  remarks,  that  in  tnis  thing  the  apostles  became  all  things  to  all 
men  ;  Jews,  to  Jews  ;  Gentiles,  to  Gentiles  ;  since,  while  they  secured  to 
the  Gentile  Christians  their  freedom,  they  also  enabled  the  Jews  with 
good  conscience  to  associate  with  them.*  James  and  Paul  here  mani- 
fested, in  different  positions,  the  same  practical  wisdom  and  moderation  ; 
the  former  in  making  his  attachment  to  Judaism  subordinate  to  the  gen- 
eral interests  of  Christianity  ;  the  latter,  in  readily  submitting,  from 
regard  for  weak  consciences,  and  for  the  sake  of  fraternal  harmony,  to  a 
restriction  on  the  Gentile  Christians,  demanded  indeed  by  the  circum- 
stances, and  highly  salutary,  but,  so  far  as  the  eating  of  blood  and  things 

^  1  Cor.  5  :  9.     Eph.  5  :  3,  5.     1  Thess.  4  :  3.     Col.  3  :  5. 

^  Comp.  1  Cor.  5  :  1,  where  also  TroQveia  is  put  for  incest. 

^  Gieseler  (Staudlin  unci  Tzschirnerh  "  Archiv  fiir  K.  G."  IV.  p.  312)  explains  the 
TTOQVEia  as  incest.  He  is  followed  by  Baur  (1.  c.  p.  142  sqq.),  and  Schwegler  (1.  c.  p. 
125  sq ) :  but  these  at  the  santie  time,  altogether  gratuitously,  make  the  passage  include 
the  prohibition  of  a  second  marriage^  appealing  to  the  Montanibts,  and  to  Athenagoras, 
who  describes  the  second  marriage  as  evKpsm/g  fioixna.  But  this  latter  usus  loguendi, 
and  the  view  which  lies  at  the  bottom  of  it,  are  totally  foreign  to  the  New  Testament 
(Rom.  7:3),  and  can  be  charged  upon  the  author  of  the  book  of  Acts  only  in  zeal  for 
a  false  assumption. 

*  1.  c.  p.  211.  Luther,  on  the  contrary  {Werke.  ed.  Walch,  VIII.  p.  1033,  1042).  who 
is  well  known  to  have  had  little  favor  for  James  in  other  respects,  unjustly  reproaches 
him  here  with  "  having  faltered  a  little."  From  this,  as  well  as  from  Luther's  hostil- 
ity to  the  doctrine  of  justification  set  forth  in  the  epistle  of  James,  which  he  irreve- 
rently called  an  "  epistle  of  straw,"  we  see  that  the  great  reformer  carried  the  opposi-  '. 
tion  to  Judaism  to  excess,  and  was  far  from  possessing,  in  this  respect,  the  wise  mode- 
ration of  his  favorite  apostle,  Paul,  as  it  meets  us  in  this  council  and  elsewhere,  and 
for  this  very  reason  also  was  not  at  all  qualified  for  the  work  of  peace  and  union.  An 
interesting  proof  of  the  great  distance  between  an  ever  so  distinguished  church- teacher 
and  an  apostle ! 


256  §    69.      PUBLIC   TRANSACTIONS.      DECREE  OF  COUNCIL,     [i.   BOOK. 

strangled  was  concerned,  destined  to  lose  its  force,  as  the  national  oppo- 
sition disappeared.*  Moreover,  circumstances  may  yet  arise,  where 
abstinence  from  these  and  similar  things,  which  are  not  in  themselves 
immoral,  and  are  commonly  reckoned  among  the  "  adiaphora,"  becomes 
a  duty  of  Christian  love.  The  apostle  Paul  here  suggests  to  us  the 
golden  rule  :  "  All  things  are  lawful  for  me,  but  all  things  are  not  expe- 
dient :  all  things  are  lawful  for  me,  but  all  things  edify  not.  Let  no 
man  seek  his  own,  but  every  man  another's  wealth"  (1  Cor.  10  :  23,  24). 
True  Christian  freedom  shows  itself  in  self-restraint  and  tender  forbear- 
ance towards  the  weak.  So  Paul,  in  full  agreement  with  the  spirit  of 
the  synod  at  Jerusalem,  earnestly  dissuaded  the  Corinthian  Gentile 
Christians  from  eating  meat  offered  to  idols,  lest  they  should  oflfeiid  the 
conscience  of  a  weak  brother,  for  whom  likewise  Christ  died  f  while  yet 
he  at  the  same  time  asserts,  on  the  other  hand,  that  "  the  earth  is  the 
Lord's  and  the  fulness  thereof,"  and  that  every  kind  of  food  is,  in  itself, 
good,  if  it  be  eaten  with  thanksgiving.^  The  same  wise  and  truly  free 
position  he  steadfastly  maintains  in  the  controversy  among  the  Roman 
Christians  about  eating  certain  kinds  of  food  and  observing  the  Jewish 
feasts  (Rom.  14  and  15). 

This  compromise  act,  as  we  may  call  it,  having  been  reduced,  probably 
by  James,*  to  the  form  of  a  short  letter,  was  communicated  in  the  name 
of  the  council  to  the  Gentile-Christian  congregations  in  Syria  and  Cilicia, 
by  two  distinguished  men  of  tlie  church  (perhaps  presbyters  of  Jerusa- 
lem), Judas  Barsabas  and  Silas.  The  official  document  was  to  serve 
them  as  the  warrant  and  basis  of  more  extended  oral  instruction.  These 
delegates,  in  the  fuliillment  of  their  commission,  accompanied  Paul  and 
Barnabas  to  Antioch  ;  Barnabas  again  taking  with  him  his  nephew, 
Mark. 

Thus  was  brought  out  the  first  great  antagonism  in  the  Christian 
church  ;  but  with  the  public  acknowledgment,  that  the  difference  between 
the  Jewish-Christian  and  Gentile-Christian  views,  held  with  due  modera- 
tion, did  not  touch  the  essence  of  Christian  piety,  and  need  not  disturb 

'  The  Greek  church,  indeed,  in  the  second  Trullan  council,  A.D.  692,  re-enacted  the 
law  against  eating  blood  and  things  strangled,  and  still  retain  it.  But  the  Latin  church 
here  more  properly  considered  the  change  of  time  and  circumstances,  and  gradually  let 
this  prohibition  drop.  Comp.  Augustine  :  Contra  Faustum,  32  :  13,  and  other  passages. 
Also  Neander,  I.  219;  and  the  remarks  of  Baumgarten  in  his  instructive  work  on 
Acts  (1852),  Part  U.  Sec.  1,  p.  l.')3  sqq. 

■'  1  Cor.  8  :  7-13.     10  :  14,  24-29. 

'  ]  Cor.  10  :  25.  26.     8  :  4,  8.     1  Tim.  4:4. 

*  As  we  may  infer,  partly  from  the  share  he  had  in  the  proposition  itself;  partly 
from  the  similarity  of  the  style  to  that  of  the  epistle  of  James :  especially  from  the 
form  of  salutation,  jatptiv  (15  :  23),  which  occurs  nowhere  else  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment but  in  James  1  :  1. 


MISSIONS.]  §  70.      COLLISION   OF   PAUL,    ETC.  257 

the  unity  of  the  church.  Reactions  were  certainly  to  be  expected.  It 
was  long  before  the  old  "  leaven  of  the  Pharisees"  was  thoroughly  purged 
out.  In  fact,  the  whole  Roman  Catholic  church-  may  be  said  still  to  bear 
a  Judaizing,  legal  character  ;  and  the  principle  of  evangelical  freedom, 
which  Paul  so  strenuously  advocated,  to  have  gained  its  due  ascendancy 
only  with  the  Reformation  ;  undoubtedly  bringing  with  it,  however,  also 
the  danger  of  running  to  the  opposite  extreme  of  antinomianism  and 
licentiousness.  For  church  history  vibrates  between  the  two  extremes  of 
authority  and  freedom  (Catholicism  and  Protestantism),  which  have 
never  yet  been  satisfactorily  reconciled.  The  type  and  guarantee  of  a 
final  reconciliation  we  have,  however,  in  the  harmony  of  the  Jewish  and 
Gentile  apostles,  as  it  came  to  view  in  so  lovely  a  manner  and  with  such 
happy  results,  in  this  first  synod  of  Christendom. 

§  70.    Collision  of  Paul  with  Peter  and  Barnabas. 

Not  long  after  this  fraternal  compromise  in  Jerusalem,  while  the 
Gentile  missionaries  were  again  spending  some  time  in  Antioch  (15  :  33, 
35,  36),  Peter  and  Barnabas  there  fell  into  that  memorable  inconsistency, 
which  caused  an  altercation,  though  only  transient  as  the  subsequent 
history  shows,  between  them  and  Paul  (Gal.  2  :  11  sqq).'  The  same 
Peter,  who  was  the  first  to  admit  Gentiles  into  the  church  without  cir- 
cumcision, who  in  the  council  so  warmly  advocated  their  rights,  and  in 
his  practice  in  Antioch  had  disregarded  the  distinction  of  clean  and  un- 
clean meats,  could  now  be  induced  by  fear  of  some  scrupulous  Jewish 

'  The  chronology  here  is.  indeed,  disputed,  and  cannot  be  determined  with  absolute 
certainty.  Augustine,  Grotius,  Hug,  and  Schneckenburger  ( Ueber  den  Zweck  der  Apos- 
telgeschichtc,  p.  109),  place  this  occurrence  before  the  apostolical  convention ;  but  this 
does  not  agree  at  all  with  the  order  of  events  as  described  in  the  epistle  to  the  Gala- 
tians.  Neander,  on  the  contrary  (I.  p.  354),  and  Wieseler  (p.  199),  put  it  after  the 
fourth  journey  of  Paul  to  Jerusalenn,  Acts  18  :  22.  But  Gal.  2  :  11,  by  placing  this 
event  in  immediate  connection  with  the  conference  of  the  apostles,  indicates  that  it  oc- 
curred not  long  after;  which  Wieseler  himself  admits  (p.  184,  note),  only  he  wrongly 
refers  the  whole  narrative  in  Gal.  2  :  1-11,  as  already  observed,  to  the  fourth  journey 
to  Jerusalem,  A.  D.  54.  It  is  also,  in  itself,  not  at  all  improbable,  that  many  persons 
went  from  Jerusalem  to  Antioch  just  in  consequence  of  the  apostolic  council  ;  some 
from  a  lively  interest  in  the  Gentile  converts  there  ;  but  the  Judaizers  from  jealousy, 
intending  to  get  up  a  reaction  against  what  they  thought  a  most  dangerous  innovation 
of  Paul ; — the  same,  that  they  afterwards  attempted  ia  Galatia  and  elsewhere.  For,  as 
to  these  pharisaically  minded  persons,  we  must  suppose,  either  that  they  dissented  from 
the  decree  of  the  council  from  the  first;  or  that  they  repented  of  having  submitted  to 
it,  when  they  became  aware  of  its  real,  though  perhaps  unintended,  consequences  to 
the  Jewish  Christians  ;  or  that  they  misunderstood  it.  Neander's  chronological  hypo- 
thesis would  make  Paul  to  have  fallen  out  with  Barnabas  twice;  for  their  dissension 
before  the  second  missionary  tour  is  made  certain  by  Acts  15  :  39  ;  and  it  is  easier  ex- 
plained, too,  when  to  the  personal  reason  there  given  is  added  the  cause  mentioned  in 
Gilatians. 

It 


258  §  YO.       COLLISION   OF   PAUL  [l-  BOOK. 

Christians  from  Jerusalem,  who  uinvarrantaljly  pleaded  the  authority  of 
James,  to  withdraw  gradually  from  intercourse  with  the  Gentile  converts. 
He  did  not,  indeed,  as  Baur  and  Schwegler  erroneously  assume,  require 
them  to  be  circumcised;  Gal.  2  :  11-14  contains  no  hint  of  this,  but 
speaks  only  of  eating  with  the  Gentiles.  In  refusing  to  eat  with  the 
Gentiles,  however,  Peter  of  course  virtually  refused  to  recognize  them  as 
brethren  ;  confirmed  the  prejudice  against  them  as  still  unclean  ;  and 
thus,  at  least  indirectly,  violated  the  compromise  agreed  upon  at  Jeru- 
salem.' His  influential  example  had  its  effect  upon  the  other  Jewish 
Christians,  and  enticed  even  Barnabas,  the  intimate  companion  of  Paul, 
to  the  same  inconsistency.  Paul,  an  enemy  to  all  temporizing,  seeing 
the  consciences  of  the  Gentile  Christians  in  his  most  important  congre- 
gation disturbed,  and  his  evangelical  principles  and  the  peace  of  the 
church  again  put  in  jeopardy  by  the  high  authority  of  an  apostle,  called 
this  obsequiousness  a  "  dissimulation,"  and  before  the  whole  company, 
without  respect  of  persons,  showed  Peter  his  inconsistency,  and  the  dan- 
gerous consequences  of  such  conduct,  if  meant  in  earnest.'^  That  Peter, 
however,  suffered  himself  to  be  thus  corrected  by  the  Apostle  of  the 
Gentiles,  his  junior  in  office,  without  conceiving  any  ill  feeling  towards 
him,  evinces  a  rare  humility,  which  commands  as  high  admiration  as  the 
intrepid  zeal  of  Paul  for  evangelical  freedom. 

This  event  is  full  of  instruction.  We  cannot,  indeed,  justly  infer 
from  it  anything  unfavorable  to  the  inspiration  and  doctrine  of  Peter  ; 
for  his  fault  was  rather  a  practical  denial  of  his  real  and  true  conviction, 
as  in  his  former  and  still  deeper  fall,  when  he  denied  Him,  whom  he  yet 

'  We  must,  indeed,  agree  with  Dr.  Wieseler  (p.  197  sq.)  in  maintaining  against 
Baur,  that  the  conduct  of  Peter  did  not  violate  the  letter  of  the  decree.  Yet  we  think, 
that  the  case  involved,  unconsciously  perhaps  to  Peter  himself,  a  violation  of  its  spirit. 
For  though  that  document  settled  nothing  definitely  respecting  the  relation  of  convert- 
ed Jews  to  the  Mosaic  law ;  yet,  by  not  imposing  circumcision  on  the  Gentile  Chris- 
tians, it  virtually  recognized  them  as  brethren,  and  thus  indirectly  abrogated  the  Jew- 
ish statute  against  eating  with  them.  But  if  we  suppose,  with  "Wieseler,  that  this 
refusal  of  Peter  and  Barnabas  had  reference  only  to  the  articles  forbidden  in  Acts  15  : 
20,  and  was  therefore  but  a  strict  observance  of  the  apostolic  decree,  on  which  the  fol- 
lowers of  James  insisted  ;  we  make  the  apostle  Paul's  severe  rebuke  unjust,  even 
though  we  fix  the  occurrence,  as  Wieseler  does,  at  a  later  date.  For  it  can  hardly  be 
supposed,  that  that  decree  fell  so  soon  into  disuse. 

"^  We  have  already  shown  (p.  409,  Note,  and  p.  461),  that  this  rebuke  of  Paul's  con- 
tradicts Baur's  hypothesis  of  Ebionism  in  Peter  (of  which,  in  this  case,  Barnabas  also 
must  be  guilty),  and  confirms  the  account  in  Acts.  Schwegler,  sensible,  no  doubt,  of 
this  difficulty,  endeavors  (1  c.  I,  p.  129)  to  weaken  and  distort  the  cvvviTEiip'f&rtaav 
ai'Tu)  (sc.  nt'rpcj).  Gal.  2  :  13.  But  this  violates  not  only  the  grammar,  but  also  the 
connection.  For  the  whole  passage,  especially  v.  12  and  14  sqq.,  implies  the  charge  of 
hypocrisy  against  Peter,  and  the  avruv,  v.  14,  evidently  refers,  according  to  the  con- 
text, as  much  to  the  leading  pet  son,  Peter,  as  to  the  Jewish  Christians  of  Antioch. 


MISSIONS.]  WITH    PETER    AND    BAENABAS.  259 

knew  to  he  his  Lord  and  Master.  But  it  shows,  that  the  apostles,  even 
after  the  outponring  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  are  not  to  be  looked  upon  as 
perfect  saints  in  such  sense  as  to  be  liable  to  no  sinful  weakness  what- 
ever. We  here  discern  still  the  workings  of  the  old  sanguine,  impulsive 
nature  of  Peter,  who  could,  one  hour,  with  enthusiastic  devotion,  swear 
fidelity  to  his  Master  ;  and  the  next,  deny  him  thrice.  Paul,  too,  on 
his  part,  may  have  been  too  excited  and  sharp  against  the  senior  apostle, 
without  making  due  allowance  for  the  delicacy  of  his  position  and  his 
regard  for  the  scrupulosity  of  the  Jewish  converts  ;  which  certainly  go 
far  to  excuse,  though  not  to  justify  Peter.  The  Word  of  God,  at  once 
to  humble  and  to  encourage,  records  the  failings  of  the  pious  as  faith- 
fully as  their  virtues.  Then  again,  from  the  conduct  of  Paul  we  learn 
not  only  the  right  and  duty  of  combatting  the  errors  even  of  the  most 
distinguished  servants  of  Christ,  but  also  the  equality  of  the  apostles, 
in  opposition  to  an  undue  exaltation  of  Peter  above  his  colleagues. 

The  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  though  they  pass  over  in  silence  the  incon- 
sistency of  Peter,*  yet  record,  with  the  same  candor,  a  temporary  rup- 
ture between  Paul  and  Barnabas,  which  occurred  most  probably  in  close 
connection  with  the  scene  just  described.  When  Paul,  some  time  after 
his  return  from  the  apostolic  council,  proposed  to  Barnabas  a  new  mis- 
sionary tour,  the  latter  wished  to  take  along  his  kinsman,  Mark.  But 
Paul  objected,  because  this  Mark,  in  the  previous  journey,  had  not 
proved  steadfast.*  This  led  to  an  irritation  of  feeling,  "  a  sharp  conten- 
tion "  (15  :  36-39).  Each  insisted,  and  doubtless  not  without  human 
weakness,  on  his  own  view  as  having  all  the  right.  Paul,  with  his  stern 
regard  for  duty,  excluded  all  personal  considerations,  and  felt  compelled 
to  censure  severely  any  want  of  self-denial  for  the  sake  of  the  Lord. 
Barnabas,  who  seems  to  have  been  naturally  of  a  milder  turn,  was  dis- 
posed to  be  lenient  towards  his  kinsman,  hoping  that  this  would  be  the 
best  way  to  restore  the  backslider.  The  earnestness  of  Paul  and  the 
mildness  of  Barnabas  united,  brought  forth  their  fruits  ;  for  we  after- 
wards find  Mark  faithful  and  persevering  in  his  calling,  even  under  suf- 

'  In  this  Dr.  Baiir  (p.  129  sq.)  sees  intentional  dishonesty,  required  by  the  con- 
ciliatory object  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  But  why  then  does  not  this  book  leave 
to  oblivion  the  irapo^uajiog  between  Paul  and  Barnabas  on  account  of  Mark,  who  was 
so  intimate  a  friend  of  Peter  ?  Or  could  the  author  of  the  Acts  imagine,  that  by  such 
an  omission  he  could  lessen  the  force  of  Paul's  own  unequivocal  statement?  The 
omission  must  therefore  be  either  accidental,  or  explained  from  the  fact,  that  the  colli- 
sion of  Paul  with  Peter  had  no  bearing  upon  the  direct  object  of  Luke,  which  was  to 
describe  not  the  internal  affairs  of  the  congregation  at  Antioch  but  the  missionarj- 
labors  of  Paul. 

^  By  reason  of  his  near  relation  to  Peter  and  Barnabas,  he  had  doubtless  been  en- 
ticed by  their  example  to  separate  himself  also  at  that  time  from  the  Gentile  Chris- 
tians. 


260  §  71.    Paul's  second  mission aey  toue.  [f-  book. 

ferings,  and  reconciled  with  Paul,  as  the  latter  himself  testifies/    Equally 
transient,  of  course,  was  Paul's  dispute  also  with  Barnabas.'' 

For  the  missionary  work  itself  tins  altercation,  in  the  hands  of  the 
Lord,  who  can  turn  even  the  weaknesses  of  his  children  to  the  praise  of 
his  name,  resulted  in  good.  The  missionary  force  was  doubled,  and  the 
water  of  life  flowed  in  double  channel  to  a  greater  number  of  lands. 
Barnabas,  with  Mark,  sailed  to  his  native  island,  Cyprus.  Paul,  accom- 
panied by  Silas  (Silvanus)  and  the  blessing  of  the  church  of  Antioch, 
which  probably  sided  with  him  in  this  controversy,  chose  according  to 
his  rule,  Rom.  15  :  20.  2  Cor.  10  :  16,  a  field  of  independent  labor 
(Acts  15  :  39-41). 

§    71.    Paul's  Second  Missionary  Tour.      Galatia.      The  Macedonian 
Vision.     A.  D.  51. 

Some  time  after  the  apostolic  council,  in  the  year  51,  or  at  the  latest 
52,  Paul  set  out  on  his  second  great  missionary  tour,  in  which  he  brought 
the  gospel  to  Europe,  and  thus  determined  the  Christianization  of  this 
quarter  of  the  globe.  He  first  visited  the  churches  he  had  founded  in 
Syria  and  Cilicia  before  his  second  journey  to  Jerusalem  ;''  then  the 
churches  he  and  Barnabas  had  afterwards  established  in  Lycaonia  ;  to 
strengthen  them,  and  recommend  the  apostolical  concordat  to  their  ob- 
servance. In  Lystra*  he  met  the  young  man,  Timothy,  whom  he  had 
probably  already  converted  during  his  first  visit  there.''  Being  the  son 
of  a  heathen  father  and  a  pious  Jewess,  Eunice,  who,  with  his  grand- 
mother, Lois,  had  instructed  him  from  childhood  in  the  Old  Testament 
Scriptures  (2  Tim.  1:5.  3  :  14,  15),  this  youth  was  peculiarly  quali- 
fied for  an  assistant  in  the  missionary  work  among  the  Gentiles  and 
Jews,  and  he  had  been  designated  by  prophetic  voices  in  the  congrega- 
tion as  a  suita])le  instrument  for  extending  the  kingdom  of  God."  To 
make  him  the  more  acceptable  to  the  numerous  Jews  of  that  region,  who 
had  some  claim  upon  him  through  his  mother,  Paul,  of  his  own  choice 
and  from  Christian  prudence,  had  him  circumcised.'     Henceforth  Timo- 

*  Philem.  V.  24.     Col.  4  :  10.     2  Tim.  4  :  11. 

'  Comp.  1  Cor,  9  :  6.     Col.  4:10,  where  he  makes  respectful  mention  of  him. 
»  Comp.  Gal.  1  :  21.     Acts  9  :  30.     11:25. 

*  This  place,  and  not  Derbe,  is  evidently  intended  by  the  LkeI.  Acts  16  :  1,  comp. 
V.  2.  This  is  by  no  means  incompatible  with  20  :  4 ;  for  there  Timothy's  home  is  not 
mentioned  at  all,  but  presumed  to  be  known.  Comp.  von  Hengel :  Comment,  in  Ep. 
P.  ad  Philipp.  1838.  p.  30. 

^  Comp.  1  Cor.  4  :  17,  and  1  Tim.  1  :  2. 

^  Acts  16  :  2.     Comp.  1  Tim.  4  :  14.     1  :  18. 

'  That  this  act  was  nowise  inconsistent  with  Paul's  principles,  or  with  his  refusal 
to  circumcise  the  Gentile,  Titus,  we  have  already  remarked.  §  67.  We  will  add  here, 
that  there  are  two  kinds  of  formalism,  a  negative,  and  a  positiv:.     A  man  may  either 


MISSIONS.]  §  71.       GALATIA.       THE    MACEDONIAN    VISION.  261 

thy  appears  to  have  been  a  faithful  companion  and  fellow-laborer  of  the 
apostle,'  and  particularly  valued  and  beloved  by  him.'' 

From  Lycaonia  Paul  went  to  Phrygia,  a  province  abounding  in  cities, 
where  we  afterwards  find  flourishing  churches  in  Colosse,  Hierapolis,  and 
Laodicea,  though  these  are  commonly  supposed  to  have  been  founded 
not  by  Paul  himself,  but  by  his  disciple,  Epaphras  (comp.  Col.  2  :  1  sq. 
1:7).  For  at  that  time  at  least  he  seems  not  to  have  visited  the 
southern  part  of  the  province,  but  to  have  turned  northward  into 
Galatia,  also  called  (jiallograecia,  a  province  inhabited  by  Celts  (Galatae) 
and  Germans,  who  migrated  thither  in  the  third  century  before  Christ, 
and  were  conquered  by  the  Romans  189  B.  C.  In  his  labors  here  he 
suffered  much  from  the  weakness  of  his  body,  which  with  difficulty  sus- 
tained itself  under  his  many  hardships  and  persecutions,  and  the  toil 
necessary  to  earn  a  livelihood,  besides  that  peculiar  trial,  no  more  defi- 
nitely described  than  as  a  "thorn  in  the  flesh"  (2  Cor.  12  :  7).  All 
these  sufferings  and  conflicts,  however,  gave  exercise  to  his  humility  and 
patience,  and  made  him  cleave  more  firmly  to  all-sufficient  grace.  Ac- 
cordingly the  divine  power  of  the  gospel  made  its  way  only  with  the 
greater  force  and  purity  through  this  weak  organ  (the  aa&iveLa  n/c  aapnoc, 
Gal.  4  :  13),  and  irresistibly  attracted  the  minds  of  the  heathen  and 
proselytes.  His  self-denying  love  amidst  the  heaviest  afflictions  gained 
him  the  confidence  and  affection  of  all.  The  Galatians  received  him  as 
an  angel  of  God,  nay,  as  Jesus  Christ  himself,  and  felt  so  happy,  that, 
for  the  heavenly  gift  bestowed  upon  them,  they  were  ready  to  deprive 
themselves  of  their  dearest  possession,  their  eyes,  and  give  it  to  him 
(Gal.  4  :  14,  15).  Hence  also  the  deep,  grief  of  the  apostle,  when 
these  flourishing  churches  afterwards  suffered  themselves  to  be  led  astray 
by  Jewish  errorists,  and  brought  under  the  yoke  of  the  law. 

From  Galatia  Paul  intended  to  travel  southwest  to  Proconsular  Asia,^ 
and  thence  northward  to  Bithynia,  to  prosecute  his  work.     But  the  Holy 

fanatically  oppose  or  slavishly  advocate  certain  ceremonies  in  themselves  indifferent, 
as  though  the  salvation  of  the  soul  depended  on  either  rejecting  or  observing  them. 
So,  on  the  other  hand,  true  spiritual  freedom,  which  we  see  in  the  apostle  Paul,  shows 
itself  as  much  in  accommodation  to  indifferent  usages,  where  Christian  charity  and  re- 
gard for  the  kingdom  of  God  demand  it,  as  in  opposition  to  them,  where  a  value  is 
ascribed  to  them,  which  makes  them  indispensable,  and  tends  to  depreciate  faith  and  a 
change  of  heart.  Comp.  1  Cor.  9  :  20.  Phil.  4  :  12,  13.  Also  Neander's  remarks 
against  Baur,  I.  p.  290  sq. 

'  Acts  17  :  14  sq.  18  :  5.  19  :  22.  Rom.  16  :  21.  2  Cor.  1  :  19.  So  also  the 
superscriptions  of  several  of  Paul's  epistles,  1  Thess.,  2  Thess.,  2  Cor.,  Col.,  Phil.,  and 
Philemon. 

*  ]  Tim.  1:2.     2  Tim.  1:2.     1  Thess.  3  :  2.     Phil.  2  :  19-23. 

'  'Acla,  Acts  16:6,  must  be  understood,  as  in  2  :  9,  in  the  narrower  sense,  meaning 
the  provinces  of  Mysia,  Lydia,  and  Caria.  Comp.  the  expositors  in  loc. ;  Winer's 
Rcalwdrtcrbuch,  article  Asicn;  and  Wieseler,  1.  c.  p.  31  sq. 


262        §  72.       CHEISTIANITT  IN  PHILIPPI  AND  THESSALONICA.     [l-  BOOK. 

Ghost,  who  controlled  the  volitions  of  the  missionaries,  and  had  this 
time  another  field  of  labor  in  view  for  them,  forbade  them  to  preach, 
and  by  a  vision  gradually  raised  to  an  inward  assurance  the  indistinct 
impulse,  which  they  perhaps  already  felt,  to  go  to  Europe.  "When,  thus 
uncertain  which  way  to  turn,  they  came  to  the  maritime  city,  Troas,  on 
the  Hellespont  (now  Eski  Stambul),  there  appeared  to  Paul  by  night, 
either  in  a  dream,  or  more  probably  while  he  was  praying  (comp.  16  : 
25),  a  Macedonian,  who,  in  the  name  of  Greece,  and  in  fact  of  all 
Europe,  which  longed  for  salvation  and  promised  a  rich  harvest,  besought 
him  :  "  Come  over  into  Macedonia,  and  help  us"  (16  :  9),— a  cry  for 
help,  which  no  Christian  should  hear  without  the  deepest  emotion.  On 
this  momentous  event  hung  the  Christianization  of  Europe  and  all  the 
blessings  of  modern  civilization. 

Thus  went  the  gospel  westward,  like  the  sun,  in  its  triumphant  course  ; 
and  thus  did  it  visit,  first  of  all,  the  classic  soil  of  Greece,  which  was 
prepared  by  high  natural  culture  to  produce  abundant  fruit  under  its 
genial  rays. 

§  12.   Christianity  in  Pkilippi  and  Thessalonica.     A.D.  51. 

The  missionaries  were  now  joined  by  the  physician,  Luke,'  the  author 
of  the  book  of  Acts.  The  first  city  of  Macedonia,"  to  which  they  came, 
was  Fhilippi,  then  a  Roman  colony,  which  they  reached  in  two  days'  sail 
from  Troas.  This  ancient  city  (originally  Craenides),  enlarged  and  for- 
tified by  Philip  of  Macedon  358  B.  C,  stood  on  a  hill  abounding  in 
springs,  in  those  consecrated  regions  of  Thrace,  which  lie  upon  the  Stry- 
monian  gulf.  Its  site  was  that  of  the  present  hamlet  of  Filibe,  inhabit- 
ed by  poor  Greeks.     It  was  noted,  not  particularly  for  its  size,  but  for 

^  Comp.  Col.  4  :  14,  Philem.  24.  2  Tim.  4:11.  That  Luke  here  joined  the  party 
appears  from  the  fact,  that  from  c.  16  :  10  onward  (comp.  20  :  5  sq.,  13  sqq.  21  :  1 
sqq.,  17.  c.  27  and  28)  he  speaks  in  the  first  person  plural,  thus  including  himself; 
while  previously  he  had  always  used  the  third  person.  The  absence  of  his  name  is 
doubtless  owing  to  the  same  modesty,  which  the  evangelists  show  in  keeping  their 
own  persons  quite  out  of  sight.  The  recent  hypothesis  of  Schleiermacher,  Bleek,  and 
others,  that  Timothy  rather  is  the  narrator,  seems  to  me  to  be  sufficiently  refuted  in 
favor  of  the  older  view  by  the  discriminating  remarks  of  Schneckenburger  in  his  work 
on  Acts,  p.  26  sqq. 

■■'  I  take  the  wquttj,  16:  1 2,  as  referring  not  to  rank,  but  to  geographical  position,  as 
if  the  writer  had  said,  the  easternmost  city.  For  Neapolis  was  merely  the  port  of 
Philippi,  and  seems,  besides,  to  have  belonged  at  that  time  to  Thrace,  as  Rettig(QMaes- 
liones  Philipp.  Gissae,  1838,  p.  3  sqq.)  endeavored  to  prove  from  Skylax  and  Strabo. 
If  we  refer  irgur/}  to  rank,  we  must  understand  it  as  a  mere  title  of  honor,  such  as  was 
borne  by  the  neighboring  cities  of  Asia  Minor,  especially  Nicomedia,  Nicaea,  Ephesus, 
Smyrna,  and  Pergamus.  Perhaps  at  this  time  Philippi  strove  with  Amphipolis  for 
-  this  rank,  without  possessing  it,  as  did  Aicaea  with  Nicomedia  (comp.  Credner;  Ein- 
Ldtu,.g  inh  N.  T.     Pt.  I.  Sec.  1-  p.  418  sq). 


MISSIONS.]  §  72.     CHKISTIANITT  IN  PHILIPPI  AND   THESSALONICA.         263 

its  commerce,  for  the  neighboring  gold  mines,  and  for  the  coins  there 
struck  (philippici)  ;  and  it  became  renowned  in  the  history  of  the  world 
by  the  decisive  battle,  in  which  Brutus  and  Cassius,  the  murderers  of 
Caesar,  and  with  them  the  Roman  republic,  came  to  their  tragical  end 
(42  B.  C).*  In  this  city  was  to  spring  forth  the  first,  or — if,  as  is  at 
least  very  probable,  the  precedence  in  time  must  be  conceded  to  Rome — 
the  second  Christian  community  of  Europe,  and  with  it  true  spiritual 
freedom. 

On  the  Sabbath  Paul  went  with  his  companions  to  the  place  of 
prayer''  outside  the  city  on  the  banks  of  the  Strymon,  where  the  Jews 
and  proselytes,  who  were  not  numerous  enough  there  to  build  a  syna- 
gogue, were  accustomed  to  assemble  for  devotional  exercises.  They 
engaged  in  conversation  on  religious  subjects  with  the  pious,  Jewishly 
inclined  females.  One  of  these,  Lydia,  a  purple-seller  of  Thyatira,^  in 
whom  the  Lord  had  awakened  a  susceptibility  (for  even  the  disposition 
to  attend  to  the  word  of  God  is  the  effect  of  grace),  was  baptized  with 
all  her  family,^  and  in  her  grateful  love  constrained  tjie  missionaries  to 
lodge  with  her.  No  doubt  her  house  served  at  the  same  time  as  the  first 
place  of  assembly  for  the  church  there  forming.  And  now  occurred 
another  instance,  in  which  an  apparent  hindrance  was  made  to  promote 
the  growth  of  the  church.  A  female  slave,  who  passed  for  an  organ  of 
the  Pythian  Apollo,  the  oracular  god,  and  by  her  arts  of  divination 
brought  her  masters  much  gain,  followed  the  missionaries,  and,  with  that 
deeper  discernment  which  makes  devils  tremble  (Jas.  2  :  19),  declared 
them  to  be  the  servants  of  the  most  high  God,  which  made  known 
the  way  of  salvation  (16  :  It).  This  conduct  is  hardly  to  be  regarded 
as  a  trick  to  draw  money  from  them,  or  otherwise  ensnare  them.  It  was 
the  same  involuntary  expression  of  reverence,  which  Jesus  more  than 
once  received  from  demoniacs.^  But  Paul,  as  little  disposed  as  Christ  to 
take  advantage  of  such  attestations  of  his  work,  cast  out  the  unclean 
spirit  of  divination  in  the  name  of  Him,  who  came  to  destroy  all  the 

'  The  most  minute  description  of  the  city  we  have  in  Appian :  De  bellls  civilibus, 
1.  IV.  c.  105  sq.  (p.  499  of  the  Paris  edition) . 

^  A  TrpoaEvxv,  as  it  was  called,  Acts  16  :  13,  or  7rpoaevKTj]Qiov,  a  substitute  for  a  syn- 
agogue. These  oratories  were  either  simple  edifices,  or  merely  enclosed  spaces  in  the 
open  air,  and,  for  convenience  in  the  customary  ablutions  before  prayer,  were  common- 
ly near  streams  or  pools. 

^  Purple-dyeing  was  extensively  carried  on  especially  in  the  province  of  Lydia,  to 
which  Thyatira  belonged,  and  an  inscription  found  in  this  city  mentions  the  guild  of 
dyers  there.     See  the  proofs  in  H  A.  B.  Meyers  Commentary  on  Acts  16  :  14. 

*  How  far  the  baptism  of  an  entire  household,  which  occurs  again  immediately 
after  in  the  case  of  the  jailer,  16  :  33,  goes  towards  demonstrating  the  existence  of 
infant  baptism  in  the  time  of  the  apostles,  will  be  shown  afterwards  under  the  head  of 
infant  baptism,  in  the  history  of  worship  (§  143). 

*  Comp.  Matt.  8  :  29.     Mk.  1  :  34.     3  :  11.     Luke  4  :  41. 


26-i  §  Y2.       CIIEISTIAJSriTY  IN  PHILIPPI  AND  THESSALONICA.     [l-   BOOK. 

powers  of  evil.  By  this  act  he  deprived  the  woman's  owners  of  a  lucra- 
tive traflic.  The  latter,  enraged,  seized  Paul  and  Silas  ;  dragged  them, 
as  Jewish  disturljcrs  of  the  peace,  before  the  duumviri  (so  the  two  asso- 
ciate supreme  magistrates  of  the  Roman  colonial  cities  were  called),  and 
accused  them  of  introducing,  against  the  strict  prohiljitions  of  government, 
a  foreign  religion  and  foreign  customs  opposed  to  the  existing  order  of 
things.  This  caused  general  uproar.  The  servants  of  Christ  were 
scourged  without  further  examination  (comp.  1  Thess.  2  :  2),  and 
thrown  into  the  inner  part  of  the  prison.  But,  in  the  solemn  stilluess  of 
midnight,  rejoicing  in  the  consciousness  of  suffering  for  the  Lord,  not- 
withstanding the  smarting  of  their  wounds,  the  pain  of  the  stocks  (a 
wooden  block  for  the  feet,  used  as  an  instrument  of  torture),  and  the 
pangs  of  hunger,  they  raised  their  voices  in  united  prayer  and  praise  ; 
turning  the  dark  abode  of  crime  into  a  temple  of  grace.'  In  answer  to 
their  prayer  an  earthquake  suddenly  shook  the  prison  to  its  foundations, 
opened  the  doors,  and  loosed  the  chains  of  all  the  prisoners.^  The  jailer, 
a  conscientious  and  impulsive  man,  was  on  the  point  of  committing  sui- 
cide in  his  fright,  thinking  that  the  prisoners  had  all  escaped,  when  Paul 
checked  him,  and  told  him  they  were  all  there.  He  then  fell  down  at 
his  feet,  and,  passing  from  despair  to  hope  (a  change  altogether  psycho- 
logical in  such  moments  of  excitement),  he  asked  :  "  What  must  I  do  to 
be  saved  ?" — a  question  which  implies  some  previous  acquaintance  with 
the  preaching  of  the  apostle,  and  has  since  been  for  thousands  the  bridge 
from  death  to  life.  Tlie  messengers  of  peace  gave  him  the  comforting 
answer  :  "  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved, 
and  thy  house  ;"  instructed  him  and  his  household  more  fully  ;  and,  as 
they  gladly  received  the  gospel  accompanied  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  bap- 

^  Neander  here  aptly  quotes  Tertiillian,  who  writes  to  the  martyrs,  c.  2  :  "  Nihil 
crus  sentit  in  nervo,  quum  animus  in  coelo  est." 

2  We  grant  Dr.  Baur  (p.  1,51) ,  that  Luke  means  to  represent  the  earthquake  and  its 
consequences,  not  as  accidental,  nor  as  the  occasion  of  the  prayer,  but  as  the  effect  of 
it ;  though  he  does  not  explicitly  say  so.  Nor  can  we  wonder  that  Baur  looks  on  this 
circumstance  as  against  the  credibility  of  the  narrative  ;  since,  on  his  pantheistic  prin- 
ciples, there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  prayer  to  a  personal,  prayer-hearing,  wonder- 
working God,  but  at  best  a  self-adoration  of  the  creature,  which  certainly  would  not 
produce  an  earthquake.  Baur,  moreover,  in  his  anatomical  dissection  of  these  events 
in  Philippi,  which  he  regards  as  a  forged  glorification  of  Paul,  an  offset  to  the  miracu- 
lous deliverance  of  Peter  (Acts  12),  falls,  as  in  many  other  instances,  into  a  strange 
self-contradiction.  He  attributes  to  the  author  of  this  romance,  called  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  on  the  one  hand,  a  nicely-calculating  literary  wisdom  and  design,  but  on  the 
other,  an  incredible  thoughtlessness  and  careless  self-exposure.  This,  of  itself,  justifies 
the  supposition,  that  the  fiction  is  rather  in  these  two  assumptions  of  the  modern 
critic;  with  this  difference,  that  Baur's  undeniable  poetical  and  combining  talent  takes 
its  own  fancies  for  perfect  truth,  and  thus  proceeds  quite  honestly  in  a  sort  of  uncon- 
bcious  fabrication  of  mythological  dreams,  such  as  the  notorious  Strauss  attributes  to  the 
early  Christian  congregation  in  inventing  the  gospel  history. 


missions]  g  72.     CIIKISTIANITV  IN  PlliniPPI  AND  TIIESSALOI^ICA.  265 

tizecl  them.  A  joyful  love-feast,  prepared  by  the  new  converts  in  their 
gratitude,  closed  the  scenes  of  this  memorable  night. 

The  next  day  the  duumviri,  whether  intimidated  by  the  earthquake,  or 
moved  by  the  representation  of  the  jailor,  sent  their  lictors  to  him  with 
an  order  to  let  the  imprisoned  missionaries  go.  But  Paul,  who  with 
genuine  humility  before  God  united  a  noble  self-respect  in  his  relations  to 
men,  was  not  disposed  to  be  thus  dismissed  without  any  apology  ;  and 
he  now  appealed,  as  he  could  not  have  done  for  the  tumult  the  day 
before,  to  his  Roman  citizenship,  which,  according  to  the  old  laws, 
secured  him  against  the  disgraceful  punishment  of  scourging.  For 
injury  to  the  person  of  a  Roman  citizen  passed  for  high  treason  against 
the  majesty  of  the  Roman  people,  and,  as  such,  was  punished  with  con- 
fiscation of  goods  and  death.  This  appeal,  which,  according  to  the  well- 
known  expression  of  Cicero,  procured  aid  for  many  a  one  in  the  ends  of 
the  earth  and  even  among  the  barbarians,'  failed  not  of  its  effect.  The 
magistrates  came  in  person,  and  honorably  dismissed  the  prisoners  as 
innocent.  The  missionaries  then  took  leave  of  the  brethren  in  the  house 
of  Lydia,  and  pursued  their  journey 

In  Philippi  Paul  left  behind  him  one  of  his  most  flourishing  churches, 
almost  entirely  composed  of  Gentile  Christians,  and  closely  bound  to  him 
in  grateful  love.  It  is  true,  this  church  also  was  afterwards  invaded  by 
Jewish  errorists,  spiritual  pride,  and  schism.  Yet,  on  the  whole,  it  gave 
him  more  satisfaction  than  any  other.  He  calls  it  his  joy  and  his  crown, 
and  assures  it  of  his  ardent  love  (Phil.  1  :  3-8.  4:1).  He  also,  con- 
trary to  his  custom,  accepted  from  it  occasional  presents  (4  :  10-18. 
Comp.  2  Cor.  11  :  9);  thus  evincing  a  peculiarly  strong  confidence  in  it. 

The  first  missionary  operations  in  Europe  were,  therefore,  exceedingly 
encouraging  ;  and  the  persecution  itself,  which  now  proceeded  from  the 
heathen,  turned  out  to  the  honor  of  Paul  and  the  strengthening  of  the 
faith  of  the  Christians.  Paul  next  travelled,  with  Silas,'"'  by  Amphi- 
polis  and  ApoUonia  to  the  thriving  commercial  city  of  Thessalonica,  the 
capital  of  the  second  district  of  Macedonia,  and  the  residence  of  the 
P.,oman  governor.  It  lay  on  the  bay  of  Therma,  about  a  hundred 
Roman  miles  from  Philippi.^ 

Here  the  apostle  staid  at  least  three  weeks  (17  :  2).  On  the  Sab- 
bath days  he  expounded  the  Scriptures  in  the  synagogues,  and  demon- 

''■  In  Vcrrcm,  V.  c.  57  :  "  Jam  ilia  vox  et  imploratio  :  '  Civis  Romanus  sum,'  quae 
saepe  multis  in  ultimis  terris  opem  inter  barbaros  et  salutem  attulit." 

*  That  he  left  Luke  behind  in  charge  of  the  church  at  Philippi,  we  infer  from  the 
fact,  that  Luke  himself  at  c.  17  :  1,  begins  to  speak  again  in  the  third  person.  Timo- 
thy, too,  seems  to  have  remained  there,  but  soon  rejoined  Paul  in  Berea  (17  :  14,  15). 

^  It  is  still,  under  the  name  of  Saloniki,  an  important  commercial  city  of  some  seven- 
ty thousand  inhabitants  ;  nearly  half  of  them  are  Jews. 


266  §  Y2.      CHKISTIANITT  IN  PHILIPPI  AND  THESSALONICA.   [l.  BOOK. 

stratcd,  that  the  Messiah,  whose  sufferhigs  and  resurrection  were  there 
predicted,  had  actually  appeared  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Some  Jews,  a 
considerable  number  of  proselytes,  and  not  a  few  of  the  .most  distin- 
guished women  sided  with  him  (It  :  4).  At  the  same  time  he  labored 
also  among  the  proper  Gentiles  with  great  success  (1  Thess.  1  :  9,  10. 
2  :  10,  11),  so  that,  through  the  extensive  commercial  connections  of 
the  city,  the  new  community  soon  became  widely  known  (1  Thess.  1:8). 
Although,  according  to  our  Lord's  maxim  (Matt.  10  :  10),  and  in  his 
own  view  (1  Cor.  9  :  14),  the  apostle  might  justly  have  claimed  the 
supply  of  his  temporal  wants  from  those  to  whom  he  offered  the  far 
more  precious  gift  of  the  gospel,  yet  he  earned  his  livelihood  himself  by 
working  at  his  trade,  sometimes  even  at  night  (1  Thess.  2  :  9,  comp. 
Acts  20  :  34)  ;  partly,  to  show  his  gratitude  for  the  unmerited  grace 
bestowed  upon  him  ;  partly  that  he  might  not  be  burdensome  to  the 
infant  congregation  ;  partly,  to  deprive  his  Judaistic  adversaries  of  all 
ground  for  accusing  him  of  self-interest.  Under  this  self-denial  he  richly 
experienced  the  truth  of  the  Saviour's  words  :  "  It  is  more  blessed  to 
give,  than  to  receive"  (Acts  20  :  35).  Yet  while  here  he  twice 
received  presents  from  the  church  at  Philippi  (Phil.  4  :  16).  The  unbe- 
lieving Jews,  exasperated  by  this  success,  stirred  up  the  populace  against 
the  missionaries,  maliciously  perverting  their  teachings  respecting  the 
kingly  office  and  the  second  coming  of  Christ,  and  exciting  political  sus- 
picion against  them,  as  rebels  against  the  imperial  authority.  But  the 
magistrates  were  satisfied  with  taking  security  of  one  Jason,  with  whom 
Paul  and  Silas  lodged,  and  the  missionaries  journeyed  the  next  night  to 
Bcrea,  some  sixty  Roman  miles  south-east  from  Thessalonica,  in  the  third 
district  of  Macedonia. 

Here  they  preached  some  time  with  much  acceptance,  not  only  among 
the  Greeks,  but  also  among  the  Jews,  who  were  more  noble-minded  and 
susceptible  in  this  city  than  in  Thessalonica.  It  is  said  to  the  credit  of 
the  new  converts,  that  they  searched  the  Scriptures  daily,  to  see  whether 
the  Christian  doctrine  agreed  with  them  (Acts  It  :  11) — a  statement 
frequently  and  justly  adduced  in  proof  of  the  right  and  duty  of  the  laity 
to  search  the  Scriptures  for  themselves.  From  this  place,  too,  the  apos- 
tle was  driven  by  the  machinations  of  the  fanatical  Jews  of  Thessalon- 
ica, who  had  heard  of  his  favorable  reception  here.  Leaving  Silas  and 
Timothy  in  Berea,  with  directions  to  follow  him  soon,  he  travelled, 
accompanied  by  other  brethren,  probably  by  sea,'  to  Hellas  proper,  and 
to  the  metropolis  of  heathen  science  and  art. 

The  (jf,  Acts  17  :  14,  denotes  not  the  mere  apparent,  but  the  real  intention  as  to 
the  direction  of  the  journey.  Connp.  the  commentators,  and  Winer's  Gramm  p.  702 
(5th  ed).  The  distance  by  land  from  Berea  to  Athens  was,  according  to  the  Itiner- 
Jntonini,  251  Roman,  or  50  geographical  miles. 


MISSIONS.]  §  T3.      PAUL   IN   ATHENS.  267 

§  73.  Paul  in  Athens. 

The  renowned  capital  of  Attica,  though  politically  depressed,  and  long 
degenerate  also  in  morals,  still,  by  her  culture,  held  sway  over  the  whole 
intellectual  world,  not  excepting  even  haughty  Rome  ;  and  to  this  day 
she  exerts,  by  her  literature,  an  incalculable  influence.  The  first  appear- 
ance of  the  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  in  that  city  awakens,  therefore,  an 
unusual  interest,  and  produces  an  impression  of  peculiar  sublimity.  This 
is  owing,  not  to  any  immediate  effects  of  his  short  and,  in  this  respect, 
comparatively  unimportant  visit  there  ;  nor  to  any  subsequent  promin- 
ence of  Athens  in  the  history  of  the  church.  It  arises  rather  from  the 
imposing  contrast  between  two  wholly  different  kingdoms  and  spheres 
of  thought  here  thrown  together.  The  highest,  but  already  decaying 
civilization  of  Heathendom  here  receives  the  breath  of  life  from  the  new 
creation  in  Christ,  for  which  it  had  been  involuntarily  preparing  the  way, 
therein  at  once  to  find  its  grave,  and  to  celebrate  its  resurrection  as  a 
means  to  a  higher  and  nobler  end,  the  development  of  Christian  civiliza- 
tion. On  the  consecrated  ground  of  classic  antiquity  and  of  the  religion 
of  the  Beautiful,  in  the  birth-place  of  the  most  splendid  forms,  which 
reason  and  imagination,  in  the  dim  twilight  of  the  Logos,  could  of  them- 
selves produce,  appears  a  man  of  feeble,  uncomely  person,  but  of  the 
noblest  mind  and  heart  and  the  most  disinterested  zeal,  nay,  filled  with 
the  Spirit  of  God  himself,  proclaiming  the  religion  of  the  True,  and  of 
eternal  life, — the  religion,  which  has  subjected  the  old  world,  with  all  its 
power  and  glory,  to  her  own  service,  and  reared  upon  its  ruins  a  uni- 
versal kingdom  of  heaven.  Before  the  philosophers  of  Greece,  and 
amidst  the  renowned  temples  and  statues  of  all  conceivable  idols,  a  de- 
spised Jew  preaches  that  foolishness  of  God,  which  confounds  the  wisdom 
of  the  Grecian  schools,  and  appeals  more  eloquently  to  the  guilt-stricken 
heart,  than  even  Demosthenes  or  J^]schines  to  the  sovereign  people  ; — the 
doctrine  of  the  crucified  Nazarene,  who  revealed  the  only  true  God  ; 
whose  beauty,  veiled  in  the  form  of  a  servant,  far  outshines  that  of  the 
statues  of  Phidias  and  the  temple  of  Minerva  on  the  Acropolis  ;  takes 
its  bold  flight  beyond  the  ideals  of  Plato  ;  no  longer,  like  the  myths  of 
Prometheus  and  Hercules  and  the  tragedies  of  ^schylus  and  Sophocles, 
leaving  men  to  grope  wishfully  after  the  blissful  harmony  of  existence, 
the  reconciliation  of  God  and  man  ;  but  actually  giving  it,  and  giving 
beyond  all  that  the  most  earnest  and  profound  heathens  could  ask  or 
think. 

Paul,  .even  as  a  mere  monotheist,  could,  of  course,  look  with  no  com- 
placency on  the  idolatry,  which  here  surrounded  him,  nor  be  beguiled  by 
the  splendor,  with  which  art  had  invested  it.  Nevertheless,  he  did  not 
begin  with  overthrowing  the  altars  and  the  images.     He  was  touched, 


268  §    V3.       PAUL    IN    ATHENS.  [l.   BOOE. 

rather,  with  deep  grief  for  tliese  aberrations  of  the  sense  of  religious 
need, — with  that  compassionate  love,  which  seeks  the  lost.  "While  wait- 
ing the  arrival  of  Silas  and  Timothy,  he  improved  the  time,  therefore, 
not  only  ))y  preaching  to  the  Jews  and  proselytes  in  the  synagogue,  but 
also  by  joining,  like  a  Christian  Socrates,  in  daily  conversations  with  the 
heathens  in  the  market.  The  curious  and  inquisitive  Athenians  used 
then,  as  in  the  days  of  Demosthenes,  to  collect  in  the  public  places  and 
under  the  shady  colonnades,  to  hear  the  city  gossip  and  the  political  and 
literary  news  of  the  day.  In  one  of  these  places,  probably  the  market 
Eretria,  which  was  most  frequented,  and  close  by  the  arod.  ttolkl'Xt],  a  re- 
sort of  the  philosophers,  the  apostle  encountered  some  of  the  Epicureans 
and  Stoics,  who  afterwards  showed  themselves  the  most  bitter  enemies 
of  Christianity.  The  Epicureans,  like  the  Sadducees  among  the  Jews, 
were  pleasure-loving  men  of  the  world.  If  they  acknowledged  the  gods 
at  all,  they  made  them  idle,  unconcerned  spectators  of  the  world  ;  de- 
rived everything  from  chance  and  the  free  will  of  man  ;  and  set  up  plea- 
sure as  the  chief  good.  They  thus  severed  the  world  from  the  eternal 
source  of  its  life  ;  denied  man's  likeness  to  God  and  his  higher  destiny  ; 
and  could,  therefore,  see  nothing  in  Christianity,  but  fanaticism  and  su- 
perstition. The  Stoics,  who  may  be  called  the  Grecian  Pharisees,*  held 
the  opposite  extreme.  They  were  pantheists  and  fatalists ;  made  the 
dominion  of  reason  the  highest  good  ;  and  placed  virtue  in  complete  self- 
control  and  apathy.  They  mistook  the  moral  corruption  of  man,  and 
deified  the  natural  power  of  will.  In  them  also,  accordingly,  the  doctrine 
of  the  cross,  making  humility  the  fundamental  virtue,  requiring  an  entire 
renewal  of  the  mind,  and  held  forth,  moreover,  in  artless  elocution  by  a 
barbarian  Jew,  could  not  possibly  allay,  but  must  rather  inflame  that 
moral  pride,  which  arrogated  equality  with  the  gods.  The  Epicureans 
called  the  apostle  a  babbler  {av:ep(iol6yog,y  betraying  their  foppish  dis- 
gust for  him,  and  their  utter  insensibility  to  every  thing  that  concerns 
the  higher  destiny  of  man.  The  Stoics  thought,  he  wished  to  introduce 
strange  gods  ;  namely,  Jesus,  and  the  Resurrection.^  This  sounded 
more  threateningly  ;  for  on  a  like  charge  Socrates  had  once  been  con- 
demned to  death  by  the  Areopagus."     It  was  not,  however,  this  time 

'  They  are  so  compared  also  by  Josephus  :  De  bello  Jud.  II,  12. 

'  In  the  same  place  Demosthenes  had  once  honored  his  antagonist,  ^schines,  with 
this  epithet,  Pro  corona,  p.  269,  ed  Reiske. 

'  That  they  took  Jesus  and  the  Resurrection,  according  to  their  polytheistic  notions, 
for  a  pair  of  gods,  is  evident  from  the  repetition  of  the  article,  Acts  17  :  IS.  Dr.  Baur 
(p.  1 68)  is  no  doubt  right  in  taking  this,  not  as  in  earnest,  but  as  an  expression  of  the 
ironical  wit  which  distinguished  the  Athenians.  Besides,  they  had,  in  fact,  bailt  altars 
not  only  to  their  many  female  deities,  but  also  to  abstract  conceptions,  such  as  Pity, 
"EAeof. 

*  According  to  Xenophon  {Memorab.  1, 1) ,  Socrates  was  likewise  accused  of  intro- 


MISSIONS.]  §    Y3.       PAUL    IN   ATHENS.  269 

taken  so  earnestly.  Nor  does  the  sequel  show  any  spirit  of  fanatical 
persecution.  On  the  contrary,  partly  from  courtesy  and  partly  from  cu- 
riosity, they  gladly  listened  to  the  interesting  enthusiast  ;  and  the  more 
to  gratify  their  curiosity,  and  give  others  the  same  opportunity,  they 
brought  him  to  the  Areopagus,  or  hill  of  Mars,  west  of  the  Acropolis, 
where  the  supreme  court  of  the  same  name  held  its  sessions,  and  presided 
over  the  observance  of  the  laws,  customs,  and  religious  ceremonies. 
Here  the  apostle  could  be  heard  by  a  greater  multitude.  On  this  vener- 
able eminence,  with  the  city  spread  out  at  his  feet,  in  sight  of  the  The- 
seion  and  the  Acropolis,  the  magnificent  Parthenon,  and  those  Propylaea, 
whose  ruins  are  even  yet  a  wonder,  he  delivered  a  discourse  marked  by 
great  wisdom  and  skill,  exquisitely  adapted  to  the  occasion,  and  furnish- 
ing a  profitable  lesson  for  all  rash  zealots  and  intolerant  fanatics. 

Though  deeply  grieved  at  the  abounding  idolatry,  he  did  not  begin  by 
denouncing  it  as  purely  the  work  of  the  devil,  and  thus  at  the  outset  bar 
the  hearts  of  the  people  against  his  address.  He  perceived  beneath  the 
ashes  of  superstition  the  glimmering  spark  of  a  longing  after  that  God, 
who,  though  unseen,  is  yet  so  near.  On  this  relic  of  the  divine  image 
in  man,  this  feeling  of  religious  want,  and  on  the  inextinguishable  con- 
sciousness of  God,  which  underlies  even  all  the  vagaries  of  polytheism 
(comp.  Rom.  1  :  19.  2  :  14,  15),  he  based  his  discourse,  acknowledging 
in  the  Athenians  a  peculiar  zeal  for  religion,'  and  very  appositely  appeal- 
ing, in  proof  of  it,  to  the  altar,  he  had  noticed,  dedicated  to  "an  un- 
known  God"  {dyvuGTu -QeLJ  IT  :  23).'^     By  this  the   Athenians  did  not 

(lucing  strange  gods  :  ovg  jiev  ?/  noT^ig  vo/M^et  ■dsovg,  ov  voui^uv,  srepa  de  KaivH  dai/xnvia 
(in  the  good  sense,  as  frequently  in  the  classics)  Eia(j)Epuv. 

^  The  dsKJiSai/uovEffTEgovc,  17  :  22,  is  to  be  taken  (as  also  in  25  :  19)  in  its  primary, 
good  sense  of  "reverential,"  "religious,"  as  for  example  in  Xenophon  and  Aristotle; 
and  the  comparative  denotes  preeminence  above  other  Greeks.  Pausanias  says  {Attic. 
24)  the  Athenians  excelled  others  in  zeal  for  divine  worship  {rrspiaaoTepov  sir  tu  d^ela 
C7i0v67/r) ;  and  this  is  evident  in  fact  from  the  multitude  of  their  temples  and  altars. 
.Tosephus,  also  (c.  Ap.  I,  12),  calls  them  evaelSsardrovg  rui'  'E?i?.7}vuv.  The  word 
Seiaidaifiuv  is,  indeed,  ambiguous,  and  signifies  also,  particularly  in  the  later  Greek, 
morbid  religious  feeling,  slavish  fear  of  God,  superstition.  Perhaps  Paul  used  it  inten- 
tionally here,  to  give  the  Athenians  at  least  a  gentle  hint  of  their  religious  error ;  while 
he  immediately  after  employs  the  more  definite  term,  evaEiSelre,  but  with  reference  to 
the  true  God.  It  is  certainly  improper,  however,  and  inconsistent  with  the  next  verse, 
as  well  as  with  the  extremely  indulgent  tone  of  the  whole  discourse,  to  insist  on  the 
unfavorable  meaning  of  that  word,  and  make  the  apostle  begin  with  a  denunciation  ; 
as  is  done  by  Luther's  translation,  "allzuaberglaubisch,"  and  the  English,  "  too  super- 
stitious " 

^  We  know  from  heathen  writers,  that  there  were  at  Athens  several  altars  with  this 
or  a  like  inscription.  Thus  Pausanias  says  {Altic.  1,4):  'Evrav^a  koi  (Sufiol  ^euv  re 
ovoLial^ofiEvuv  dyvuoTuv  Kal  t^quuv;  and  Philostratus  in  his  Vita  Apollon.  VI,  3;  ov 
(at  Athens)  Koi  dyyuaruv  6a  i/i6v  uv  (iujiol  iSpvvrai.   The  erection  of  such  altars  was 


270  §  73.       PAUL   IN    ATHENS.  [l-  BOOK. 

mean,  indeed,  the  only  true  God  of  the  Bible.  They  had  in  view,  ac- 
cording to  their  polytheistic  conceptions,  one  of  the  many  gods,  whom, 
on  their  principles,  they  could  multiply  indefinitely.  But  at  the  same 
time  this  reverence  for  the  Unknown  and  Nameless  was  the  expression 
of  the  unsatisfied  groping  of  Polytheism  after  the  truth  ;  its  conscious- 
ness of  its  own  insufficiency  ;  its  presentiment  both  of  a  higher  power  be- 
yond the  sphere  of  its  gods,  and  of  the  necessity  of  having  that  power 
propitiated.  Thus  polytheism  itself  left  room  for  a  new  religion,  for  the 
knowledge  and  worship  of  the  unknown  God,  who  is  also  the  only  true  God. 
On  this  longing  after  truth  Paul  lays  hold  ;  and,  referring  that  remarka- 
ble phenomenon  to  its  ultimate  principle  ;  interpreting  the  religious  want, 
which  revealed  itself  therein  ;  and,  in  the  worship  of  an  unknown  God, 
recognizing  with  perfect  propriety  the  faint  notion  of  the  unknown  God  ; 
he  proceeds  :  "  Whom  therefore  ye  ignorantly  worship,  him  declare  I  unto 
you."  And  now  he  goes  on  to  unfold  the  truth,  which  forms  at  the  same 
time  a  positive  refutation  of  the  polytheistic  error.  He  discourses  of  God 
as  the  Creator  and  Upholder  of  the  universe,^ — in  tacit  opposition  to  the 
entirely  false  cosmogony  of  Heathenism,  which,  on  the  one  hand,  deified 
the  forces  of  nature,  and,  on  the  other,  reduced  deity  itself  to  a  crea- 
ture ; — of  the  original  unity  of  the  human  family,  and  the  appointment 
by  providence  of  its  habitation  and  the  term  of  its  existence, — in  oppo- 
sition to  the  denial  of  this  unity  inseparable  from  idolatry,  and  to  the 
atomic  notions  and  proud  particularism  of  the  Athenians,  who  consider- 
ed themselves  autochthons,  aborigines  of  their  country,  and  looked  upon 
Jews  and  barbarians  with  contempt  ; — and  of  the  higher  moral  destiny 
of  man, — a  subject,  to  which  he  was  led  by  his  doctrine  of  providence 
and  of  the  government  of  the  world, — that  men  should  seek  God  (whom 
they  have  lost  by  sin),  and  return  to  fellowship  with  him.  This  the 
heathen  had  not  at  all,  or  at  best  very  imperfectly  attained.*  But  their 
failure  was  their  own  fault ;  for  God  is  not  far  from  any  one  of  us.  He 
is  the  foundation  of  life  on  which  we  all  rest.     On  him  we  absolutely 

occasioned  by  public  calamities,  which  could  not  be  attributed  to  any  particular  god, 
but  which  men  yet  wished  to  avert  by  sacrifice.  Thus  Diogenes  Laertius,  in  his  Lije 
of  Epimenides  (3),  relates  that  in  a  time  of  pestilence  the  Athenians  were  informed  by 
the  oracle  that  expiation  must  be  made  for  the  city.  They  therefore  sent  to  Crete  for 
Epimenides,  a  celebrated  poet  and  prophet,  who  made  the  atonement  thus  :  "  He 
brought  black  and  white  sheep  to  the  Areopagus,  and  let  them  run  from  there,  whither- 
soever they  would ;  directing  those  who  followed  them,  to  offer  sacrifice  wherever  each 
lay  down,  to  the  appropriate  god  (rw  TrpomjKovTi  i^fcj,  the  supposed  author  of  the 
plague).  And  thus  the  evil  was  removed.  Hence  in  some  districts  of  the  Athenians 
we  find  altars  to  this  day  without  any  (particular)  name  (fSufiovg  uvuvvfiovg).^^ 

*  Paul  does  not,  indeed,  distinctly  express  this,  but  hints  at  it  with  Attic  delicacy  in 
the  d  u()ayE,  v.  27.  The  ipriXacjxiu  also  (to  feel  around,  to  grope,  like  a  blind  man) 
involves  an  antithesis  to  the  clear  light  and  sure  knowledge  of  revelation. 


MISSIONS.]  §  73.       PAUL    IN    ATHENS.  271 

depend  every  moment  for  our  spiritual  life,  our  physical  motion,  nay, 
even  our  very  existence  ;'  as,  in  fact,  some  of  your  own  poets  have  said  : 
"  For  we  are  his  offspring."'^  This  higher  dignity  of  man  itself  upbraids 
idolatry,  which  degrades  the  eternal  Creator  into  the  sphere  of  the 
creature,  and  images  him  in  lifeless  matter.  In  this  way  the  apostle  at 
once  awakens  the  sense  of  guilt  and  proves  heathenism  irrational.  But 
he  does  not  even  now  launch  out  into  a  tirade  against  idolatry.  Like 
the  long-suffering  G.od  himself,  he  passes  by  these  times  of  ignorance,'' 
and  preaches  repentance,  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  the  judgment, 
which  awaits  unbelievers.  But  of  this  second  part  Luke  gives  us  only  a 
brief  abstract. 

'  This  expression  :  'Ev  avru  yilQ  ^ij/uev  koI  Kivovueda  Kai  sa/usv,  v.  28,  contains  the 
great,  deep,  and  comforting  truth  which  underlies  the  error  of  Pantheism,  viz.  the  doc- 
trine of  the  continual  indwelling  of  God  in  the  world,  and  particularly  in  humanity; 
but  without  excluding,  of  course,  the  grand  doctrine  of  Theism,  the  personality  of  God, 
and  his  absolute  independence  of  the  world,  as  just  before  asserted  by  Paul  himself. 
Besides,  the  explanation  contained  in  the  text  above  shows,  that  we  must  take  the 
passage  as  an  anticlimax,  and  not  as  a  climax,  with  Olshausen.  who,  entirely  without 
reason,  and  without  analogy  in  Biblical  phraseology,  refers  (^tjv,  to  the  physical  life, 
KLVEla&ac  to  the  free  motion  of  the  soul,  and  elvai  to  the  true  life  of  the  spirit ;  in 
which  latter  sense,  in  fact,  the  very  word  Cw;/'  occurs  times  without  number- 

°  Paul  here  refers  to  his  countryman,  Aratus,  a  Cilician  poet  of  the  third  century  be- 
fore Christ,  in  whose  astronomical  poem,  Phacnoniena,  v.  5,  the  passage  above  quoted  is 
found  word  for  word,  as  the  first  part  of  a  hexameter ;  and  in  the  following  connec- 
tion : 

"  .     .     .     .  We  all  greatly  need  Zeus, 
For  we  are  his  offspring ;  full  of  grace,  he  grants  men 
Tokens  of  favor."     .... 
The  roil  (poetic  for  tovtov)  refers  therefore,  in  the  original,  to  Jupiter;  but  Paul,  with 
his  eye  on  the  secret  yearning  of  the  heart,  the  longing  of  erratic  religious  feeling  after 
the  unknown  God,  feels  himself  jtistified  in  finding  here,  as  before  in  the  uyvuaTU)  ^ec), 
an  indirect,  an  unconscious  reference  to  the  true  God.     An  expression  precisely  similar, 
only  in  the  form  of  an  address  to  Zeus,  occurs  in  the  Stoic,  Cleanthes  :  Hymn  in  Jov., 
5  :  'E/c  GoiJ  yuQ  ytvog  egjiev  ;  and  in  the  '"  Golden  Poem"  :  ■&eIov  yug  ysvog  earl  pgoTolaw. 

^  By  thus  passing  over  heathenism  as  a  time  of  ignorance,  xp^voi  rr/c  dyvolag.  v.  30, 
— a  judgment  exceedingly  mild,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  deeply  humiliating  to  the 
Athenian  pride  of  knowledge,  the  apistle,  however,  of  course  intended  only  partially 
to  excuse  it,  as  is  plain  from  the  preceding  verse;  comp.  Rom.  1  :  20. 

*  This  is  also  Schleiermacher's  view  :  Einleitung  in's  N.  T.  {Sdmmtl.  Werke  Part  I. 
Vol.  8,  p.  374)  :  ''  Of  Paul's  discourse  at  Athens,  c.  17  :  22-31,  it  is  evident,  that  only 
the  beginning  is  given  in  full,  the  rest  in  an  abridged  form.  For  the  appearance  of 
Christ  is  only  hinted  at,  and  then  his  resurrection  immediately  mentioned  ;  and  this 
cannot  be  taken  for  a  full  report  of  the  discourse,  but  only  as  an  abstract.  No  interpo- 
lator would  have  constructed  this  so  :  the  main  matter  would  have  been  made  more 
prominent."  This  view  relieves  us,  too,  of  the  difficulties  invented  by  Baur  (Puulus, 
p.  173),  who  considers  the  mention  of  the  resurrection — a  topic  so  offensive  to  the 
heathen — as  a  proof  of  the  spuriousness  of  this  discourse.  But  could  we  expect  Paul 
to  be  utterly  silent  concerning  the  great  point,  Christianity  ?    And  when  once  he  had 


272  §  73.     PAUL  m  Athens.  b-  book. 

The  announcement  of  tlie  resuiTection  of  the  dead  was  to  the  natural 
understanding  of  the  Greek  philosophers  particularly  offensive.  Such  a 
thing  seemed  to  them  impossible,  and  to  no  purpose.  Some,  perhaps 
especially  Epicureans,  mocked  ;  while  others  said  to  the  apostle  :  "  We 
will  hear  thee  again  of  this  matter."  This  may  possibly  have  been 
mer.nt  in  earnest,  but  far  more  probably  as  a  polite  hint  to  be  silent 
respecting  a  doctrine  in  their  view  so  absurd.  And  here  is  a  striking 
proof,  that  God  has  hid  the  gospel  from  the  wise  and.  prudent  and 
revealed  it  unto  babes  (Matt.  11  :  25)  ;  or,  according  to  the  kindred 
sentiment  of  the  poet  :  "  What  the  understanding  of  the  wise  sees  not, 
the  childlike  spirit,  in  its  simplicity,  practices."' 

But  this  wise,  apposite,  and  finished  discourse  of  the  apostle  was  after 
all  not  in  vain.  Several  men  and  women,  and  some,  it  appears,  of  cul- 
ture and  rank,  embraced  his  doctrine  ;  among  whom  one  Dionysius,  a 
member  of  the  supreme  court,  is  particularly  mentioned  by  name  (Acts 
11  :  34).  According  to  the  church  tradition,  this  Areopagite  was  the 
first  bishop  of  the  church  of  Athens  f  and  in  later  times  there  was 
ascribed  to  him  a  mass  of  mystic  writings,'  which  exerted  an  important 
influence  in  the  Middle  Ages.  He  was  made  the  representative  of  the 
mystic  philosophy  of  Plato  (that  last  effort  of  earnest-minded  heathen- 
ism), in  its  combination  with  Christian  truth.  This  city  of  the  Grecian 
muse,  however,  which  had,  indeed,  reached  the  summit  of  natural  cul- 
ture, but,  on  the  other  hand  (according  to  the  Clouds  of  Aristophanes), 
had  regarded  the  greatest  and  noblest  of  her  own  sages  as  an  idle, 

touched  upon  this,  could  he  help  presenting  the  divine  seal  of  its  truth,  the  Resurrec- 
tion ?  And, — on  the  principles  of  this  criticism  we  must  ask, — would  not  an  ingenious 
and  calculating  writer,  who,  according  to  Baur's  own  concession,  displays  in  this  chap- 
ter so  great  familiarity  with  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  Athenians,  have  been 
able  to  avoid  also  this  supposed  offense,  and  secure  himself  against  modern  critics  and 
fault-finders  ? 

'  Hess,  1.  c.  I,  p.  241,  starts  the  question  :  \^  hat  would  Socrates  probably  have  said 
to  Ihis  discourse  of  the  apostle  ? — and  answers  it  thus  :  "  He  would  in  all  probability 
have  discerned  in  it  the  true  kingdom  of  God,  from  which  he  was  not  far,  and  would 
have  been  among  those  who  wished  to  hear  more  of  that  divinely  appointed  Judge  of 
the  human  race,  and  more  of  the  resurrection.  In  the  person  of  the  Redeemer  of  the 
world  he  would  have  found  more  than  that  just  man,  whom  Plato  depicts.  He  would 
rather  have  had  such  an  address  respecting  the  unknown  God,  than  the  most  eloquent 
dissertations  of  sophi.sts  on  the  gods,  which  are  the  offspring  of  imagination." 

"  On  the  testimony  of  Dionysius  of  Coiinth,  who  lived  in  the  middle  of  the  second 
century,  and  is  quoted  in  Eusebius,  H.  E.  IV,  23. 

'  Works  on  the  Heavenly  Hierarchy,  on  the  Ecclesiastical  Hierarchy,  on  the  Divine 
Names,  on  the  Myslic  Theology ;  and  eleven  Epistles.  These  writings,  the  spurious- 
ness  of  which  has  been  incontrovertibly  proved,  particularly  by  the  Reformed  theolo- 
gian Dallaeus  (1666) ,  are  probably  the  work  of  a  Christian  Neo-Platonist  of  the  sixth, 
or,  at  the  earliest,  of  the  fifth  century.  The  first  undoubted  trace  of  them  appears  at 
Constantinople,  A.D.  533. 


MISSIONS.]  §  74.       PAUL   IN    COEINTH.  273 

inflated  enthusiast,  and  condemned  him  to  death,  never  rose  to  great 
prominence  in  the  history  of  the  church. 

§  14.  Paul  in  Corinth.     A.D.  53. 

From  Athens  Paul  journeyed  alone  to  Corinth,  where  Silas  and  Tim- 
othy again  joined  him  (18  :  5).  This  rich  and  flourishing  city,  the  capital 
of  the  province  of  Achaia,  and  the  residence  of  the  Roman  proconsul, 
stood  upon  the  peninsula  of  Peloponnesus,  between  the  J^^gean  and 
Ionian  seas.  Its  position,  with  its  two  ports,  Lechaeum  on  the  west  and 
Cenchreae  on  the  east,  made  it  the  centre  of  commerce  and  intercourse 
between  the  eastern  and  western  portions  of  the  Roman  empire  ;  the 
bridge,  so  "to  speak,  between  Asia  and  Europe  ;  and  at  the  same  time, 
after  it  was  rebuilt  by  Caesar  (B.  C.  46),  a  prominent  seat  of  philoso- 
phy, art,  and  general  culture.  It  was  given,  however,  to  excessive 
luxury,  and  to  a  licentiousness  even  sanctioned  by  the  worship  of  Venus.' 
Its  civilization  had  merely  substituted  the  vices  of  refinement  for  the 
vices  of  barbarism.  Here  the  apostle  had  the  best  opportunity  to  learn 
from  his  own  observation  that  horrible  corruption  of  the  heathen,  the 
picture  of  which  he  drew  a  few  years  afterwards  on  the  same  spot,  in  the 
first  chapter  of  Romans. 

The  establishment  of  a  Christian  church  at  so  important  a  point,  thus 
in  communication  with  the  whole  world,  was  of  course,  a  work  of  tran- 
scendent moment,  but  also  of  uncommon  difficulty.  Paul  accordingly 
staid  here  a  year  and  a  half.  He  soon  found  lodging  and  employment 
at  his  trade  with  Aquila,  a  Jewish  Christian.^  This  man  followed  the 
same  business  as  the  apostle,  probably  on  a  large  scale,  and  had  come  to 
Corinth  shortly  before  with  his  wife  Priscilla  (Prisca),  in  consequence  of 
an  edict  of  Claudius  (A.D.  52),  which  banished  the  Jews  from  Rome, 
but  soon  went  out  of  force.  Thenceforth  both  appear  in  different  places, 
—at  Ephesus  (18  :  18,  26.  1  Cor.  16  :  19),  and  at  Rome  (Rom.  16  : 
3), — as  zealous  promoters  of  the  gospel  (comp.  also  2  Tim.  4  :  19). 

Here,  too,  Paul  addi'essed  himself  first  to  the  Jews  and  proselytes, 
who  in  Corinth,  as  in  all  commercial  cities,  were  very  numerous.  But 
he  met  with  such  violent  opposition,  that  he  left  the  synagogue,  and  held 
his  meetings  in  the  adjoining  house  of  one  Justus,  a  proselyte  of  the 
gate.     Nevertheless,  perhaps  in  consequence  of  this  determined  effort, 

*  So  great  was  the  dissolutpness  of  this  city,  that  KopivT&iu^eiv,  "to  live  like  the  Co- 
rinthians," was  equivalent  to  scortari.  It  is  a  significant  fact,  that  while  Minerva,  the 
patroness  of  wisdom,  was  enthroned  on  the  Acropolis  of  Athens,  the  Acrocorinthus 
was  the  site  of  the  most  renowned  temple  to  Venus,  the  goddess  of  lust. 

"  Luke  docs  not  say  whether  Aquila  was  already  a  Christian,  or  was  first  converted 
by  Paul.     The  former  seems  to  us  more  probable,  in  view  of  his  speedy  connection 
with  the  apostle;  and  the  appellation  'lovdaloQ  (18  :  2)  is  not  against  it,  since  this  term 
often,  as  in  Gal.  2  :  13-15,  denotes  merely  the  national  origin. 
18 


274  §  Y4.       PAUL   IN    CORINTH.  [l-  BOOK. 

Crispus,  the  ruler  of  tlie  synagogue,  with  his  whole  household,  embraced 
the  faith  ;  and  these,  along  with  a  certain  Gaius,  and  the  family  of  Ste- 
phanas, Paul  baptized  with  his  own  hands  (18  :  8.  1  Cor.  1  :  14-1*7), 
though  in  other  cases  he  left  this  business  to  his  aids,  who  could  admin- 
ister the  ordinance  just  as  well.  For  in  the  sacrament,  where,  as  it 
were,  the  Lord  himself  officiates,  the  personal  character  of  the  human 
functionary  falls  out  of  view,  while  in  preaching,  which  founds  the 
church  and  requires  special  gifts,  it  becomes  prominent.  The  great 
majority  of  the  congregation  collected  by  Paul  and  his  associates,  Silas 
and  Timothy  (comp.  1  Cor.  1  :  19),  were,  no  doubt,  formerly  pagans, 
and  chiefly,  though  not  entirely,'  from  the  lower  classes.  For  in  1  Cor. 
1  :  26-30,  Paul  himself  says,  that  there  were  not  many  wise  men  after 
the  flesh,  not  many  mighty,  not  many  noble,  among  them,  but  that  God 
had  chosen  those  that  were  foolish  and  weak  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  to 
display  the  more  gloriously  in  them  the  power  of  the  gospel,  and  to  put 
to  shame  the  pride  of  the  wise  and  strong.  The  apostle  had  seen  in 
Athens  how  little  susceptibility,  generally  speaking,  the  higher  and 
more  cultivated  circles  had  for  the  gospel,  which  so  directly  and  firmly 
opposed  their  Sadducean  or  Pharisaic  spirit.  He  had,  accordingly, 
determined  to  appear  in  Corinth,  not  with  the  wisdom  and  eloquence 
of  man,  but  in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  of  power,  with  the  una- 
dorned simplicity  of  the  glad  tidings  to  poor  sinners.  He  had  resolved 
to  know  nothing  among  them,  save  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified  (1 
Cor.  2  :  1-5),  in  whom,  however,  is  found  all  that  is  needful  for  salva- 
tion. This  brought  out  all  the  more  sharply  the  opposition  between  the 
world  and  Christianity,  and  left  grace  to  operate  only  with  the  greater 
purity  and  power.  The  apostle,  indeed,  met  with  violent  resistance  from 
the  pride  of  wisdom  in  the  Greeks,  the  passion  for  wonders  in  the  Jews, 
and  the  moral  corruption  of  the  people  generally.  He  had  also  to  sus- 
tain painful  struggles  in  liis  own  breast,  and  was  often  so  depressed  with 
the  sense  of  his  own  weakness,  that  whenever  he  thought  of  himself,  he 
feared  and  trembled  (1  Cor.  2:3),  and  needed  special  encouragement 
from  the  Lord  in  a  vision  (Acts  18  :  9  sq.).  But,  in  spite  of  all,  his 
preaching  in  this  city  was  attended  with  uncommon  success,  and  the 
church  there  spread  its  influence  over  the  whole  province  of  Achaia  (1 
Thess.  1  :  7,  8.     2  Cor.  1:1). 

This  rapid  progress  of  the  gospel  only  embittered  the  hostility  of  the 
Jews.  They,  therefore,  took  advantage  of  the  arrival  of  the  new  pro- 
consul, Annaeus  Gallio,  to  accuse  Paul  of  attacking  their  religion,  which 
was  recognized  by  law.     But  Gallio,  a  man  of  great  kindness,'  wisely 

^  Comp.  Rom.  16  :  23,  where  Paul  sends  a  salutation  from  Erastus,  the  chamberlain 
of  Corinth. 
'  His  brother,  the  famous  Stoic,  Annaeus  Seneca,  considered  him  the  most  amiable 


MISSIONS.]         §  Y5.       THE   EnSTLES    TO   THE   THESSALONIANS.  275 

observing  the  limits  of  his  power  as  a  civil  judge,  dismissed  the  com- 
plaint, and  referred  it  to  the  Jewish  tribunal,  as  relating  to  a  controversy 
on  religious  doctrine,  and  therefore  not  at  all  cognizable  by  him  ;  where- 
upon the  heathen  apparitors  vented  their  spite  upon  Sosthenes,  the  ruler 
of  the  synagogue  (18  :  12-lt).  After  this  the  apostle  still  remained  in 
Corinth  a  long  time,  meanwhile,  as  must  be  inferred  from  2  Cor.  1  :  1 
(comp.  Eom.  16  :  1),  either  making  excursions  himself,  or  sending  his 
disciples,  into  the  neighboring  districts  of  the  province. 

§  75.  The  Epistles  to  the  Thessalonians.  A.  D.  53. 
Of  this  date,  about  A.D.  53,  are  the  first  of  Paul's  epistles,  which 
have  come  down  to  us,  and  which  are  also  among  the  oldest  portions  of 
the  New  Testament, — the  two  letters  to  the  Thessalonians.^  Timothy, 
whom  he  appears  to  have  sent  back  from  Athens  to  Thessalonica 
(1  Thess.  3  :  1  sq.),  brought  to  him  to  Corinth  intelligence,  on  the 
whole  very  cheering  (1  Thess.  1  :  18),  of  the  earnestness,  fidelity,  and 
steadfastness  of  the  Thessalonian  Christians  under  protracted  persecu- 
tions, as  also  of  their  zeal  for  extending  the  gospel  into  Macedonia  and 
even  to  Achaia.  But  at  the  same  time  in  many  of  them  the  expectation 
of  the  speedy  return  of  Christ  in  glory,  which  was  probably  one  of 
Paul's  favorite  themes,  had  taken  the  form  of  a  somewhat  immoderate 
enthusiasm,  and  had  produced,  in  some,  a  state  of  melancholy,  a  grieving 
over  already  departed  brethren,  as  though  death  had  separated  them 
from  the  Lord,  and  deprived  them  of  the  blessings  of  his  appearing  ;  in 
others,  carelessness,  and  an  undervaluation  of  their  earthly  callings,  so 
that  they  ceased  working  and  became  a  burden  to  the  benevolent. 
Unauthorized  prophets  arose,  who  inflamed  this  enthusiasm  ;  and  this,  in 
turn,  produced,  in  a  part  of  the  congregation,  the  opposite  extreme  of 
contempt  for  the  prophetic  gift  (1  Thess.  5  :  19,  20).  This  state  of 
things  was  the  occasion  of  the  apostle's  first  epistle,  which  is  full  of 
the  fresh  recollections  of  his  recent  visit.  He  commends  the  church  for 
its  virtues  ;  comforts  those  who  are  troubled  about  the  fate  of  the 
departed  ;  exhorts  the  impatient  to  be  industrious,  to  walk  in  the  light, 
and  to  be  always  ready  to  meet  the  Lord,  who  shall  come  unexpectedly, 
like  a  thief  in  the  night  ;  and  warns  them,  for  this  very  reason,  among 

of  mortals.  "  Nemo  mortalium,"  says  he  {Praef.  natur.  gimest.,  1.  IV.), ''  uni  tarn  diilcis 
est,  quam  hie  omnibus."  Perhaps,  among  other  things,  the  protection  he  afforded  the 
apostle,  in  connection  with  Phil.  4  :  22,  where  converts  from  the  household  of  the 
emperor  (Nero)  are  mentioned,  gave  rise  to  the  groundless  supposition,  that  Paul  had 
an  acquaintance  and  correspondence  with  the  philosopher  Seneca,  Nero's  tutor. 

^  As  to  their  date  the  reader  may  compare,  besides  the  current  Introductions  to  the 
New  Testament,  particularly  Wieseler's  Chronologic  der  jSpost.  Gesch.  p.  241  sqq. 


276  §  76.       THIRD   MISSIONARY   TOUE   OF   PAUL.  [l-  BOOK. 

other  errors,  against  presuming  to  calculate  the  day  and  hour  of  his 
appearing. 

But  as  this  did  not  break  the  dehision,  and  as  some  one  even  fabricated 
a  letter,  as  from  the  apostle  (2  Thess.  2:2),  going  to  confirm  it,  he 
soon  afterwards  wrote  his  second  epistle,  signed  with  his  own  hand,  in 
which  he  instructed  the  church  more  fully  respecting  the  appearance  of 
the  Lord,  and  especially  concerning  the  development  of  the  power  of 
evil  in  its  most  mature  and  fearful  form,  the  "  man  of  sin"  (2  Thess.  2  : 
1-12),  which  must  necessarily  precede  it  ;  and  exhorted  them  anew  to  an 
orderly  and  industrious  life.  It  is  remarkable,  that  it  was  to  these  very 
Macedonian  churches,  where  Christianity  so  charmingly  bloomed,  that 
the  mystery  of  iniquity  was  first  disclosed.  And  the  prophecy  respect- 
ing it  was  doubtless  not  perfectly  fulfilled  in  the  apostolic  age,  but  looks 
to  the  latest  days  of  the  church. 

§  76.  Third  Missionary  Tour  of  Paul.  His  labors  in  Ephesus. 
A.  D.  54-5T. 
After  residing  a  year  and  a  half  in  Corinth,  our  apostle,  probably  in 
the  spring  of  the  year  54,  in  which  Nero  came  to  the  throne,  resolved  to 
return  to  the  mother  church  of  the  Gentile  mission  ;  and  to  go  by  way 
of  Jerusalem,  where  he  wished  to  celebrate  Pentecost,'  and,  as  it  appears, 
at  the  same  time  to  present  a  thank-offering  in  the  temple  for  escape 

■  Luke,  indeed,  uses  the  indefinite  expression,  r;/i^  iopr/'p'.  But  this  could  rot  huve 
been  the  feast  of  tabernacles  ;  because  that  feast  was  of  no  interest  for  the  specifically 
Christian  spirit,  and  is  never  mentioned  by  Paul.  It  could  not  have  been  the  passover, 
which  fell  in  the  spring ;  because  Paul  made  the  journey  by  sea,  and,  in  the  existing 
state  of  the  art  of  navigation,  it  was  only  in  rare  cases,  that  the  sea  was  passable  dur- 
ing the  winter  months  till  the  vernal  equinox  (the  23rd  of  March).  The  only  remain- 
ing one  of  the  great  feasts  is  that  of  Pentecost ;  and  this  was  of  special  interest  for  the 
church  on  account  of  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost. — Furthermore,  we  must  not 
omit  to  mention,  that  the  first  clause  of  the  21st  verse  :  "  I  must  by  all  means  keep 
this  feast  that  cometh  in  Jerusalem,"  is  of  doubtful  genuineness,  and  by  Lachmann 
altogether  rejected.  This  would  bring  into  question  the  whole  matter  of  Paul's  fourth 
journey  to  Jerusalem,  and  make  Wieseler's  hypothesis  of  its  identity  with  that  men- 
tioned in  Gal.  2  :  1  (comp.  above,  §  67)  utterly  impossible.  Luke,  also,  says  nothing 
at  all  of  the  presentation  of  an  offering,  but  speaks  in  the  briefest  manner  merely  of  his 
saluting  the  church.  But  even  letting  go  the  suspected  words  from  6el  to  wdliv^  as  not 
belonging  to  the  original  text ;  still,  the  (ba/3af,  v.  22,  could  only  refer,  it  would  seem, 
to  a  journey  from  Caesarea  to  Jerusalem,  which  lay  higher.  For  if  we  make  it  mean 
merely  the  ascent  from  the  landing  to  the  city  of  Caesarea,  or  to  the  place  where  the 
congregation  assembled,  the  word  would  be  entirely  superfluous ;  whereas  in  this  very 
passage  Luke  studies  great  brevity.  Then  ugain.  the  following  KaTE,3i]  applies  very 
well  to  the  relative  geographical  positions  of  Jerusalem  and  Antioch,  but  not  to  a  jour- 
ney from  Caesarea  to  Antioch.  Finally,  we  see  no  reason,  why  Paul,  in  going  from 
Ephesus  to  Antioch,  should  have  made  the  great  circuit  by  Caesarea,  unless  he  intended 
to  visit  Jerusalem. 


MISSIONS.]  HIS    LABOES   AT   EPHESUS,  27T 

from  death  by  sickness,  or  sorae  other  cause  unknown  to  us.  So  at  least 
most  commentators  understand  the  vow,  he  had  made  at  Cenchreae,  the 
eastern   port  of   Corinth.'      Nor  was    such  a  course,   in  itself,   incon- 

'  We  intentionally  leave  this  problematical,  since  the  words  of  Luke,  18  :  18  : 
''  Having  shorn  his  head  in  Cenchreae ;  for  he  had  a  vow,"  present  a  double  difficulty. 
In  the  first  place,  expositors  are  divided  as  to  the  subject  of  the  parenthesis.  Grotius 
and  Meyer  (also  Wieseler,  p.  203,  Note)  refer  KciQufiEPog  to  the  nearest  antecedent, 
Aquila ;  especially  as  his  nanne,  contrary  to  the  usage  of  antiquity,  and  to  the  order 
observed  in  v.  2  and  26,  is  here  placed  alter  that  of  his  wife  Priscilla ;  the  reason  of 
which  is  found  in  the  gender  of  the  participle.  But  these  names  occur  in  the  same 
order  in  Rom.  16  :  3  and  2  Tim.  4  :  19.  This  the  above  interpreters  have  overlooked. 
We  are  compelled,  therefore,  to  look  for  the  reason  of  this  circumstance,  not  in  the  gram- 
matical structure  of  the  sentence,  but,  with  Neander  (latest  ed.  p.  349),  in  the  greater 
Christian  zeal  of  Priscilla,  and  her  nearer  relation  to  Paul ;  and  we  may  properly  find 
in  it  a  hint  of  the  exaltation,  which  Christianity,  as  compared  with  heathen  antiquity, 
confers  on  the  female  sex.  Then  again,  one  cannot  understand,  why  Luke  should  have 
remarked  this  fact  respecting  Aquila.  For  the  supposition  of  Schneckenburger  (1.  c. 
p.  66),  that  he  intended  thereby  indirectly  to  defend  the  apostle  against  the  charge  of 
inducing  the  Jevi^ish  Christians  to  renounce  the  law,  is  too  artificial,  and  is  connected 
with  this  scholar's  general  hypothesis  of  an  apologetic  purpose  running  through  the 
whole  book  of  Acts  ; — a  hypothesis,  which  we  cannot  regard  as  well  founded.  Since, 
now,  Paul  is  the  subject  in  v.  18  as  well  as  v.  19,  it  is  best,  with  Augustine,  Luther, 
Calvin,  Olshausen,  Neander,  and  De  Wette,  to  refer  the  parenthesis  also  to  him. — The 
second  difficulty  in  this  passage  is  about  the  kind  of  vow  here  intended.  Most  commen- 
tators think  it  the  vow  of  a  Nazarite  (Num.  6  :  1  sqq.),  which  Philo  calls  the  great 
vow  {svxv  fteyuy^'i).  A  Nazarite  was  one,  who  had  consecrated  his  person  to  the  Lord 
either  for  his  whole  life  or  lor  a  certain  portion  of  it,  and  was  bound,  during  the  term 
of  his  vow,  to  abstain  from  intoxicating  drinks,  and  to  let  the  hair  of  his  head  grow. 
At  the  expiration  of  the  time  he  presented  in  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  an  otfering,  and 
had  his  head  shorn  [tonsura  munditiei)  by  the  priest,  throwing  the  hair  into  the  flame 
of  the  thank-offering,  and  thus  consecrating  it  to  the  Lord  (Num.  6  :  5,  IS).  But  the 
latter  circumstance  does  not  suit  the  case  before  us ;  for  Paul  had  performed  the  ton- 
sure out  of  Palestine,  and,  it  would  seem,  not  at  the  accomplishment,  but  at  the 
assumption  of  his  vow.  To  solve  this  last  difficulty,  (as  Meyer,  ad  loc.  does),  by  con- 
sidering this  ceremony  as  having  been  the  close  of  the  vow,  still  leaves  the  other. 
For  not  a  hint  occurs,  either  in  the  Old  Testament  or  in  the  Talmud,  of  the  head 
being  shorn  in  a  foreign  land  ;  the  assumption  only,  never  the  laying  off,  of  the  Naza- 
rite vow,  could  take  place  out  of  Palestine,  according  to  Mischna  Nasir,  III,  6.  Nean- 
der accordingly  assumes,  that  the  Nazarite  vow  was  modified  in  later  times.  But  the 
paspge  from  Josephus  (De  bello  Jud.  IL  15,  1),  to  which  he  refers,  is  no  proof  of  this. 
The  context  and  the  terms  employed  can  hardly  suggest  any  thing  more,  than  the 
common  Nazarite  vow ;  and  besides,  the  tonsure  of  Berenice,  spoken  of  just  before, 
took  place  in  Jerusalem.  In  this  state  of  the  case,  Meyer,  following  Salmasius  and 
others,  takes  the  ei'^p/',  Acts  18  :  18,  to  be  a  private  vow.  or  votum  civile,  the  term  of 
which  expired  in  Cenchreae.  But  this  makes  the  letting  the  hair  grow  and  the  cutting 
it  off,  which  were  still  a  part  of  the  vow  of  a  Nazarite,  altogether  unmeaning  and 
unaccountable.  For  no  appeal  can  be  allowed,  in  this  case,  to  the  pagan  custom  of 
those  who  had  recovered  from  sickness,  or  had  made  a  prosperous  journey,  consecrat- 
ing their  hair  to  a  divinity  (Juvenal,  Sat.  XII,  81,  et  al). — We  are  forced,  therefore,  to 
acknowledge,  that  the  vow  of  Paul,  as  De  Wette  (ad  loc.)  expresses  it,  is  a  Gordian 


278  §  76.      THIRD   MISSIONABT    TOIJE    OF   PAUL.  [l-  BOOK. 

eistent  with  Paul's  liberal  principles.  For  although  he  was  far  from 
making  the  observance  of  the  law,  or  any  human  work,  the  condition  of 
salvation  ;  though  he  resisted  from  principle  the  imposition  of  a  Jewish 
yoke  on  the  Gentile  Christians  ;  yet  he  gave  all  due  credit  to  the  more 
legal,  pupilary  form  of  piety  of  the  Jewish  Christians,  and  felt  free  to 
use,  in  .a  voluntary  way,  for  the  promotion  of  his  own  spiritual  life,'  some 
of  their  disciplinary  institutions  and  customs.  He  fully  understood,  that 
the  law  still  retains  its  character  and  value,  as  a  schoolmaster  to  Christ, 
even  for  the  regenerate,  so  long  as  they  have  to  contend  with  flesh  and 
blood.  Indeed  it  may  be  said  in  general  of  all  the  religious  forms  and 
symbols  of  the  church,  that  they  tend  to  awaken  true  piety  in  those 
still  in  their  pupilage,  and  to  promote  it  in  the  more  advanced  ;  but  that 
they  become  dangerous  the  moment  they  are  made  indispensable  to  sal- 
vation, and  substituted  for  living  faith,  or,  it  may  be,  even  for  Christ 
himself. 

Sailing  by  way  of  Ephesus,  where  he  left  his  companions,  Aquila  and 
Priscilla,  promising  to  return  soon,  Paul  went  to  Csesarea  Stratonis  ; 
made  his  fourth,  but  very  short  visit  to  the  church  at  Jerusalem  ;  and 
afterwards  again  spent  some  time  in  Antioch.  He  then  set  out  on  his 
third  great  missionary  tour.  He  first  strengthened  the  churches  already 
founded  in  Phrygia  and  Galatia  (18  :  23),  and  then,  in  pursuance  of  his 
usual  missionary  policy  of  directing  his  chief  attention  to  the  most  im- 
portant commercial  cities,  selected  Ephesus  for  the  scene  of  a  protracted 
activity  of  nearly  three  years  (19  :  1  sqq.).  He  probably  arrived  there 
before  the  winter  of  the  year  54  had  yet  set  in. 

Ephesus,  the  then  capital  of  proconsular  Asia,  lay  near  the  coast  of 
the  Icarian  sea,  between  Smyrna  and  Miletus,  in  that  fair  and  fertile 
province,  where  twenty-five  hundred  years  ago  appeared,  in  the  sanguine, 
buoyant,  and  gifted  tribe  of  the  lonians,  the  first  blossoms  of  Grecian 
art  and  literature  ;  where  Homer  sang  the  deeds  of  the  Trojan  heroes 
and  the  return  of  Ulysses,  and  Anacreon  the  light,  momentary  joys  of  the 
heart  ;  where  Mimnermus  bewailed  the  rapid  flight  of  youth  and  love  ; 
where  Thales,  Anaximenes,  and  Anaximander  first  woke  the  spirit  of 
philosopical  inquiry  concerning  the  origin,  meaning,  and  end  of  existence. 

knot,  or,  in  the  words  of  Winer  {Reallexikon.  I.  p.  141.  3rd  ed.),  that,  "with  our  present 
knowledge  of  the  ancient  Jewish  vows,  it  cannot  be  satisfactorily  explained."  For- 
tunately it  touches  no  essential  article  of  faith.  The  apostle  at  all  events  seems  not 
to  have  bound  himself  strictly  to  any  legal  form,  and  to  have  used  great  freedom  with 
the  vow,  whatever  may  have  been  its  nature. 

'  I  cannot  agree  with  Calvin,  in  referring  this  vow  merely  to  regard  for  the  Jews. 
See  his  Commentary:  "  Se  igitur  totondit  non  alium  ob  finem,  nisi  ut  Judaeis  adhuc 
rudibus,  necdum  rite  edoctis,  se  accommodaret,  quemadmodum  testatur,  ut  eos  qui  sub 
lege  erant  lucrifaceret,  se  voluntariam  legis,  a  qua  liber  erat,  subjectionem  obiisse 
(,1  Cor  9  :  20)." 


MISSIONS.]  HIS   LABOKS    AT   EPHESUS.  279 

But  besides  being  a  centre  of  commerce  and  culture,  Ephesus  was  also 
a  principal  seat  of  the  heathen  superstition,  and  of  the  mystic  worship 
of  Artemis.  There  stood  the  renowned  temple  of  Diana  ;  built  of  white 
marble  in  the  sixth  century  before  Christ  ;  set  on  fire  on  the  birth-night 
of  Alexander  the  Great  (356  B.  C.)  by  the  immortal  wantonness  of 
Erostratus  ;  but  soon  rebuilt  in  still  more  magnificent  and  costly  style  ; 
ornamented  with  a  hundred  and  twenty-seven  columns  ;  visited  by  num- 
berless pilgrims  ;  and  not  finally  demolished  till  the  time  of  Constantine 
the  Great.  It  contained  the  image  of  the  great  mother  of  the  gods, 
which  was  said  to  have  fallen  from  heaven,  and  to  have  remained  un- 
changed from  the  earliest  age  ; — an  image  in  the  shape  of  a  mummy, 
with  many  breasts,  and  mysterious  inscriptions,  to  which  a  peculiar 
magical  power  was  attributed,  and  from  which  were  fabricated  formulas 
of  incantation  under  the  name  of  'Eipiaia  ypdfifxaTa.^ 

Here,  therefore,  was  opened  to  Paul,  as  he  himself  says  (1  Cor.  16  : 
9),  a  great  door  for  extensive  usefulness.  Here  was  soon  to  arise,  under 
his  hands,  a  church,  which  should  surpass  in  importance  the  churches  of 
Antioch  and  Corinth,  and  become,  under  John,  the  centre  of  Eastern 
Christendom.  To  it  he  communicated,  a  few  years  later,  in  his  epistle 
to  the  Ephesians,  his  profoundest  disclosures  of  the  glory,  the  inward 
nature,  and  the  outward  appearance  of  the  bride  of  Jesus  Christ.  But 
from  its  bosom,  too,  he  already  saw  coming  forth  the  most  dangerous  of 
foes,  the  pernicious  heathen  Gnosis  ;  verifying  the  maxim  :  Wherever 
God  builds  a  temple,  Satan  erects  a  chapel  by  its  side.  From  this  point 
he  could  spread  Christianity  into  all  parts  of  Asia  Minor,  either  by 
making  excursions  himself,  or  by  sending  out  his  disciples  and  assistants  ; 
and  the  many  mercantile  connections  of  the  city  furnished  him  the  most 
convenient  ways  of  getting  intelligence  from  his  churches  in  Greece. 
Along  with  these  advantages,  however,  he  had  there  to  encounter,  also, 
new  trials  and  sufferings,  and  was  every  day  in  danger  of  death.'^  His 
first  short  visit,  which  the  Jews  had  desired  him  to  prolong  (18  :  19  sq.), 
and  the  faithfulness  and  zeal  of  Aquila  and  his  wife,  had  already  prepar- 
ed the  way  for  the  gospel  in  Ephesus. 

He  also  met  there  with  a  singular  sort  of  half-christians,  disciples  of 
John  the  Baptist,  twelve  in  number,  who*  had  been  baptized  by  John, 
and  directed  to  the  Messiah.     They  had  also  believed  in  the  Messiah, 

'  Of  this  temple  there  now  remain  only  a  few  ruins,  and  on  the  site  of  the  city  once 
so  flourishing  stands  a  miserable  Turkish  hamlet,  jSJasoluk,  supposed  to  be  so  called 
from  John,  the  aytof  dso'ASyog  (pronounced  by  the  Greeks,  Seologos).  Comp.  Schu- 
bert :  Reise  in  das  Morgenland,  Tart  I.  p.  294  sqq  ;  and  Tischendorf :  Reise  in  den 
Orient,  II.  p.  251  sqq. 

*  1  Cor.  15  :  30-32.  Comp,  Acts  20 :  1  sqq.  1  Cor.  4  :  9-13.  Gal.  5  :  11.  2  Cor. 
1  :  8,  9. 


280  §  76.       THIED   MISSIONARY    TOIJE    OF  PAUL.  [l-   BOOK. 

yet  without  being  fully  acquainted  with  the  teaching  and  history  of  the 
Lord,  and  with  the  operations  of  his  Spirit.  Probably  they  had  left 
Palestine  before  the  resurrection,  to  announce  the  advent  of  the  Mes- 
siah to  the  heathen.  They  thus  formed  a  continued  development,  inde- 
pendent of  the  church  and  therefore  very  imperfect,  of  the  spirit  of 
prophecy,  which  flowed  into  Christianity  ;  they  stood  between  those  dis- 
ciples of  John,  who  passed  directly  over  to  Jesus,  and  the  later  Sabians, 
who  held  John  the  Baptist  for  the  Messiah,  and  opposed  Christianity. 
They  cheerfully  took  more  ample  instruction  from  Paul,  and  received  the 
baptism  of  the  Spirit  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  with  the  customary  laying 
on  of  hands.  Thereupon  the  new  life  revealed  itself  in  the  extraordi- 
nary gifts  of  the  apostolic  age,  speaking  with  tongues  and  prophecy 
(19  :  1-6). 

After  preaching  three  months  in  the  synagogue,  Paul  was  compelled 
by  the  hostility  of  some  Jews  to  meet  the  Christian  congregation  sepa- 
rately, which  he  did  in  the  lecture-room  of  Tyrannus,  a  Greek  rhetori- 
cian, where  he  delivered  discourses  daily  for  two  years.'  Kear  this  place 
he  wrought  striking  miracles,  which  were  doubly  necessary  on  account 
of  the  juggleries  of  pagan  and  Jewish  magicians,  for  whom  Ephesus 
was  a  great  rendezvous.  Even  to  the  apostle's  handkerchiefs  and  aprons 
the  people  attributed  a  healing  power,  and  God  graciously  condescended 
to  their  superstitious  notions,  though  without  approving  them  (19':  12)  ; 
nay  rather,  giving,  in  the  occurrence  just  afterwards  related,  a  warning 
and  preservative  against  them.  There  were  at  that  time  numbers  of 
Jewish  exorcists  strolling  about  those  parts,  who  pretended  to  be  able 
to  cast  out  devils  by  means  of  mysterious  magical  formulas  and  amulets, 
which  they  derived,  as  they  boasted,  from  king  Solomon.'^  Some  of 
these  jugglers,  the  seven  sons'  of  one  Sceva,  who  was  either  the  proper 
high  priest,  or  the  foreman  of  one  of  the  twenty-four  courses  of  priests, 

*  These  two  years  (]  9  :•  10)  are  doubtless  covered  by  the  first  twenty  verses  of 
c.  19.  After  the  expiration  of  them,  Paul  still  remained  some  time  in  Ephesus  and  its 
vicinity,  having  already  sent  his  companions  before  him  into  Macedonia  (v.  22),  and 
not  leaving  the  city  himself  till  after  the  uproar  caused  by  Demetrius  (20  :  1).  Add- 
ing, now,  to  the  two  years  the  three  months,  during  which  he  taught  in  the  synagogue, 
and  the  indefinite  time  in  v.  22,  we  have  nearly  three  years  for  his  residence  in  Ephe- 
sus;  which  agrees  with  the  tricnnium,  20  :  31.  Perhaps,  however,  the  latter  includes 
also  the  visit  to  Corinth  omitted  in  Acts. 

^  Respecting  these  people,  comp.  13  :  10.  Matt.  12  :  27.  Lu.  9  :  49.  Jospphus, 
Aullqn.  VIII.  25.  De  bello  Jud.  VII.  6,  3,  and  Justin's  Dial.  c.  Tryph-  Jud.  p.  311,  ed. 
Colon.  Josephus,  in  the  first  passage  referred  to,  tells  how  these  jugglers  astonished 
even  the  emperor  Vespasian  and  the  Roman  army. 

'  "  Sons"  is  here  probably,  according  to  the  Jewish  way  of  speaking,  equivalent  to 
disciples,  followers;  and  the  number  sevpn  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  notion,  that 
devils  to  that  number  often  took  possession  of  one  man,  and  could  be  expelled  only  by 
an  equal  number  of  counteracting  spirits. 


MISSIONS.]  HIS    LAEOES    AT    EPHESUS.  281 

perhaps  the  head  of  the  Jewish  community  at  Ephesus,  and  a  master 
magician,  desired,  like  Simon  Magus,  to  turn  the  semblance  of  Chris- 
tianity to  account  for  their  selfish  purposes,  and  fancied  they  were  able, 
by  simply  calling  on  the  name  of  Jesus,  without  sympathy  with  his 
Spirit,  to  produce  the  same  effect  as  Paul.  But  the  attempt  failed.  The 
demon,  which  they  thus  exorcised,  knew  the  difference  of  spirits.  The 
demoniac  fell  upon  the  impostors  with  the  almost  supernatural  muscular 
power,  which  often  appears  in  possessed  and  delirious  persons,  and  abused 
them  so  unmercifully,  that  they  fled  naked  and  wounded  (v.  13-17). 
This  unexpected  demonstration  made  such  an  impression,  that  many,  who 
had  formerly  made  use  of  the  arts  of  magic,  believed  in  Jesus  ;  naj, 
even  a  number  of  the  Goetae  burned  their  books  of  magic,  which  were 
especially  abundant  in  Ephesue,  and  the  value  of  which  amounted  to 
fifty  thousand  drachms  or  denarii — about  twenty  thousand  florins,  or 
eight  thousand  dollars  (v.  1*1-20).  Considering  the  class  of  men  and 
the  .circumstances,  this  was  a  splendid  and  most  appropriate  victory  of 
light  over  darkness.' 

Paul  was  now  intending  to  revisit  Greece,  and  had  already  sent  on 
into  Macedonia  his  assistants,  Timothy  and  Erastus  (not  to  be  confound- 
ed with  the  chamberlain  of  Corinth,  Rom.  16  :  23),  when  the  popular 
uproar  arose  against  him,  described  in  Acts  19  :  23  sqq.  So  fast  as  his 
preaching  undermined  idolatry,  those  who  derived  their  support  from 
idolatrous  practices,  and  yet  refused  to  forsake  them,  would  necessarily 
break  out  against  him.  Thus,  among  other  things,  a  check  was  put 
upon  the  extensive  traffic  in  gold  and  silver  models  of  the  renowned  tem- 
ple of  Diana,  which  were  manufactured  in  great  multitudes  in  Ephesus, 
and  were  a  rich  source  of  gain.  The  silversmith,  Demetrius,  who  car- 
ried on  this  business  on  a  large  scale,  stirred  up  his  numerous  workmen 
under  the  cloak  of  religion,  and  through  them  the  common  people, 
against  the  enemy  of  the  gods,  and  set  the  whole  city  in  motion.  The 
populace  shouting  :  "  Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians  !"  first  seized 
Gains  and  Aristarchus,  and  dragged  them  to  the  Amphitheatre,  where 

'  We  cannot  wonder,  that  Dr.  Baur  (p.  188  sqq.)  can  see  in  these  strange  events 
nothing  historical,  still  less  any  evidence  of  the  divinity  of  Christianity.  For  the  evi- 
dence was  not  designed  or  adapted  for  such  persons  as  he.  Of  Paul's  labors  among 
the  Epicureans  and  Stoics  of  Athens  nothing  of  the  kind  is  recorded.  But  fortunately 
the  world  is  not  entirely  made  up  of  miracle-denying  philosophers  and  skeptical  critics. 
The  grand  aim  of  Christianity  is,  not  to  establish  a  new  philosophical  school,  but 
to  turn  the  wonder-seeking  Jews,  as  well  as  the  wisdom-seeking  heathen,  to  a  new 
life, — to  redeem  mankind.  This  could  only  be  accomplished  by  a  concurrence  of  inter- 
nal evidence  with  external ;  and  Paul  himself  expressly  says  in  the  2nd  epistle  to  the 
Corinthians,  acknowledged  even  by  Baur  as  genuine,  12  :  12,  that  he  was  accredited  as 
an  apostle  by  "signs  and  wonders  and  mighty  deeds"  (powers),  comp.  1  Cor.  12  :  9, 
10,  29,  30i     Rom.  15  :  19.     Mk.  16  :  17. 


2S2  §  T7.      EPISTLES   TO    GALATIANS   AND   CORmTHIANS.      [l-  BOOK. 

they  were  accustomed  to  hold  public  meetings.  When  Paul  learned  this, 
he  was  for  exposing  himself  to  save  his  companions  and,  if  possible,  allay 
the  storm.  But  some  of  the  magistrates,  Asiarchs,  as  they  were  called, 
who  this  year  had  the  oversight  of  sacred  things  and  puljlic  plays  in 
Asia,  and  who  were  his  friends,  dissuaded  him.  The  confusion  was  in- 
creased by  the  interference  of  the  Jews,  who,  being  also  enemies  of 
idolatry,  and  concerned  for  their  own  security,  sought  to  divert  the  popular 
rage  from  themselves  to  the  Christians.  Then  the  multitude  cried  still 
more  vehemently  for  two  hours  :  "  Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians  1" — 
though  most  of  them  knew  not  for  what  they  were  assembled.  At  last 
the  recorder  or  chancellor  of  the  city,  by  a  skillful  address,  succeeded 
in  vindicating  the  missionaries,  who,  it  appears,  never  indulged  in  abusive 
language  respecting  the  gods  (v.  31)  ;  and  thus  the  uproar  was 
silenced. 

From  this  occurrence  we  see,  that  the  labors  of  Paul  had  already 
shaken  the  foundations  of  idolatry  in  those  regions,  and  had  made  a 
highly  favorable  impression  on  the  most  distinguished  and  influential  men, 
among  whom  were  the  Asiarchs  and  the  secretary  of  the  city.' 

§  1*1.    The  Episths  to  the  Galatians  and  Corinthians. 

While  residing  in  Ephesus  Paul  wrote  two  of  his  most  important 
epistles — that  to  the  Galatians  and  the  first  to  the  Corinthians.  He 
made  the  welfare  of  his  remote  churches  an  object  of  daily  supplication 
and  care,  and  he  felt  every  joy  and  every  sorrow  of  his  spiritual  children, 
as  if  it  were  his  own  (2  Cor.  11  :  28,  29).  He,  therefore,  endeavored 
to  exert  his  influence  upon  them  continually  ;  partly  by  sending  his 
delegates  and  disciples  to  them,  partly  by  correspondence. 

Soon  after  his  second  visit  to  the  Galatian  churches,^  Judaizing  false 
teachers,  those  deadly  enemies  of  the  liberal  apostle  of  the  Gentiles, 
had  found  their  way  into  them,  undermined  his  apostolical  standing, 
charged  him  with  error  and  ofificiousness,  and  laid  on  the  Gentile  Chris- 
tians the  yoke  of  the  Jewish  ceremonial  law.  This  sad  intelligence 
caused  Paul  to  send  them,  about  the  year  55,  an  autograph  letter,  full  of 
holy  indignation  at  this  unfaithfulness  of  the  Galatians  to  their  Lord  and 

■  About  fifty  years  afterwards  the  younger  Pliny,  in  a  letter  to  Trajan  (X.  97,  al, 
96),  lamented  the  decay  of  the  heathen  worship  and  the  spread  of  Christianity  in  Asia 
Minor,  though  he  thought,  the  evil  might  still  be  remedied,  as  many  had  in  fact  already 
gone  back  to  their  idolatry.  Says  he  :  "  Multi  enim  omnis  aetatis,  omnis  ordinis, 
utriusque  sexus  etiam  vocantur  in  periculum  et  vocabuntur.  Neque  enim  civitates 
tantum,  sed  vicos  etiam  atque  agros  superstitionis  istius  contagio  pervagata  est.  Quae 
videtur  sisti  et  corrigi  posse.  Certe  satis  constat,  prope  jam  desolata  templa  coepisse 
celebrari,  et  sacra  solcmnia  diu  intermissa  repeti,  passimque  venire  victimas,  quaruiu 
rarissimus  emptor  invcniebatur P 

*  Acts  18  :  23.     Comp.  the  raxswq.  Gal-  1  :  6,  and  the  to  n^oTsgov,  Gal.  4  :  13. 


MISSIONS.]        §  77.     EPISTLES    TO    GALATIANS   A2^D   OOElNTHIAJsrS.         283 

his  apostles,  at  their  sinking  back  from  the  spirit  to  the  flesh,  from  the 
freedom  of  the  gospel  to  the  bondage  of  the  law  ;  but  a  letter,  which 
breathed  at  the  same  time  the  tenderest  love  of  a  father,  seeking  to  re- 
claim his  wandering  children.  To  accomplish  his  object,  he  enters  upon  a 
full  vindication  both  of  himself  and  of  his  cause.  First  he  demonstrates 
his  own  apostolic  dignity,  as  resting  on  a  direct  call  and  revelation  from 
Christ,  and  as  acknowledged  by  the  older  apostles  themselves  (1:1- 
2  :  14).  Secondly,  he  draws  out  a  masterly  development  of  the  gospel 
as  distinguished  from  the  law,  and  of  the  living  faith,  which  alone  makes 
us  children  of  God  and  heirs  of  the  promise  (2  :  15-5  :  12).  With 
this,  however,  he  also  warns  the  few  in  the  congregation,  who  remained 
faithful  to  him,  against  pride,  the  abuse  of  their  liberty,  and  uncha- 
ritable contempt  for  theu"  brethren,  who  were  otherwise  minded  (5  :  13- 
26).  He  then  once  more  exhorts  both  parties  ;  entreats  them  to  add 
no  more  to  his  heavy  sufferings,  which  accredit  him  as  a  servant  of 
Christ  ;  and  closes  with  the  benediction  (c.  6). — We  know  not  what 
effect  this  letter  had.  But  it  is  one  of  the  most  important  parts  of  the 
New  Testament,  and  is  still,  for  all  Chi-istians,  one  of  the  main  sources 
of  sound  doctrine  respecting  the  law  and  the  gospel. 

The  circumstances  of  the  Corinthian  church  had  become,  during  the 
apostle's  absence,  more  peculiar  and  complicated.  Here  the  Christian 
life  had  developed  itself  pre-eminently  in  its  wealth  and  splendor,  and 
the  church  shone  in  the  most  variegated  attire  of  spiritual  gifts,  like  a 
field  of  flowers  under  the  sun  of  spring.-  But  there  was  a  want  of 
thoroughly  formed  and  fixed  character  and  solid  earnestness,  of  regard 
for  authority  and  order,  of  humility  and  mutual  fraternal  forbearance. 
The  gospel  had  not  yet  entirely  subdued  and  sanctified  the  old  Grecian 
nature.  Thus  all  sorts  of  imperfections  had  made  their  appearance  ; 
partly  by  the  force  of  former  habits  and  of  the  peculiar  temperament  and 
turn  of  the  Greeks  ;  partly  through  the  influence  of  other  teachers, 
such  as  Apollos,  who  continued  substantially  what  Paul  had  begun,  and 
some  Judaizers,  who  endeavored,  as  in  Galatia,  only  with  greater  subtlety, 
to  undermine  it.  The  lights  and  shades  of  the  apostolic  church,  espe- 
cially in  its  union  with  the  Grecian  nationality,  here  appear  concentrat- 
ed ;  and  the  epistles  to  the  Corinthians,  accordingly,  give  us  the  most 
complete  and  graphic  picture  both  of  the  social  life  of  Christians  in 
those  days,  and  of  the  vast  difficulties,  which  the  apostles  had  to  con- 
tend with,  and  which  could  be  overcome  only  by  the  special  aid  of  the 
Spirit  of  God. 

Before  writing  his  epistle  to  this  church,  Paul  had  paid  it  a  second, 
but  very  short  visit  ("by  the  way,"  1  Cor.  16  :  t).     This  is  not  men. 

^  1  Cor.  1  :  5-7.  c.  12  and  14.     2  Cor.  8  :  7. 


284  §  77.      EPISTLES   TO    GALATIANS    AND   CORINTHIANS.      [l-  BOOK. 

tioned,  indeed,  in  Acts,  but  it  is  made  tolerably  certain  by  several  pas- 
sages of  the  two  epistles  themselves  ;  especially  2  Cor.  12  :  13,  14  and 
13  :  1,  where  the  apostle  speaks  of  an  intended  third  journey  to 
Corinth,  coinciding  with  the  second  of  the  Acts,  c.  20  :  2.  This  second 
visit  we  may  fix  either  with  Baronius,  Anger,  and  others,  daring  Paul's 
first  residence  of  a  year  and  a  half  in  Achaia  (Acts  18  :  1-11),  making 
it  simply  a  return  to  the  metropolis  after  an  excursion  in  the  surrounding 
country  ;  or,  as  Neander  is  inclined  to  do,  in  the  interval  between  this 
and  his  second  arrival  in  Ephesus  (Acts  18  :  18-19  :  1).  But  it  is  after 
all  most  probable,  that  the  apostle,  during  his  residence  of  almost  three 
years  in  Ephesus  (Acts  19),  made  a  missionary  excursion  from  there,  in 
which  he  touched  at  Corinth.'  Already  had  this  visit  given  Paul  pain- 
ful evidence  of  the  re-intrusion  of  pagan  vices  into  that  church  under  the 
garb  of  Christianity.  But  on  his  return  to  Ephesus,  he  heard  still  worse 
accounts,  which  caused  him  to  write  an  epistle  now  lost,  forbidding  inter- 
course with  professing  Christians  of  licentious  habits.''  The  Corinthians, 
in  reply,  laid  before  him  their  doubts  about'  complying  with  this  injunc- 
tion, which  they  thought  rather  too  sweeping,  extending  even  to  vicious 
persons  out  of  the  church  ;  and  at  the  same  time  made  inquiries  as  to 
the  disputed  points  of  marriage,  of  eating  meat  offered  to  idols,  and  of 
spiritual  gifts.  Paul  received,  through  this  answer  and  the  bearers  of  it, 
still  more  minute  intelligence  ;  sent  Timothy  to  Corinth,  intending  him- 
self soon  to  follow  (1  Cor.  4  :  17,  19.  IG  :  10.  comp.  Acts  19  :  21,  22)  ; 
and  shortly  before  leaving  Ephesus  (comp.  1  Cor.  IG  :  8.  5  :  7,  8),  per- 
haps about  Easter  of  the  year  57,  wrote  with  many  tears  and  much 
anguish  of  heart  (2  Cor.  2  :  4)  a  long  letter,  which  carries  us  into  the 
very  heart  of  a  Christian  community  in  its  forming  state,  and  gives  us 
illustrious  proof  of  the  author's  extraordinary  wisdom  as  a  teacher,  and 
of  the  divine,  all-conquering  power  of  the  gospel. 

'  So  Riickert,  Billroth,  Olshausen,  Meyer,  VVieseler.  Wieseler  makes  this  tour  ex- 
tend to  Crete,  where  Paul  left  Titus,  and  supposes,  that  on  this  journey,  perhaps  in 
Achaia,  A.  D.  56,  the  first  epistle  to  Tinnothy  was  written,  which  presents  so  many 
chronological  difficulties  {Chronologic  der  jSpg.,  p-  314).  The  date  of  the  epistle  to 
Titus  he  fixes  somewhat  later,  soon  after  Paul's  return  to  Ephesus  (p.  346  sqq.),  be- 
tween the  two  epistles  to  the  Corinthians,  between  Easter  and  Pentecost  of  the  year 
57.  This  arrangement  commends  itself  most,  in  case  we  give  up  the  hypothesis  of  a 
second  imprisonment  at  Rome,  and  are  thus  forced  to  place  the  composition  of  the  two 
pastoral  epistles  before  the  first  imprisonment. 

^  That  the  words  tygafa  vfilv  ev  rrj  ETnaTo?irj,  1  Cor.  5  :  9,  refer  to  a  former  letter, 
is  now  the  universal  opinion  of  commentators.  Equally  fixed,  however,  is  the  spu- 
riousness  of  the  letter  of  the  Corinthians  to  Paul,  and  Paul's  answer,  preserved  by  the 
Armenian  church.  For  these  treat  of  subjects  entirely  different  from  those  with- 
which  the  lost  epistle  of  Paul,  according  to  1  Cor.  5  :  9-12,  must  have  been  occupied; 
and  they  bear  the  evidence  of  being  a  second-hand  compilation. 


MISSIONS.]        §  Y8.       PAETTES    IN   THE   COEINTHIAN   CHmKCH.  285 

§  *78.  Parties  in  the  Corinthian  Church. 
After  congratulating  the  church  on  the  abundance  of  its  spiritual 
gifts,  the  apostle  takes  up  first  (1  Cor.  1  :  10  sqq.)  the  divisions  which 
had  sprung  up  among  its  members,  and  whicli  he  attributes  to  pride  and 
over-valuation  of  the  natural  talents  and  peculiarities  of  individuals 
Here  we  discern  the  great  fickleness  of  the  Greeks,  their  party  spirit  in 
politics,  and  their  quarrelsomeness  in  philosophy,  transferred  to  the 
sphere  of  Christianity.  This  spirit  of  disputation  fitted  the  Greek 
church,  indeed,  to  act  an  all-important  part  in  the  doctrinal  controver- 
sies of  the  first  five  centuries  ;  but  it  was  also  one  of  the  main  causes 
of  her  subsequent  decline.  The  apostle,  in  v.  12,  mentions  four  parties. 
One  called  itself  after  Paul,  another  after  Apollos,  a  third  after  Cephas 
or  Peter,  a  fourth,  in  the  same  sectarian  sense,  after  Christ.  We  may 
presume  that  the  first  two  parties  were  composed  chiefly  of  the  Gentile 
Christians,  who  formed  the  majority  of  the  church  ;  that  the  name  of 
Peter  was  made  the  watchword  of  the  Jewish  Christians  ;  while  the 
Christ  party,  nowhere  else  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament,  is  veiled  in 
obscurity,  and  has  given  rise  to  very  different  conjectures.' 

1.  The  party  of  Paul,  which  was  perhaps  the  most  numerous  and  the 
most  clearly  defined  in  opposition  to  the  other  tendencies,  doubtless 
adhered,  indeed,  to  the  doctrine  of  that  apostle  ;  but  some  of  them  car- 
ried it  to  an  extreme,  boasting  as  the  sole  possessors  of  true  knowledge 
and  spiritual  freedom  ;  roughly  and  uncharitably  repulsing  the  more 
contracted  Jewish  Christians,  whose  views,  nevertheless,  had  just  claim 
to  regard  ;  deriding  their  scrupulousness  ;  and,  against  the  apostolic 
ordinance  (Acts  15),  wounding  their  consciences,  by  eating  meat  offered 
to  idols  (1  Cor.  8  :  1  sqq.     9  :  19  sqq.     10  :  23  sqq). 

2.  The  second  party  rallied  around  Apollos  (Apollonius),  an  Alexan- 
drian  Jew.  He  had  come  to  this  city  soon  after  Paul's  first  short  visit 
to  Ephesus,  and,  though  then  only  a  disciple  of  John  the  Baptist,  had 
proclaimed  the  reign  of  the  Messiah  with  glowing  enthusiasm  in  the  syn- 
agogue. More  precisely  instructed  in  Christianity  by  Aquila  and  Pris- 
cilla,  and  provided  by  the  brethren  with  recommendations,  he  went  to 
Corinth,  taught  there  some  time  with  great  success,  and  then  returned  to 
Ephesus,  where  he  had  a  personal  interview  with  Paul.'*  Luke  describes 
him  as  an  eloquent  man,  learned  in  the  Scriptures  (Acts  18  :  24-28)  • 
and  Paul  also  speaks  very  favorably  of  him  as  a  faithful  work-fellow,  and 

'  Besides  the  work  of  Neander,  I.  p.  375  sqq.,  and  the  modern  commentaries  on  the 
epistles  to  the  Corinthians  by  Billroth,  Ruckert,  Olshausen,  Meyer,  De  Wette,  we  must 
mention  particularly  some  learned  and  ingenious  articles  by  Dr.  Baur  in  the  '"Tiibinger 
Zeitschrift,"  reprinted  in  his  monograph  on  Paul,  p.  260-3-26,  which  have  led  to  a  more 
thorough  investigation  of  the  character  of  the  Christ  party. 

^  Acts  18  :  24-28.     1  Cor.  1  :  12.     3:4,22.     4:6.     16:12. 


286  §  78.      PARTIES    IN    THE   COEINTHIAN   CHUECH.  U-   BOOK. 

urges  liim  to  return  to  Corinth.  We  may  hence  conclude  with  certainty, 
that,  in  his  views  of  Christianity,  Apollos  agreed  substantially  with 
Paul,  and  built  on  his  foundation.  The  ciifTerence  between  the  two  was 
not  one  of  spirit  and  aim,  but  simply  of  peculiar  gifts  and  modes  of 
operating.  Paul  was  specially  fitted  to  lay  the  foundation,  Apollos  to 
carry  up  the  building  ;  or,  according  to  the  apostle's  figure,  the  former 
to  plant  the  church,  the  latter  to  water  it  (1  Cor.  3:6).  Add  to  this, 
that  Apollos, — as  may  be  inferred  from  his  parentage,  and  from  the  epi- 
thets applied  to  him  by  Luke  and  Paul, — having  probably  gone  through 
the  Alexandrian-Jewish  school  of  theology,  was  better  versed  in  the 
Greek  language,  and  more  rhetorical  in  his  discourse.'  Hence  he  has 
been  regarded  by  many  scholars,  Luther  first,  and  latterly  Bleek,  Tho- 
luck,  and  De  Wette, — though  without  any  support  from  patristic  tradi- 
tion,— as  the  author  of  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  which  is  character- 
ized by  great  beauty  and  eloquence  of  style,  and  striking  allegorical 
interpretation.  But  the  cultivated  among  the  Corinthians  made  too 
much  of  this  personal  accomplishment,  and  were  disposed  to  undervalue 
the  more  simple,  unadorned  preaching  of  the  cross,  which  human  nature, 
in  its  fancied  wisdom  and  importance,  condemns  and  treads  under  foot. 
Here  we  find  the  germ  of  the  later  school  of  Clement  and  Origen,  which 
placed  the  Gnosis  and  Pistis,  philosophical  and  popular  Christianity,  in  a 
false  position  of  antagonism.  Most  probably,  therefore,  what  the  apos- 
tle says  against  the  desire  of  the  Greeks  for  wisdom,  and  their  over-valu- 
ation of  knowledge  and  brilliant  language  (1  Cor.  1  :  18  sqq.  2  :  1 
sqq.),  was  aimed,  not  indeed  at  Apollos  himself,  who  certainly  knew  how 
to  distinguish  the  true  wisdom  from  the  false,  and  who  used  rhetoric 
merely  as  a  means  to  a  higher  end,  but  at  his  disciples,  who  went  beyond 
him.  A  morbid  admiration  of  philosophy  and  eloquence,  moreover,  was 
constitutional  with  the  Greeks  as  a  whole,  the  Christian  portion  among 
the  rest. 

3.  These  two  parties  of  Paul  and  Apollos,  accordingly,  agreed  in  hold- 
ing Gentile-Christian  principles,  but  differed  in  their  ways  of  apprehend- 
ing and  setting  them  forth.  Over  against  them  both  stood  the  party  of 
Cephas.  To  them  Paul  addresses  himself  from  the  ninth  chapter  onward, 
and  he  frequently  combats  it,  either  directly  or  indirectly,  but  in  the 
most  delicate  manner,  in  his  second  epistle  to  the  Corinthians.  It  con- 
sisted of  Jewish  Christians,  who  could  not  rid  themselves  of  their  old 

'  We  do  not  at  all  mean  to  say,  that  Apollos  was  more  gifted  than  Paul.  The  apos- 
tle was  certainly  his  superior  in  genius,  profundity,  and  dialectic  power,  and  had  also  a 
rare  energy  and  precision  of  style.  But  his  gifts  had  not  the  dazzling  exterior,  nor  his 
discourse  the  elegance,  which  particularly  pleased  the  Corinthian  taste  ;  and  besides,  in 
that  very  city  he  purposely  laid  aside  all  human  art,  and  left  the  gospel  to  its  own 
divine  power. 


MISSIONS.]        I  Y8.       PAETIES    m    THE   COKINTHIAN    CHUECH.  287 

legal  prejudices,  and  rise  to  tlie  freedom  of  the  gospel.  Yet  they  do  not 
seem,  like  the  Galatiau  errorists,  to  have  made  circumcision  and  the 
observance  of  the  whole  ceremonial  law  the  condition  of  salvation.  At 
all  events  they  did  not  come  out  openly  with  such  doctrine.  The  Greeks 
had  no  susceptibility  for  this  rigid,  Pharisaic  Judaism.  They  proceeded, 
therefore,  more  cautiously,  directing  their  attacks  entirely  against  the 
apostolical  authority  of  Paul.  This  once  undermined,  they  could  then 
venture  further.  They  pronounced  Paul  an  illegitimate  pseudo-apostle, 
and  opposed  to  him,  as  the  only  true  apostles,  those  who  had  enjoyed 
personal  intercourse  with  Christ ;  who  had  been  called  and  instructed  by 
himself  in  the  days  of  his  flesh  ;  above  all,  Peter,  to  whom  the  Lord  had 
assigned  a  certam  primacy.  Of  course  Peter  did  not  fall  in  with  them, 
any  more  than  did  Paul  with  the  light-minded  Paulinians,  or  Apollos 
with  the  conceited  Apolloniaus.  His  prominent  position  among  the 
apostles  of  the  Jews  the  false  teachers  perverted  to  their  own  ends 
against  his  will.  Yet  it  is  very  probable,  that  some  of  them  were  per- 
sonal disciples  of  Peter,  and  felt  bound  to  him  by  gratitude  ;  which  also 
best  accounts  for  the  name  of  the  party. 

4.  Far  more  difficult  is  it  to  determine  the  peculiar  character  of  the 
Christ  party,  the  ol  tov  Xg.iaTov,  respecting  which  we  have  no  certain  hints 
to  guide  us.  Had  they  called  themselves  "  of  Christ"  in  the  good  sense, 
as  also  Paul,  in  opposition  to  all  sectarianism  and  bondage  to  men, 
would  be  simply  a  disciple  of  Christ  (1  Cor.  3  :  23),  we  should  be  saved 
all  further  inquiry.'  But  in  this  case  Paul  would  have  held  them  up  as 
a  pattern  to  the  other  parties  ;  which  he  does  not  do.  He  rather 
counts  them  as  a  sect  along  with  the  three  others,  and  immediately  pro- 
ceeds in  the  strain  of  censure  :  "  Is  Christ  divided?"  (1  Cor.  1  :  13). 
From  this  we  must  infer,  that  the  Christ  party  made  Christ  himself  a 
sectarian  leader,  and  perverted  his  name,  as  the  Pauline  faction  did  that 
of  Paul,  the  ApoUonians  that  of  Apollos,  and  the  Petrines,  that  of 
Peter,  for  selfish  party  purposes.     The  simplest  explanation  of  the  name 

'  We  should  then  have  to  suppose,  that,  while  the  other  parties  are  saying  :  "  I  am 
of  Paul,"  &c.,  the  apostle  interrupts  and  corrects  them  with  the  words  :  "  But  I  am  of 
Christ,"  1  Cor.  1  :  12.  But  this  is  certainly  a  very  forced  construction.  It  is,  how- 
ever, worthy  of  attention^  that  the  Roman  bishop,  Clement,  a  disciple  of  Paul  and 
Peter,  in  his  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  written  towards  the  close  of  the  first  cen- 
tury, and  occasioned  likewise  by  divisions  in  the  church,  mentions  only  the  first  three 
parties,  saying  nothing  at  all  of  the  Christ  party.  His  words  are :  'Avald^eTE  t//v 
i-icToXfjv  TOV  fiaKagiov  ILavXov  tov  u.TTOoTo'kov  t'c  nguTov  vfj.lv  ev  UQXV  '^^^  evayyekiov 
(i.  e.  when  the  gospel  was  first  preached  at  Corinth)  ejgaipev ;  'Ett'  uXr/deLag  nvevfia- 
tlkQq  ETztdTEiT^-ev  vfuv,Tr  E  pi  avTov  TE  Kal  K  7]  (p  d  re  Kat  'ATro/lAu,  did  to  nai 
tote  TvpoaKTiLGEic  (facliones)  vjiug  T:Eirouia-Qai[c.  47) .  Yet  this  silence  may  be  accounted 
for  by  the  fact,  that,  at  the  time  when  Clement  wrote,  the  Christ  party  was  no  longer 
in  existence  ;  which  is  the  more  probable,  if  it  consisted  of  personal  disciples  of  Jesus. 


288  §  Y8.       PARTIES    IN   THE    CORINTHIAN    CHURCH,  [l-  BOOK. 

of  this  faction  according  to  the  analogy  of  the  other  sectarian  names, 
would  be  the  fact,  if  it  could  be  proved,  that  this  party,  or  at  least  its 
leaders,  were  personal  disciples  or  auditors  of  Jesus,  and  prided  them- 
selves particularly  on  this  knowledge  of  Christ  after  the  flesh  (2  Cor. 
5  :  16).  It  is  in  itself  very  possible,  that  many  of  our  Lord's  hearers 
lived  twenty  or  thirty  years  after  his  death,  and  were  scattered  amongst 
the  Christian  communities  in  the  larger  cities.  But  however  this  may 
be,  the  appellation  warrants  us  in  supposing,  that  this  party  made  the 
name  of  Christ  their  watch-word,  in  an  exclusive,  sectarian  sense,  after 
the  fashion  of  the  North  American  sect  of  "  Christians"  or  "  Disciples 
of  Christ  ;"  or  like  the  Weinbreunerians,  who  assume,  in  opposition  to 
all  the  rest  of  Christendom,  the  arrogant  title  :  "  The  Church  of  God." 
This,  however,  gives  us  very  little  satisfaction  respecting  their  peculiar 
theological  character  ;  since  the  name  of  Christ  and  the  appeal  to  the 
Bible  must  have  been  made,  even  at  this  early  day,  a  cloak  for  all  possi- 
ble errors  On  this  point  four  different  views  have  been  proposed  by 
Storr,  Baur,  Neander,  and  Schenkel  respectively,  which  merit  a  detailed 
consideration.  None  of  them,  however,  can  give  perfect  satisfaction. 
For  Paul  makes  no  further  mention  of  the  Christ  party  ;  and  the  pas- 
sages, which  have  been  applied  to  it,  may  just  as  well  be  referred  to  the 
party  of  Peter.  We  here  find  ourselves,  therefore,  entirely  in  the  region 
of  exegetical  and  critical  conjecture. 

If  we  consider,  that  there  existed  in  the  apostolic  age  two  great 
opposing  forces.  Gentile  Christianity  and  Jewish  Christianity,  and  the 
germs  of  the  corresponding  heresies  of  Gnosticism  and  Ebionism  ;  that, 
furthermore,  the  first  two  Corinthian  parties  were  simply  different  shades 
of  the  Gentile  Christian  tendency  ;  we  might  easily  conclude,  that  be- 
tween the  last  two  parties,  also,  there  was  no  essential  difference,  and 
that  the  Christ  party  must  accordingly  be  counted  as  Jewish-Christian. 
This  view,  however,  admits  of  two  modifications.  Storr'  supposes,  that 
the  party  in  question  made  James,  the  brother  of  the  Lord  (Gal.  1  :  19), 
their  leader,  and  attached  great  importance  to  his  consanguinity  with 
Jesus.  To  this  the  "knowing  Christ  after  the  flesh"  alludes  (2  Cor. 
5  :  13)  ;  and  for  this  reason  Paul  speaks  of  the  "brethren  of  the  Lord" 
(1  Cor.  9:5),  and  of  James  in  particuhir,  along  with  Peter  (1  Cor. 
15  :  7).  But  in  this  case  they  must  have  styled  themselves  rather, 
ol  Tov  Kupiov,  or  01  Tov  'biaoih  or  Still  more  accurately,  oi  tov  'laKu-hv  (comp. 
Gal.  2  :  12).  We  should  also  expect  that  the  followers  of  James  would 
lay  far  more  stress  on  the  law,  than  those  of  Peter  ;  yet  the  epistles  to 
the  Coriuthiaus  nowhere  come  into  conflict  with  a  strictly  legal  tendency. 

*  Opusc.  acad.  IT.  p.  246.  Tho  same  view  is  adopted  by  Flatt,  Bertholdt,  Hug,  and 
Heidenreich. 


MISSIONS.]         g  78.       PARTIES   IN   THE   CORINTHIAN    CHURCH.  289 

Hence  Baur  identifies  the  Christ  party  with  the  party  of  Peter.  The 
same  members  of  the  church,  he  thinks,  called  themselves  after  Cephas, 
because  he  stood  at  the  head  of  the  Jewish  apostles,  and  at  the  same 
time  after  Christ,  because  they  made  immediate  personal  connection  with 
Christ  the  grand  mark  of  apostolical  authority  ;  for  which  very  reason 
they  refused  to  acknowledge  Paul,  who  arose  later,  as  an  apostle  of  equal 
birth.'  This  view  Baur  ingeniously  endeavors  to  substantiate  by  all  those 
passages,  in  which  Paul  demonstrates,  that  he  has  the  same  right,  as  any 
other,  to  call  himself  an  apostle  of  Christ ;  particularly  2  Cor.  10:7.  But 
this  hypothesis,  with  all  its  plausibility,  has  against  it  the  fact,  that  Paul 
designates  the  parties  of  Peter  and  Christ  as  two,  and  therefore  distinct. 
If,  on  the  contrary,  we  start  from  the  name  of  the  Christ  party,  which 
seems  to  contain  an  antithesis  to  the  human  names  of  the  apostles,  we 
rather  reach  the  conclusion,  that,  in  an  arrogant  and  arbitrary  spirit, 
they  rejected  all  human  authority,  and,  in  opposition  to  the  foUoivers  of  any 
apostle,  in  opposition  to  the  mediation  ordained  by  God  himself,  were 
for  holding  simply  to  Christ.  So  a  number  of  ancient  and  modern 
sects  appeal  to  the  Bible  alone,  against  the  church  doctrine  and  symbols  ; 
while  yet  they  take  but  a  partial  and  distorted  view  of  the  Scriptures, 
through  the  spectacles  of  their  own  traditional  preconceptions,  and  only 
add  to  the  ecclesiastical  divisions,  against  which  they  profess  to  contend.* 

'  Paulus  p.  272  sqq.  This  view  is  adopted  substantially  by  Billroth  in  his  Commen- 
tar  zu  den  Korintherbriefen,  Credner  in  his  Einlcitung  iri^s  N.  T.,  and  Schwegler.  Nach- 
apost.  Zeitalter,  I.  p.  162.  A  peculiar  modification  of  Baur's  hypothesis  is  held  by 
Thiersch  {die  Kirche  im  apostolischen  Zeitalter,  p.  143  sq.)  He  distinguishes,  indeed, 
the  Christ  party  from  the  Cephas  party,  but  still  takes  them  to  have  been  Pharisaically 
disposed  Judaizers,  and  the  most  violent  personal  opponents  of  Paul,  who  cast  suspi- 
cion on  his  whole  work,  and  were  styled  by  him,  in  irony,  "the  very  chiefest  apostles;" 
nay,  false  apostles  and  servants  of  Satan  (2  Cor.  11  :  13-15.  12  :  II).  But  it  is  very 
hard  to  think,  that  such  malicious  and  dangerous  men  were  all  personal  disciples  of 
Jesus,  as  Thiersch,  on  the  ground  of  the  name  of  the  party,  supposes. 

^  It  might  not  be  amiss,  perhaps,  to  illustrate  this  by  an  example  from  the  history  of 
the  modern  American  sects.  We  mean  the  "  Christians,"  who  arose  at  the  end  of  the 
last  century,  and  whose  name  itself  shows,  that  they  aim  to  reject  all  human  authority 
and  abolish  all  lines  of  sect,  though  they,  in  fact,  accomplif^h  just  the  opposite.  Some 
passages  from  the  description  given  by  one  of  their  number  in  the  History  of  all  the 
Relig.  Denvminations  in  the  United  States,  2nd  ed.  Harrisburg,  1848,  p.  164,  will  suffice 
to  show  their  character  in  this  respect :  "  Within  about  one  half  century,  a  very  consi- 
derable body  of  religionists  have  arisen  in  the  United  States,  who.  rejecting  all  names, 
appellations,  and  badges  of  distinctive  party  arriong  the  followers  of  Christ,  simply  call 

themselves  Christians Most  of  the   Protestant  sects  owe  their  origin  to  some 

individual  reformer,  such  as  a  Luther,  a  Calvin,  a  Fox.  or  a  Wesley.  The  Christians 
never  had  any  such  leader,  nor  do  they  owe  their  origin  to  the  labors  of  any  one  man. 
They  rose  nearly  simultaneously  in  different  sections  of  our  country,  remote  from  each 
other,  without  any  preconcerted  plan,  or  even  knowledge  of  each  other's  movements.  . . . 
This  singular  coincidence  is  regarded  by  them  as  evidence  that  they  are  a  people  raised 
19 


290  §  78.       PARTIES   IN    THE    COKINTHIAN    CHURCH.  U-  ^OOK. 

But  with  this  general  result  we  shall  have  to  be  content.  For  a  more 
definite  knowledge  of  the  Christ  party  we  have  no  certain  data. 

We  must,  however,  notice  two  more  hypotheses  lately  propounded. 
The  Swiss  divine,  Schenkel,'  holds  the  "  Christians"  to  have  been  false 
mystics  and  visionaries,  who  took  their  name  not  merely  because  they 
acknowledged  the  authority  of  no  apostle,  but  also  because  their  leaders, 
the  "false  apostles,  deceitful  workers,"  attacked  by  Paul  in  2  Cor.  11  : 
13,  pretended  to  maintain,  by  visions  and  revelations,  an  immediate, 
mysterious  communion  with  Christ,  and  thus  threatened  to  substitute  a 
subjective,  ideal  Christ  for  the  historical  one.  De  Wette,  who  here  sub- 
stantially agrees  with  his  former  pupil,  puts  them  in  the  same  category 
with  the  theosophic  errorists  in  Colosse,  and  pronounces  them  Judaizing 
Gnostics.  The  proof  of  this  is  found  particularly  in  the  twelfth  chapter 
of  2  Corinthians,  where  the  apostle  is  forced  to  boast  of  his  own  visions 
in  opposition  to  these  enthusiasts.  But  this  hypothesis  rests  upon  a 
series  of  arbitrary  and  artificial  combinations  ;  and  the  latter  passage 
is  evidently  directed  against  the  adversaries  of  Paul's  apostolic  authority 
in  general.  More  simple  and  plausible  is  the  supposition  of  N'eander, 
that  the  Christ  party  consisted  of  wisdom-seeking  Greeks,  and  embodied 
a  phWosophico-rafionnlistic  tendency,  which  regarded  Christ  as  a  second 
and  higher  Socrates.'  He  identifies  it  with  the  opponents  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  resurrection,  who  are  attacked  in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of 
the  first  epistle.  These  errorists,  he  thinks,  probably  conceived  the  re- 
surrection as  altogether  spiritual  and  ideal,  and  as  something  already 
past  (comp.  2  Tim.  2  :  17,  18)  ;  and  this  suits  philosophically  educated 
Greeks  far  better  than  Jews.  A  reference  to  the  Sadducees  seems  to 
be  forbidden  here  by  the  character  of  the  apostle's  entire  argument,  as 
compared  with  our  Lord's  way  of  refuting  them  from  the  Pentateuch, 
to  which  they  appealed  (Matt.  22  :  23  sqq).  Rejection  of  the  human 
media  of  divine  revelation,  appointed  by  God  himself,  almost  always 
leads  to  a  rationalistic  tendency,  if  it  does  not  start  from  one  in  the 
first  place.     We  might  refer  for  illustration  to  the  Neo-Platonist,  Por- 

up  by  the  immediate  direction  and  overruling  providence  of  God,  and  that  the  ground 
they  have  assumed  is  the  one  which  will  finally  swallow  up  all  party  distinctions  in 
the  gospel  church." 

'  In  his  tract  :  De  ecclesia  Corinthia  primaeva  factionibus  turbata,  etc.  Basil.  1838. 
With  him  go  De  Wette,  and,  with  some  modification,  Goldhorn  and  DShne. 

^  Jp.  Gesch.  I.  p.  395  sqq.  So  Olshausen  in  his  Commentary  III.  p.  478  sqq.  The 
latter  divine,  however,  is  wrong,  at  all  events,  in  supposing  the  Christ  party  to  have 
been  the  most  important  in  Corinth.  For  then  we  should  assuredly  have  had  clearer 
allusions  to  it,  and  Clement  of  Rome,  intimately  acquainted  as  he  was  with  Paul  and 
with  the  circumstances  of  the  Corinthian  church,  would  not  have  passed  over  it  in 
perfect  silence. 


MISSIONS.]  §    Y8.    PARTIES    IN   THE    CORINTHIAN    CHITRCH.  291 

phyry,  in  the  third  century,  also  to  some  extent  to  the  Manicheans,  and 
in  modern  times  to  many  Deists  and  Rationalists,  who  have  imagined  an 
antagonism  between  a  Christianity  of  Christ,  and  a  Christianity  of  tlie 
apostles  and  the  church,  and  have  explained  the  latter  as  a  corruption 
of  the  former.'  As  already  remarked,  however,  for  want  of  sure  data, 
this  view  of  N'eander,  like  the  others,  cannot  rise  to  certainty,  and  labors 
under  various  difficulties,  which  Baur,  in  particular,  has  acutely  brought 
out.  The  greatest  objection  to  it  is,  perhaps,  that  the  name  of  the  Chr;st 
party  seems  to  point  to  some  specific  outward  relation  to  Christ,  and 
thus  to  indicate  rather  a  Jewish  than  a  Gentile  origin.  And  that  a  ra- 
tionalistic tendency,  which  casts  off  all  human  authority,  could  proceed 
even  from  Judaism,  is  proved  by  Sadducism.     - 

Besides  this  party  spirit,  Paul  rebuked  still  other  faults,  not  all  neces- 
sarily connected  with  this,'^  yet  more  or  less  influenced  by  it,  and  check- 
ing the  pure  development  of  the  Christian  life.  Among  these  we  notice 
especially  the  incestuous  connection  of  a  church  member  with  his  step- 
mother (1  Cor.  5  :  1  sqq.),  and  unchastity  in  general  (5:9  sqq.  6  : 
12  sqq.  2  Cor.  12  :  21).  Of  this  vice  the  people  of  Corinth,  that  ■ko'Ku 
iwa(pgo6iTOTdTTi,  as  Dio  Chrysostom  calls  it  in  the  bad  sense,  had  the  most 
inadequate  and  superficial  conception  ;  for  about  the  renowned  temple  of 
Venus  in  that  city  there  lived  upwards  of  a  thousand  priestesses  as  public 
prostitutes.  This  scandal  in  the  church  the  apostle  rebukes  with  over- 
whelming earnestness,  requiring  the  exclusion  of  the  offender  from  the 
congregation.  He  then  goes  on  to  censure  the  practice  of  carrying  suits 
into  heathen  courts,  instead  of  settling  the  difficulties  before  the  tribunal 
of  the  church  (1  Cor.  6  :  2  sqq).  The  difference  of  opinion  respecting  the 
merit  of  the  unmarried  life  he  adjusts  by  conceding  to  that  state  in  certain 
circumstances,  according  to  his  own  view,  the  preference  over  the  married 
state  ;  but  without  laying  down  a  law  about  it  for  anyone  (c.  7).  As  to 
participating  in  the  sacrificial  meals  of  the  heathen,  and  eating  meat  which 
had  been  offered  to  idols,  he  recommends  a  charitable  regard  to  weak 
consciences  (c.  8  and  10).  He  next  rebukes  the  unbecoming  freedom  of 
women  in  respect  to  covering  the  head  (11  :  1  sqq.)  ;  the  light  treatment 
and  profanation  of  the  love-feasts  on  the  part  of  the  rich  (11  :  lY  sqq.)  ; 
disorder  in  the  worship  of  God,  the  over-valuation  and  vain  parading  of 
extraordinary  spiritual  gifts,  especially  that  of  tongues.  Against  this 
he  holds  up  the  truth,  that  all  gifts  are  intended  to  subserve  the  glory 
of  Christ  and  the  edification  of  his  people,  and,  in  that  incomparably 
beautiful  picture  in  c.  12-14,  drawn  as  with  the  pencil  of  a  seraph, 
extols  love  as  the  most  precious  gift  of  all.     Finally,  in  the  fifteenth 

"  The  "  Christians,"  also,  above  noticed,  fall  in  with  Rationalism  in  many  points,  as 
in  the  denial  of  the  Trinity  and  the  divinity  of  Christ. 
^  As  Storr  and  other  commentators  erroneously  suppose. 


292  §  79.       A   NEW   VISIT   TO   GREECE,  [l.  BOOE. 

chapter,  in  opposition  to  Epicurean  and  skeptical  views,  he  treats  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  body,  and  the  complete  development  of  the  Christian 
church  to  the  point  where  God  becomes  all  in  all.  Then  (c.  16),  with  an 
exhortation  respecting  the  collection  for  the  Christians  in  Jerusalem,  with 
intelligence  respecting  himself,  and  with  salutations,  the  epistle  closes. 

§  19.  ^  New  Visit  to  Greece.      Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians. 

A.D.  5t. 

Some  weeks  after  writing  the  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthian.^,  about 
Pentecost  of  the  year  51  (1  Cor.  16  :  8),  Paul  left  Ephesus,  intending 
to  visit  his  churches  in  Greece,  return  thence  to  Jerusalem,  and  then  go 
for  the  first  time  to  the  capital  of  the  world  (Acts  20  :  1.  Corap.  19  : 
21).  Travelling  first  to  Troas,  he  preached  there  some  time.  There  he 
hoped,  also,  to  meet  Titus,  whom  he  had  sent  to  Corinth  a  little  after 
Timothy  (2  Cor.  12  :  18.  1  :  13-15),  and  to  learn  from  him  what 
impression  his  first  epistle  had  made  ;  but  in  this  he  was  disappointed  (2 
Cor.  2  :  12,  13).  He  then  sailed  to  Macedonia  ('Acts  20  :  1.  Comp. 
1  Cor.  16  :  5),  where  he  experienced,  indeed,  much  outward  and  inward 
trouble  (2  Cor.  1:5),  but  at  the  same  time  the  joy  of  finding  his 
churches  in  a  flourishing  condition.  For  they  had  approved  themselves 
in  tribulation,  and,  notwithstanding  their  great  poverty,  had  joyfully 
contributed  to  the  support  of  the  churches  in  Judea,  even  beyond  their 
power  (2  Cor.  8  :  1-5).  This  collection  was  at  that  time  a  matter  of 
special  concern  with  the  apostle,  and  he  recommended  it  also  very 
urgently  to  the  Christians  in  Achaia  (1  Cor.  16  :  1-3.  2  Cor.  8  and  9).  > 
In  Macedonia  he  met  his  anxiously  expected  messenger,  Titus,  with 
accounts  from  Corinth,  which  were  on  the  whole  cheering.'  His  first 
epistle  had  given  a  salutary  shock  to  the  feelings  of  the  largest  and  best 
part  of  the  community,  and  awakened  a  godly  sorrow  (2  Cor.  1  :  6 
sqq).  The  incestuous  person  (1  Cor.  5:1)  had  been  excommunicated 
by  the  majority,  and  now  manifested  penitence,  so  that  the  same  major- 
ity besought  Paul,  that  they  might  be  allowed  to  treat  him  more  mildly  ; 
— a  request  which  Paul,  also,  to  save  the  penitent  from  despair  and  pre- 
vent a  greater  evil,  gladly  granted  (2  Cor.  2  :  5-10).  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  Judaizing  antagonists  of  the  apostle  were  only  the  more 
embittered   against   him,    and   sought  to  impeach  his   purest   motives, 

'  Timothy  also  appears  with  Paul  in  Macedonia  during  the  writing  of  the  second 
epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  and  is  nanned  in  the  superscription.  Probably  he  had 
already  rejoined  the  apostle  in  Ephesus,  according  to  expectation  (1  Cor.  16  :  11),  and 
had  accompanied  him  from  there.  Several  modern  critics  suppose,  that  Timothy,  for 
some  reason  or  other,  did  not  get  to  Corinth  at  all.  But  the  grounds  for  this  opinion 
are  untenable  ;  comp.  Wieseler,  I.  c.  p.  359  sqq. 


MISSIONS.]  THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    TO    THE    CORINTHIANS.  293 

accusing  him  of  weakness  and  inconsistency,  hanglitiness  and  self-inte- 
rest.' 

In  this  state  of  things  Paul  thought  it  advisable,  during  his  stay  in 
Macedonia,  })robably  in  the  summer  of  the  year  57,  before  appearing  at 
Corinth  in  person,^  to  write  once  more  to  the  Christians  in  Corinth  and 
the  whole  province  of  Achaia  (2  Cor.  1  :  1),  and  by  this  means  to 
remove  beforehand,  if  possible,  every  hindrance  to  a  joyful  and  fruitful 
visit  there.  The  contents  of  this  epistle  maybe  divided  into  three  parts. 
In  the  first  six  chapters  the  apostle  describes  his  late  protracted  perils  iu 
Ephesus,  and  his  divine  consolations  under  them  ;  advises  the  restoration 
of  the  penitent  fornicator  ;  and  then  portrays  the  office  of  a  gospel 
preacher,  and  his  own  conduct  as  an  apostle.  Chapters  8  and  9  treat 
of  the  collection  of  alms  for  the  poor  Jewish  Christians  in  Jerusalem. 
In  the  third  part  (c.  10-13),  he  defends  himself  against  the  charges  of 
the  false  apostles,  and  confronts  their  pretensions  with  his  own  self-deny- 
ing labors  and  the  revelations  imparted  to  him.' 

The  second  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  is  less  important  for  doctrine, 
than  the  first  and  the  epistle  to  the  Romans,  but  is  the  more  interesting 
as  an  exhibition  of  the  personal  character  of  the  apostle.  None  of  his 
other  letters  give  us  so  clear  a  view  of  his  noble,  tender  heart,  the  suffer- 
ings and  joys  of  his  inward  life,  his  alternations  of  feeling,  his  anxieties 
and  struggles  for  the  welfare  of  his  churches.  These  were  his  daily  and 
hourly  care,  as  his  children,  whom  he  had  brought  forth  in  travail,  and 
the  mortification  their  conduct  had  caused  him,  far  from  cooling  his  afi'ec- 
tion  for  them,  only  inflamed  his  love  and  his  holy  zeal  for  their  eternal 
salvation.  The  epistle  is  evidently  the  fruit,  not  so  much  of  calm,  clear 
reflection,  as  of  deep  and  strong  emotion,  like  the  book  of  the  prophet 
Jeremiah.  Hence  its  abrupt,  often  obscure,  and  harsh,  but  fascinating 
and  striking  style  ;  its  sudden  transitions  ;  its  bold  strokes  of  light  and 
shade  in  depicting  spiritual  states  and  experiences.  Without  this  epistle, 
we  should  be  ignorant  of  one  of  the  essential  traits  of  that  incomparable 
man,  whose  heart  was  as  warm  and  tender,  as  his  mind  was  strong  and 
profound. 

Paul  sent  this  letter  to  the  Corinthians  by  Titus  and  two  other  breth- 
ren, charging  them  to  complete  the  collection  already  begun  for  the 
Palestinian    Christians    (8  :  6-23.      9  :  3,   5).      Perhaps   late   in   the 

'  2  Cor.  10  :  10  sq.     12  :  16  sqq.     Comp.  also  1  :  15  sqq.     3  :  1,  and  5  :  12  sq. 

*  Comp.  2  Cor.  1:8.     2  :  1'.^,  13.     7:5  sqq.     8  :  1-5.     9  :  2,  4. 

^  Wieseler,  1.  c.  p.  357  sq.,  endeavors  to  show,  that  Paul  wrote  only  the  second  and 
third  parts  after  meeting  with  Titus,  and  the  first  six  chapters  before  this  time,  while 
he  had  as  yet  only  the  accounts  which  Timothy  had  given.  In  this  way  he  explains 
Paul's  recurring,  shortly  after  mentioning  the  arrival  of  Titus  (7  :  6  sqq.),  to  the  effect 
of  his  previous  letter,  and  his  seeking,  in  part,  to  counteract  those  wrong  impressions. 


294  §    80.       THE    CHURCH    AT    ROME,  [i.   BOOK. 

autumn  of  this  year,  after  having  extended  his  field  of  operations,  per- 
sonally or  through  agents,  from  Macedonia  to  Illyria,  a  province  on  the 
eastern  coast  of  the  Adriatic  (comp.  Rom.  15  :  19),  he  went  himself  to 
Hellas,  and  spent  three  months  in  Corinth  and  its  vicinity  (Acts  20  :  2 
sq.  Comp.  1  Cor.  16  :  6).  Respecting  his  subsequent  relation  to  this 
remarkable  church,  the  history  is  silent.  But  we  have  another  invalua- 
ble monument  of  his  activity  at  this  period  in  his  epistle  to  the  Romans. 
This  letter  was  designed  to  prepare  the  way  for  his  labors  in  the  metrop- 
olis of  the  world,  which  he  intended  to  visit  in  the  ensuing  year,  58 
(Acts  19  :  21.     23  :  11.     Rom.  1  :  13,  15.     15  :  23-28j. 

§  80.  The  Church  at  Rome,  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  A.D.  58, 
The  exact  origin  of  the  Roman  church,  which  plays  a  part  of  such 
extraordinai'y  moment  in  ecclesiastical  history,  is  veiled  in  mysterious 
darkness.  We  regard  it  as  similar  to  the  rise  of  the  church  at  Antioch, 
which  was  originally  an  assembly  of  the  disciples  of  the  apostles  and 
emigrant  members  of  the  church  of  Jerusalem,  and  was  afterwards  placed 
on  a  firmer  foundation,  and  permanently  organized  by  Barnabas,  Peter, 
and  Paul.'  We  should  presume,  that  the  news  of  the  gospel  reached 
Rome  at  a  very  early  day.  For  the  world's  metropolis  was  a  centre  of 
confluence  for  all  nations  and  religions  ;  and  Ovid  could  justly  say  : 
"  Orbis  in  urbe  erat."^  In  Rom.  16:7,  also,  among  the  Roman  Chris- 
tians, some  are  saluted,  who  became  believers  before  Paul.  It  is  even 
possible,  though  certainly  not  demonstrable,  that  the  seeds  of  this  con- 
gregation were  sown  on  the  birth-day  of  the  church.  For,  among  the 
eye  and  ear  witnesses  of  the  miracle  of  Pentecost,  Jews  from  Rome  are 
expressly  enumerated  (Acts  2  :  10)  ;  and  these  may  have  carried  back 
with  them  to  their  homes  the  first  news  of  Christianity.  In  this  case  the 
apostle  Peter,  who  bore  so  prominent  a  part  in  the  transactions  of  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  would  be  certainly,  in  some  sense,  the  founder  of  that 
church  ;  and  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  he  continued  to  exert  upon  it, 
through  his  disciples,  an  important  influence.  But  that  Peter  himself 
was  in  Rome  before  the  year  63,  it  is  utterly  impossible  to  prove.  In 
Acts  12  :  It  it  is  said,  that,  after  his  liberation  from  prison,  shortly 
before  the  death  of  Herod  Agrippa,  therefore  in  the  year  44,  he  left 
Jerusalem,  and  went  into  "  another  place."  The  histoiy  gives  us  no 
further  information  respecting  his  subsequent  sphere  of  labor  ;  and  this 
chasm  leaves  room,  indeed,  for  the  supposition,  that  under  the  emperor 
Claudius,  as  we  are  first  told  by  Eusebius,  he  made  a  transient  visit  to 

'  Comp.  Acts  11  :  19-26.     Gal.  2:11,  and  §  61. 
Athenaeus  {Dcipnosoph.  I,  20)  calls  Rome  ttu/uv  tTriTOfiyv  t?/c  oiKovfiivrig,  Xhe  world 
in  epitome,  in  miniature,  where  all  cities  mijjhtbe  seen  collected,  and  where  v?ia  l&vrj 
(ti5(K)uf  avv(!)KtGTai. 


MISSIONS.]  AND   THE   EPISTLE   TO   THE   ROMANS.  295 

the  imperial  city — (we  say  a  transient  visit  ;  for  in  the  year  50  we  find 
him  again  in  Jerusalem,  Acts  15,  and  somewhat  later  in  Antioch,  Gal. 
2  :  11) — and  labored  among  the  many  Jews  collected  there.  But  this 
supposition  has  against  it  the  fact,  that  neither  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
nor  the  epistles  of  Paul,  contain,  even  where  we  should  certainly  expect 
it,  the  slightest  hint  of  any  previous  operations  of  Peter  there  ;  but 
rather  furnish  clear  proof  of  his  absence  between  the  years  50  and  63, 
as  we  shall  hereafter  (§93)  more  fully  show.  At  all  events,  he  cannot 
have  been  there  when  the  epistle  to  the  Romans  was  written,  or  Paul 
would  certainly  have  mentioned  him  among  his  many  personal  friends  in 
the  salutations  of  c.  16.  It  is  very  doubtful,  moreover,  whether  the 
apostle,  whose  professed  principle  it  was  to  work  independently,  and  not 
to  encroach  upon  the  domain  of  his  colleagues,'  would  have  written  so 
long  and  important  a  letter  to  the  Roman  church,  had  it  then  already 
stood  under  the  special  personal  direction  of  Peter. 

The  first  clear  trace  of  a  formal  Christian  congregation  in  Rome  has 
been  rightly  found  by  judicious  historians  in  the  edict  of  the  emperor 
Claudius  (41^54),  banishing  the  whole  body  of  Jews  from  the  city, 
because  they  kept  up  a  constant  uproar  at  the  instigation  of  "  Chrest- 
us."^  Now  we  may,  it  is  true,  suppose  the  Chrestus,  named  by  Sueto- 
nius as  the  cause  of  this  perpetual  tumult,  to  have  been  a  seditious  Jew 
then  living,  one  of  those  political  false  prophets,  who  abounded  in  Pales- 
tine before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  But  as  no  such  person  is 
otherwise  known  to  us,  and  as  it  is  a  fact,  that  the  Romans  often  used 
Chrestus  for  Christus,"  it  is  more  than  probable,  that  the  same  mistake  is 
made  also  in  this  edict  ;  and  the  popular  tumults  must,  accordmgly,  be 
referred  to  the  controversies  between  the  Jews  and  Christians,  who  were 
at  that  time  in  the  view  of  the  heathen  not  very  distinct  from  one 
another.     This  is  confirmed  by  Luke,  who,  in  Acts  18  :  2,  among  the 

•  Comp.  Rom.  15  :  20,  21.     2  Cor.  10  :  16. 

*  Suetonius  :  Claud,  c.  25:  "  Judaeos  impulsore  Chresto  assidue  tumultuantes  Roma 
expulit."  This  edict  is  mentioned  by  Luke  in  Acts  18  :  2,  where  Aquila  and  Priscilla 
are  said  to  have  come  to  Corinth  in  consequence  of  it,  and  that  too  not  long  {-rrQoaipuTuc) 
before  Paul's  first  arrival  there,  hence  about  A.D.  52  (comp.  §  74  supra).  This  date 
would  be  corroborated,  if  the  edict,  of  which  Suetonius  speaks,  were  identical  with  the 
decree  of  the  Senate  de  mathematicis  Italia  pellendis.,  assigned  by  Ta<;itus,  ^nn.  XII,  52, 
to  the  year  52  ;  and  the  probability  of  this  identity  is  attempted  to  be  shown  by  Wies- 
eler  among  others  :  Chmnologie,  p.  125  sq. 

^  Tertullian :  Jpolog.  c.  3.,  and  Lactantius :  Divin.  Instil.  lY^  11.  They  wrongly 
derived  Christus  from  xQV'^t'^C  ;  and  by  this  etymological  error  Justin  endeavored  to 
prove  the  unrighteousness  of  persecuting  the  Christians  for  the  sake  of  their  name, 
which  itself  signifies ''good  men"  {jipol.  I.  p.  136.  Comp.  Hug's  Einlcitung,  II.  p. 
391  sq.).  That  Suetonius,  in  his  Life  of  Nero,  c.  16,  properly  writes  Christiani,  is  no 
proof  that  he  would  have  avoided  the  above  error  in  another  passage,  where  he  prob- 
ably had  an  official  document  before  him- 


296  §  80.       THE   CHUECH    AT   EOIIE,  [l.  BOOK. 

Jews  banished  from  Rome  in  the  year  51,  names  Aquila  and  his  wife, 
Priscilla  ;  yet  they  were  no  doubt  then  already  converted,  since  Paul 
was  at  once  hospitably  received  by  them.  But,  however  this  may  be, 
this  edict  mnst  soon  have  lost  all  force,  especially  after  the  accession  of 
Nero  (A.D.  54),  who,  with  his  wife,  Poppaea,  favored  the  Jews.'  Be- 
sides, Christianity  had,  in  all  probability,  already  taken  root  among  the 
Gentiles,  and  that,  doubtless,  chiefly  through  the  instrumentality  of  the 
disciples  of  Paul  (comp.  Rom.  16)  ;  and  the  Gentiles  were  not  touched 
by  this  edict.  A  few  years  afterwards,  A.D.  58,  when  the  epistle  to  the 
Romans  was  written,  the  Roman  congregation  was  already  very  numer- 
ous and  important  ;  in  fact,  the  most  important  church  in  what  is  prop- 
erly called  the  West.  This  is  clear  from  its  wide-spread  fame  (Rom.  1  : 
8)  ;  from  the  large  number  of  its  teachers  (c.  16),  and  its  different 
places  of  meeting  (16  :  5,  14,  15)  ;  and  from  the  transcendent  doctrinal 
importance  of  the  epistle.  Add  to  this  the  fact,  that  in  Rome  the  two 
leading  apostles  ended  their  sublime  public  career,  and  sealed  it  with 
their  blood  ; — and  we  have  the  historical  and  religious  groundwork  of 
the  immense  authority  and  influence,  which  the  Roman  church  swayed 
already  in  the  second  and  third  centuries. 

As  to  its  ingredients,  this  church  was,  no  doubt,  like  all  the  congrega- 
tions out  of  Palestine,  a  mixture  of  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christians 
(Rom.  15  :  *T  sqq.).  The  presence  of  Jewish  Christians  is  implied  hi 
Rom.  4  :  1,  12,  where  Abraham  is  designated  as  Tza-iig  ?//iuv  ■  1  :  1-6, 
where  Paul  addresses  those  who  know  the  law  ;  14  :  1  sqq.,  where  he 
recommends  indulgence  towards  the  weak  in  faith,  who,  like  the  Jewish 
Christians  in  Corinth  (1  Cor.  8),  abstain  from  meat  and  wine  (probably 
the  sacrificial  flesh  and  wine  placed  before  them  when  eating  in  company 
with  the  Gentiles),  and  scrupulously  observe  the  Jewish  feasts.  That 
Rome,  also,  was  not  without  its  Judaizers,  who  opposed  Paul  and  his 
liberal  principles,  is  evident,  partly,  from  the  analogy  of  other  churches, 
as  those  of  Galatia  and  Corinth  ;  partly,  from  Rom.  16  :  IT  sqq.  ;  and 
still  more  plainly  from  some  passages  of  epistles  written  a  few  years 
after,  during  the  Apostle's  imprisonment  in  Rome,  as  Phil.  1:15  sqq. 
2  :  20,  21.  Col.  4:11.  2  Tim.  4  :  16.  But  the  great  majority  of 
the  congregation  consisted,  no  doubt,  of  Gentile  Christians.  Tliis  is 
probable  in  itself  ;  since  Rome  was  the  centre  of  Heathendom,  and  main- 
tained the  most  active  intercourse  with  the  chief  seats  of  Paul's  labors, 
Antioch,  Asia  Minor,  and  Greece.     There  are  also  clear  indications  of  it 

'■  Josephus  describes  Poppaea,  by  the  term  T^eocjeSi/g,  as  a  proselyte  to  Judaism 
{Archaeol.  XX.  8,  12) ;  and  informs  us  in  his  Autobiogr.^  c.  3,  that  he  himself  was  in 
great  favor  with  her.  Even  as  early  as  the  end  of  the  year  52,  under  Claudius,  we  find 
the  younger  Agrippa  again  in  Rome,  where  he  successfully  defended  the  Jewish  depu- 
ties against  the  bailiff,  Cumanus  (Josephus,  Arch.  XX.  6,  2). 


MISSIONS.]  AND    THK    EPISTLE    TO    TUE    KOMAXS.  297 

in  the  epistle,  especially  in  such  passages  as  Rom.  1  :  5-t,  13,  where  by 
the  sdvi],  among  whom  the  apostle  classes  the  Romans,  we  are,  as  usual, 
to  understand  Gentiles  ;  11  :  13,  25,  28,  where  he  particularly  address- 
es Gentile  Christians  ;  14  :  1  sqq.,  where  he  exhorts  them  to  be  charit- 
able towards  the  prejudices  of  the  Jewish  Christians  ;  15  :  15,  16, 
where  he  derives  his  right  to  instruct  and  strengthen  the  Roman  church 
from  his  call  to  be  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  We  may  also  suppose 
that,  at  least  at  that  time,  Paul's  view  of  Christianity  was  the  one  which 
prevailed  in  Rome.  For  in  c.  16  Paul  salutes  many  there  who  were  his 
followers  and  friends  ;  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  who  had  returned  from 
Ephesus  to  Rome,  Epenetus  of  Achaia,  and  others.  He  moreover  has  a 
strong  desire  to  visit  that  church  (1  :  11,  15.  15  :  23)  ;  is  on  the 
whole  satisfied  with  its  practical  Christianity  (1  :  8.  15  :  14)  ;  finds 
no  difference  between  its  gospel  and  his  (2  :  16.  6  :  It.  16  :  17,  25)  ; 
and  nowhere  contends,  at  least  directly,  as  in  his  epistles  to  the  Galatians 
and  Corinthians,  against  Jewish  false  teachers  and  personal  opponents 
of  his  apostolical  standing.' 

As  Paul  had  for  years  cherished  a  desire  to  preach  the  gospel  in  the 
metropolis  of  the  world,''  he  wished,  in  the  mean  time,  before  carrying 
out  this   design,  to  compensate  and   prepare  for   oral   instruction    by 

'  Dr.  Baur  (first  in  the  '"  Tiibinger  Zeitschr."  1836,  No.  3,  and  again  lately  in  his 
work  on  Paul,  p.  334  sqq.),  and  after  him  Dr.  Schwegler  {Nachapost.  Zeitalter,  I.  p. 
283  sqq.),  have  attempted  to  establish  an  entirely  opposite  view;  viz-,  that  the  Roman 
church  consisted  almost  wholly  of  Jewish  Christians,  and  followed  the  Petrine.  or  what 
in  the  theology  of  these  writers  is  the  same,  the  strictly  Judaizing,  Ebionistic  tendency. 
This  assertion  stands  or  falls  with  Baur's  entire  conception  of  primitive  Christianity, 
as  being  nothing  but  a  Judaism,  which  believed  in  Christ  as  the  Messiah,  but  was 
characterized  by  exclusiveness,  bigotry,  slavish  observance  of  the  law,  and  consequent 
hatred  of  Paul  and  his  free  gospel.  It  contradicts,  moreover,  all  the  ideas  hitherto 
current  respecting  the  scope  aad  structure  of  the  epistle  to  the  Romans.  This  epistle, 
according  to  Baur,  was  intended  as  a  defense  of  Paul's  missionary  operations  against 
the  particularistic  prejudices  of  the  Jewish  Christians  ;  or,  in  Schwegler's  rather  more 
comprehensive  terms,  an  apology  for  Paulinism  in  general,  and  a  systematic  refutation 
of  the  primitive  Judaistic  Christianity,  or  Petrinism.  Both  these  scholars,  accordingly, 
find  the  gist  of  the  whole  letter  in  the  analysis  of  the  historical  development  of  the 
kingdom  of  God,  c.  9-11,  and  regard  the  first  eight  chapters,  which  go  into  the  very 
heart  of  saving  doctrine,  as  merely  an  introduction  to  and  basis  for  this  ;  whereas  the 
apostle  states  clearly  enough,  1  :  16,  as  the  theme  of  his  epistle,  the  far  more  moment- 
ous and  comprehensive  thought,  that  the  gospel  is  a  power  of  God  to  justify  and  save 
all  sinners  through  faith.  Respecting  the  details  of  the  train  of  thought,  compare 
especially  the  commentaries  of  Olshausen,  Tholuck  (4th  ed.),  Fritzsche,  De  Wette,  and 
Philippi  [Einleitung,  p.  xxi.  sqq.),  who  all  declare  against  Baur's  hypothesis.  This 
hypothesis,  however,  is  characteristic  of  the  Tiibingen  school,  which  has  merely  a 
philosophical  and  critical  interest  in  Christianity,  and  overlooks  the  deep  practical 
wants  of  our  nature,  which  it  is  the  main  object  of  the  Christian  religion  to  relieve. 

'  Rorn.  1  :  13,  15      15  :  22  sqq.     Comp.  Acts  19  :  21. 


298  §  80.     THE  cmiRCH  at  eome,  [i-  book. 

sending  a  written  communication  ;  and  for  this  he  had  a  favorable  op- 
portunity in  the  departure  of  the  deaconess,  Phebe,  from  Cenchreae  near 
Corinth  for  Rome  (Rom.  16  :  1).  The  grand  object  of  the  letter  was  the 
positive  exhibition  of  saving  truth,  of  the  great  central  doctrine  of  justify- 
ing, sanctifying^  and  saving  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  only  ground  of 
salvation  for  lost  sinners,  Jews  as  well  as  Gentiles  (1  :  16).  To  Rome,  the 
mistress  of  the  world,  whose  great  importance  for  the  future  history  of  the 
church  he  clearly  foresaw,  Paul  was  not  ashamed  freely  and  fearlessly  to 
proclaim  the  gospel  as  the  only  hope  for  humanity  languishing  under  the 
curse  of  sin  and  death  ;  to  announce  Christianity  as  the  absolute  revela- 
tion, in  which  Heathenism  and  Judaism  must  merge,  if  they  would  have 
their  deepest  longings  satisfied,  and  all  their  prophecies  and  types  ful- 
filled. This  epistle,  therefore,  presents  the  most  complete  and  systematic 
view  of  Paul's  theology,  and  is  the  most  important  dogmatic  portion  of 
the  New  Testament.  We  are  far  from  denying,  that,  along  with  his 
main  object,  the  apostle  had  regard  also,  particularly  in  the  hortatory 
parts,  to  the  special  wants  and  faults  of  the  congregation,  with  which  he 
might  easily  have  become  acquainted  through  letters  from  his  friends  in 
Rome.  Among  these  particular  subjects  of  animadversion  were  the 
disposition  to  resist  the  civil  authority  (c.  13)  ;  the  doubts  of  weak 
believers  (14)  ;  the  narrow  prejudices  and  carnal  pretensions  of  the 
Jews  (9  and  10)  ;  the  incipient  intrigues  of  the  Jewish  Christians  (16  : 
11-20)  ;  and  the  bickerings  between  them  and  the  Gentile  converts 
(15  :  1-9).  But  we  must  not  make  these  polemical  side-glances,  these 
references  to  sjaecial  circumstances,  the  main  object  of  the  epistle,  and 
thus  misplace  the  true  point  of  view,  from  which  it  was  written.  In  the 
epistle  as  a  whole,  the  general  scope  as  above  stated,  viz.,  the  analysis 
of  the  doctrines  of  the  sin  of  man,  the  redeeming  grace  of  God  in 
Christ,  and  the  new  life  of  faith,  plainly  occupies  the  foreground. 

The  train  of  thought  is  as  follows  :  The  apostle,  immediately  after 
the  introduction,  propounds  his  theme  :  The  gospel,  the  power  of  God 
for  the  salvation  of  all  men  through  faith  (1  :  16,  11).  He  then  treats 
(1)  of  the  universal  sinfulness  of  Gentiles  and  Jews,  and  their  need  of 
redemption  (1  :  18-3  :  20)  ;  (2)  of  the  provision  of  salvation,  or  the 
revelation  of  righteousness  through  Christ,  especially  through  his  atoning 
death,  and  of  justifying  faith  in  him,  the  second  Adam,  who  has  given 
us  far  more  than  we  lost  in  the  first  (3  :  21-5  :  21)  ;  (3)  of  the  moral 
eflTects  of  faith,  or  the  marriage  of  the  soul  with  Christ,  of  sanctification, 
of  walking  in  the  spirit,  and  of  the  blessedness  of  the  state  of  adoption 
(6-8).  Then  follows  (4)  an  exceedingly  profound  discussion  of  divine 
election  and  reprobation,  and  of  the  progressive  development  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  ; — a  sort  of  philosophy  of  church  history  ; — the  demonstra- 


MISSIONS.]  AND   THE   EPISTLE   TO    THE    ROMAJSTS.  299 

tion,  that  the  rejection  of  the  unbelieving  Jews,  through  the  unsearchable 
counsel  of  God,  subserved  the  conversion  of  the  Gentiles,  and  that,  when 
the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles  shall  have  come  in,  the  hour  of  all  Israel's 
redemption  shall  strike  ; — whereupon  the  apostle  breaks  out  into  a  rap- 
turous eulogy  of  the  grace  and  wisdom  of  God  (9 — 11).  Thus  he  had 
proved  the  last  point  of  his  theme  (1  :  16),  that  the  gospel  is  the  power 
of  God  unto  salvation  "to  the  Jew  first,  and  also  to  the  Greek,"  the 
representative  of  the  whole  heathen  world.  (5)  To  this  doctrinal  por- 
tion, which  forms  the  main  body  of  the  epistle,  he  adds,  according  to 
his  custom,  in  c.  12-16,  copious  practical  exhortations,  closing  with  re- 
commendations, greetings,  benediction,  and  doxology. 

The  epistle  to  the  Romans,  therefore,  like  that  to  the  Galatians,  pro- 
ceeds entirely  from  the  anthropological  point  of  view,  the  nature  of  man 
as  in  need  of  redemption,  and  his  relation  to  the  law  of  God.  In  this 
respect  it  is  admirably  adapted  to  the  peculiar  character  and  turn  of  the 
Latin  church,  of  which  Rome  was  so  long  the  centre.  The  Oriental 
Greek  church,  in  virtue  of  her  propensity  to  speculation,  took  more  to 
the  later  christological  epistles  of  Paul  to  the  Ephesians  and  Colossians, 
and  still  more  to  the  writings  of  John,  and  developed  from  them  with 
the  greatest  precision  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  the  nature  of  God, 
the  Trinity,  the  Incarnation,  and  the  relation  of  the  two  natures  in 
Christ,  while  to  anthropology  and  soteriology  she  paid  very  little  atten- 
tion. Then  when  it  subsequently  came  the  turn  of  the  Western  church 
to  labor  in  the  development  of  doctrine,  she,  led  by  the  great  Augustine, 
who  so  much  resembled  Paul,  drew  the  material  for  her  system  of  an- 
thropology and  soteriology,  and  for  the  more  immediately  practical  doc- 
trines of  sin  and  grace,  chiefly  from  the  epistle  to  the  Romans.  And 
when,  in  the  course  of  the  Middle  Ages,  the  Roman  church,  as  once  the 
Galatians,  wandered  from  the  path  of  the  gospel  back  into  Jewish 
legalism,  from  justification  by  faith  to  justification  by  works,  it  was  pre- 
eminently the  renewed  study  of  the  epistles  to  the  Romans  and  to  the 
Galatians,  which  armed  the  Reformers  of  the  sixteenth  century  for  the 
battle  against  all  Pelagianism,  and  pointed  the  way  to  a  deeper  under- 
standing of  the  doctrine  of  salvation,  of  the  nature  of  the  law  and  the 
gospel,  of  faith  and  justification.  The  epistle  to  the  Romans,  too,  has 
ever  since  continued  to  be  the  main  bulwark  of  evangelical  Protestant- 
ism ;  though  by  this  we  by  no  means  intend  to  say,  that  Protestantism 
has  everywhere  rightly  conceived  and  has  already  thoroughly  fathomed 
its  contents. 


SCO  §  81.       FIFTH    AKD   LAST   JOEENEY    TO    JERUSALEM.      [l.  BOOK. 

§  81.    The,  Fifth  (md  Last  Journey  to  Jerusalem.     A.D.  58. 

After  staying  three  mouths  in  Achaia,  Paul  set  about  the  execution 
of  his  purpose,  to  go  once  more  to  Jerusalem,  to  wind  up  his  labors  in  the 
East,  and  then  to  carry  the  gospel  to  Rome  and  Spain  (Rom.  15  :  22- 
25).  For  this  visit  to  Jerusalem  he  had  both  an  outward  occasion,  and 
an  inward  motive.  In  the  first  place,  the  collection  for  the  poor  Jewish 
Christians,  which  had  been  gathered  during  the  past  year,  and  which 
proved  a  large  one,  he  wished  himself  to  carry,  that,  with  this  supply  for 
their  bodily  wants,  he  might  also  give  the  mother  church  a  practical 
testimony  of  the  grateful  love  and  pious  zeal  of  the  Greek  Christians, 
and,  so  far  as  in  him  lay,  knit  more  firmly  together  the  two  grand  divi- 
sions of  the  church.'  The  perfect  healing  of  the  inward  schism,  which, 
through  the  persevering  machinations  of  the  Judaizers,  threatened  con- 
tinually to  break  forth  anew,  must  have  appeared  to  him,  with  his  con- 
ception of  the  church  as  the  body  of  Christ,  to  be,  even  in  itself,  worth 
any  effort  and  sacrifice,  and  at  the  same  time  indispensable  to  the  further 
successful  propagation  of  the  gospel.  But  to  this  outward  occasion  was 
added  the  being  "bound  in  spirit,"  of  which  the  apostle  speaks  in  his 
farewell  address  to  the  elders  of  Ephesus  (Acts  20  :  22)  ;  that  is,  an 
indefinable  inward  constraint,  in  which  he  recognized  a  higher  impulse 
from  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  go  to  meet  the  event  which  should  decide  his 
own  fate, — the  arrest  at  Jerusalem.  Hence  he  gave  no  ear  to  the 
voices,  which  would  deter  him  fi'om  this  journey  ;  convinced,  that  even 
the  bondage  and  tribulation,  which  awaited  him  in  Jerusalem,  must 
redound  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  the  church  (20  :  23,  24. 
21  :  13,  14). 

Paul,  therefore,  leaving  Corinth  in  the-  spring  of  the  year  58,  spent 
the  season  of  Easter  in  Philippi,  where  he  again  met  with  Luke,  and 
then  sailed  with  him"*  to  Troas,  whither  his  seven  companions,  Sopater, 
Aristarchus,  Sccundus,  Caius,  Timothy,  Tychicus,  and  Trophimus,  had 
gone  before  by  the  direct  sea  route  (Acts  20  :  4-6).  There  he  remain- 
ed a  week  with  the  church  founded  by  him  a  year  before,  strengthening 
it  by  his  exhortations,  and  by  the  miraculous  resuscitation  of  the  young- 
man,  Eutyches,  who,  during  a  discourse  protracted  beyond  midnight,  had 
fallen  asleep  in  the  window  and  been  precipitated  into  the  street.  As 
the  apostle  wished  to  be  in  Jerusalem  at  Pentecost,  he  sailed  along  the 
coast  by  Ephesus,  but  sent  for  the  elders  of  this  and  perhaps  the  neigh- 

^  1  Cor.  16  :  3,  4.     2  Cor.  9  :  12-15.     Rom.  15  :  25-27. 

*  For  at  c.  20  :  6  Luke  suddenly  resumes  the  "  we  "  in  his  narrative,  which  had 
given  place  to  the  third  person  at  Paul's  first  departure  from  Philippi  (17  :  1).  The 
minuteness  of  the  subsequent  description  of  the  journey,  also,  bespeaks  an  eye  witness. 


MISSIONS.]       §  81.       FIFTII   AND    LAST    JOUKNET    TO    JEEUSALKM.  301 

boring  churches,'  to  meet  him  at  Miletus,  a  maritime  city  of  Ionia,  lying 
somewhat  further  south. 

Here,  in  the  face  of  the  dangers  which  threatened  him,  and  with  the 
mournful  presentiment  that  he  should  never  see  them  again,  he  delivered 
to  them  a  hortatory  and  a\:>ologet[c  va/erlidory  (Acts  20  :  17-38),  which 
breathes  the  most  touching  love  for  his  spiritual  children  and  the  most 
faithful  care  for  the  future  welfare  of  the  church.  He  first  reminded  the 
bishops  of  his  labors  in  Ephesus  ;  how,  from  the  first  day  of  his  resi- 
dence there,  with  all  possible  humility,  and  in  the  midst  of  many  tears 
and  temptations,  caused  particularly  by  the  waylayings  of  the  Jews  (this 
is  merely  hinted  at  in  Acts  19  :  9),  he  had  unremittingly  served  the 
Lord,  and  had  withheld  from  the  church  nothing  which  was  needful  for 
its  spiritual  profit,  but  had  preached  publicly  and  in  private  circles  the 
whole  way  of  life  (v.  18-21).  An  apostle  could,  doubtless,  without  any 
violation  of  humility,  point  to  himself,  and  through  himself  to  the  Lord, 
as  the  highest  example,"''  as,  indeed,  true  humility  in  any  one  consists  not 
so  much  in  ignoring  his  own  virtue,  as  in  referring  it  to  its  source,  the 
free,  unmerited  grace  of  God,  and  in  feeling  his  entire  dependence  on 
that  source."  He  then  announces  to  them  (v.  22-25)  his  separation 
from  them,  which  was  to  be  forever.  For  from  church  to  church  as  he 
passed  along  (comp.  21  :  4,  11),  prophetic  voices  predicted,  that  bonds 
and  afflictions  awaited  him.  But  he  allowed  them  not  to  stop  him.  He 
was  prepared  to  finish  his  course  of  witness-bearing  with  joy,  and  to  sac- 
rifice his  life  in  the  service  of  the  Saviour.  The  words,  v.  25  :  "  I  know 
that  ye  all  shall  see  my  face  no  more,"  are,  we  may  add,  no  certain  evi- 
dence against  those,  who  advocate  a  second  imprisonment  of  Paul  in 
Rome,  and  suppose,  that,  after  being  liberated  from  the  first,  he  again 
came  into  Asia  Minor  (2  Tim.  4  :  13,  20).  For  the  infallible  fore- 
knowledge of  the  future,  especially  in  personal  matters,  is  not  one  of  the 

*  According  to  the  opinion  of  Irenaeus,  who  understands  by  Ennlrjatag,  20  :  17,  not 
merely  the  Ephesian  congregation,  but  the  whole  church  of  Asia  Minor,  and  makes 
Paul  hold  a  formal  council ;  as  we  must  mfer  from  his  words  :  "In  Mileto  convocatis 
ppiscopis  et  presbyteris,  qui  erant  ab  Epheso  et  a  ret/^Mis  proximis  civilutibtis^^  [Adv. 
haer.  III.  14.  §  2).  The  transaction  can  in  no  case,  indeed,  be  regarded  as  formal ;  hut 
the  supposition,  that  other  churches  in  the  neighborhood  besides  that  of  Ephesus  were 
represented,  is  favored  by  the  phrase  h  olg  diyld-ov,  v.  25.  And  it  is  in  itself,  too, 
very  probable,  that  Paul,  either  from  Ephesus  as  a  centre,  or  before  and  after  his  resi- 
dence there,  had  planted  churches  in  the  surrounding  region. 

'  Comp.  1  Cor.  4  :  ]6.     Phil.  3  :  17.     iThess.  l.:6.     2  Thess.  3  :  9. 

^  The  familiar  expression  of  Luther  :  "  True  humility  never  knows  that  it  is  hum- 
ble;  for  if  it  did,  it  would  be  proud  of  contemplating  this  beautiful  virtue," — does  not 
well  consist  with  this  conduct  of  Paul,  nor  with  the  Saviour's  declaration  :  "  I  am  meek 
and  lowly  in  heart."     It  is  much  more  applicable  to  innocence. 


302  §  81.     FIFTH   AND   LAST    JOURNEY   TO    JEKUSALEM.       U-   BOOK. 

necessary  marks  of  an  apostle  ;'  and  the  epistles  written  during  the  apos- 
tle's confinement  at  Rome  show,  that  he  was  uncertain  respecting  the 
issue.  Here,  in  the  sorrowful  hour  of  departure,  his  prevailing  feeling 
was,  that  the  separation  was  final.  Hence  he  exhorts  the  elders  or 
bishops  the  more  earnestly  and  emphatically  to  watchfulness  over  them- 
selves,— lest,  having  preached  to  others,  they  themselves  should  be  cast 
away, — and  to  the  faithful  and  disinterested  care  of  the  church,  which  the 
Holy  Ghost  had  committed  to  them,  and  which  the  Lord  had  purchased 
with  his  own  blood  (v.  26-35).  This  exhortation,  which  must  be  regard- 
ed as  the  main  design  of  the  address,  he  enforces  by  pointing  forward  to 
the  false  teachers,  who,  after  his  departure,  would  intrude  upon  them  from 
without,  nay,  rise  up  from  among  themselves,"  and,  like  fierce  wolves, 
destroy  the  flock  (29,  30).  This  must,  witliout  question,  be  understood 
of  the  Judaizing  Gnostics,  or  their  forerunners,  who  are  attacked  openly 
in  the  Pastoral  Epistles  and  the  epistle  to  the  Colossians,'  and  more 
covertly  and  indirectly  in  the  epistle  to  the  Ephesians  and  the  writings 
of  John.  The  conditions  of  such  an  adulteration  of  Christianity  with 
foreign  elements  were  all  at  hand  in  Ephesus,  where  Jewish  and  heathen 
superstition  and  magic  had  fixed  one  of  their  chief  centres.*  After  thus 
showing  the  dangers  which  threatened  the  church,  the  apostle  commends 
his  hearers  to  the  protection  of  Almighty  God,  and  once  more  presents 
for  their  imitation  the  example  of  his  three  years'  labor.  He  reminds 
them  how  with  the  most  unwearied  care  and  the  most  disinterested  devo- 
tion he  served  the  Lord  and  his  people  ;  earned  with  his  own  hands  the 
sustenance  of  himself  and  his  companions  ;  and  in  so  doing  experienced 
abundantly  the  truth  of  a  saying  of  Christ  not  recorded  in  the  Gospels  : 
"  It  is  more  blessed  to  give,  than  to  receive  ;" — that  is,  it  makes  one 
more  happy  to  be  in  want  and  to  starve  from  love  for  others,  than  to 
possess  and  enjoy  at  others'  expense  ;  which  is  absolutely  true  of  God, 
the  Giver  of  every  good  gift  and  the  Fountain  of  all  happiness  (31-35).^ 

'  Comp.  Acts  20  :  22,  where  the  contrary  is  intimated  :  "  And  now,  behold,  I  go 
bound  in  the  spirit  to  Jerusalem,  not  knowing  the  things  that  shall  befall  me  there." 

"  The  e^  vficJv  avrcov  we  must  refer  either  to  the  presbyters  themselves,  immediately 
addressed,  or  to  the  Christian  churches  represented  by  them.  The  former  reference 
is  plainly  the  more  natural  ;  and  this  leaves  the  less  room  for  the  inference,  that  the 
first  epistle  to  Timothy,  which  presupposes  the  actual  presence  of  false  teachers,  was 
not  written  till  after  the  valedictory  at  Miletus.  For  in  this  epistle  not  a  word  is  said 
of  heretical  presbyters  ;  and  even  in  1  Tim.  4  :  1  sqq-  comp.  2  Tim.  2  :  16  sqq.,  3  :  1 
sqq.,  which  agree  with  Acts  20  :  29,  30,  the  apostasy  from  the  faith  is  represented 
rather  in  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  as  something  to  arise  "  in  the  latter  times." 

'  1  Tim.  1  :  4,  20.  4  :  1  sqq.  2  Tim.  2  :  16  sqq.  4  :  3  sq.  Tit.  1:10  sqq.  3:9. 
Col.  2  :  8  sqq. 

*  Comp.  §  76  supra. 

*  Even  this  masterly  discourse  and  the  ensuing  parting  scene,  which,  for  every  un- 
prejudiced mi.id,  carry  in  themselves  the  clearest  marks  of  genuineness  and  primitive 


MISSIOXS.J    §81.       FIFTH    AND   LAST   JOUKNET    TO    JERUSALEM,  303 

Then,  as  Luke  depicts  the  scene  in  the  simplest,  yet  most  expressive 
and  touching  words  (v.  36-38),  the  apostle  knelt  down,  prayed  with 
his  spiritual  children,  and  parted  from  them  with  warm  embraces  and 
tears. 

A  similar  parting  scene  occurred  at  the  Phenician  commercial  city. 
Tyre,  where  the  ship  discharged  her  cargo.  After  vainly  endeavoring  to 
keep  him  from  pursuing  his  journey,  the  brethren,  with  their  wives  and 
children,  accompanied  him  with  heavy  hearts  to  the  harbor,  and  knelt 
down  with  him  on  the  shore,  and  prayed  (21  :  3-5).  In  Caesarea  Stra- 
tonis  Paul  again  staid  some  days  with  his  attendants  in  the  house  of 
Philip,  the  evangelist,  one  of  the  seven  first  deacons  of  the  church  at 
Jerusalem  ;  and  here  also  he  was  warned  of  the  impending  danger. 
The  prophet,  Agabus  of  Judea,  the  same  who  had  predicted  the  famine 
of  the  year  44  (11  :  28),  bound  himself  hand  and  foot  with  Paul's  gir- 
dle,^ and  said  :  "  Thus  saith  the  Holy  Ghost,  So  shall  the  Jews  at  Jeru- 
salem bind  the  man  that  owneth  this  girdle,  and  shall  deliver  him  into 
the  hands  of  the  Gentiles"  (21  :  11).  Here. the  members  of  the  church 
and  Paul's  companions,  from  the  impulse  of  their  own  hearts,  united  in 
beseeching  him,  urgently  and  with  tears,  not  to  go  to  Jerusalem.  But 
he  felt  compelled  to  obey  his  inward  desire  and  the  voice  of  duty,  rather 
than  the  counsel  of  friends  and  disciples,  though  it  proceeded  from  pure 
love  to  him  and  regard  for  the  welfare  of  the  church,  and  therefore 
deeply  moved  his  full  |ieart.     He  was  ready  not  only  to  be  bound,  but 

antiquity,  is  not  left  untouched  by  the  radical  skepticism  of  Dr.  Baur,  but  is  pronounced 
the  bungling  work  of  a  later  hand  {Paulus,  p.  177  sqq) .  His  grounds  are  (1)  A  sup- 
posed contradiction  between  the  presentiment  of  death  there  expressed  and  the  joyful 
hopes  of  new  labor  even  away  in  Spain,  appearing  in  the  epistle  to  the  Romans,  c.  15  : 
22  sqq.,  which  was  written  shortly  before.  But,  in  the  first  p'ace,  Baur  has  no  right  at 
all  to  appeal  to  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Romans ;  for  he  rejects  it  as  not  written  by 
Paul.  And  besides  Rom.  15  :  31  does,  in  fact,  express  the  apprehension  of  dangers, 
which  threatened  the  apostle  from  the  unbelieving  Jews  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  view  of 
which  he  solicits  the  intercessions  of  the  Roman  Christians.  Nor  does  the  parting 
address  at  Miletus  go  essentially  beyond  these  indefinite  apprehensions  (comp.  Acts 
20  :  22  :  tu  iv  avry  avvavT/jffovTu  [iol  jijj  el66g)  ;  only,  in  consequence  of  the  preceding 
warnings  by  the  voices  of  prophets  and  in  view  of  his  approaching  departure,  which 
fills  every  noble,  loving  heart  with  pain,  these  apprehensions  very  naturally  become 
for  the  moment  the  prominent  object  (2)  The  reference  to  the  false  teachers,  v.  29, 
30  ;  which,  however,  by  its  very  indefiniteness  gives  evidence  of  high  antiquity  ;  aside 
from  the  corroboration  of  it  by  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  whose  spuriousness  Baur  has  by 
no  means  proved.  A  later  author,  who  lived  in  the  midst  of  the  already  developed 
heresies,  would  certainly  have  put  into  the  mouth  of  Paul  a  far  clearer  and  more  ex- 
tended description  of  them. 

'  This  symbolical  action  was  intended  the  more  impressively  to  present  before  the 
eyes  of  the  bystanders  the  approaching  arrest,  as  an  actual  reality.  Similar  dramatic 
prophecies  occur  in  the  Old  Testament ;  e.  g.  the  yokes  of  Jeremiah  (27  :  2)  ;  the 
6ecret  digging  through    the    wall  by  Ezekiel  (12  :  5) . 


304:  §  82.       THE    AEREST    OF    TAFL.  [l-   BOOK. 

also  to  die,  for  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  The  brethren  finally  sub- 
mitted to  the  will  of  the  Lord.  Some  of  them  accompanied  the  aj;ostle 
on  his  last  journey  to  the  city  "  which  killed  the  prophets  and  stoned 
them  which  were  sent  unto  it."  With  one  of  the  oldest  Christians, 
Mnason  of  Cyprus,  the  missionaries  to  the  Gentiles  found  a  hospitable 
reception  and  lodging. 

§  82.   The  Arrest  of  raid.     A.D.  58. 

We  here  reach  a  point,  which  forms  an  epoch  in  the  life  of  Paul. 
For  twenty  years  he  had  preached  the  gospel,  as  an  itinerant  missionary, 
from  city  to  city,  from  land  to  land,  and  by  the  grace  of  God  had  labor- 
ed more  than  all  the  other  apostles  (1  Cor.  15  :  10).  Henceforth  he 
was  to  serve  his  divine  Master  yet  several  years  in  chains  and  in  prison, 
till  at  last  he  should  glorify  Him  by  martyrdom.  This  second  part  of  his 
apostolic  life,  like  the  first,  has  been  an  incalculable  blessing  to  the 
church,  not  only  of  his  own  day,  but  of  all  ages,  and  gives,  if  possible, 
still  stronger  proof  of  the  power  of  his  faith  and  the  divine  character  of 
the  Christian  religion. 

He  came  to  Jerusalem  as  a  messenger  of  peace  ;  full  of  anxious  love 
for  his  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh,  for  whose  conversion,  could  it  thus 
have  been  effected,  he  was  ready  himself  to  undergo  the  punishment  of 
the  damned  (Rom.  9  :  3).  He  came,  also,  laden  with  the  liberal  gift 
of  the  Grecian  brethren  to  the  poor  churches  of  Judea,  and  animated 
with  a  sincere  desire  for  the  firmer  union  of  all  the  Christians.  But  he 
had  to  meet  a  bitter  experience  of  the  ingratitude  of  the  world  and  the 
false  brethren.  The  persecution  proceeded  from  the  unbelieving  Jews 
who  thirty  years  before  had  crucified  the  Lord  of  glory  himself.  They 
hated  the  apostle  as  an  apostate  from  the  law  and  a  rebel  against  the 
authority  of  God.  They  followed  him  with  the  same  blind  fanaticism, 
in  which  he  himself  had  once  vainly  labored  to  exterminate  the  infant 
society  of  Christians.  But  as  the  Saviour  was  betrayed  by  one  of  his 
own  disciples,  and  denied  in  the  hour  of  danger  by  another,  so  here  it 
would  seem,  that  the  narrow-minded,  Pharisaical  portion  of  the  Jewish 
Christiaiis  were  accomplices  in  the  arrest  of  Paul,  while  the  more  liberal 
jiortion  forsook  him  from  fear  of  men.  For  we  have,  in  fact,  already 
found  the  former  his  bitterest  enemies,  taking  all  pains  to  undermine  his 
reputation  and  his  influence  ;  and  as  to  the  others,  we  at  least  have  no 
account  of  their  having  put  in  so  much  as  a  word  with  either  the  Jewish 
or  the  heathen  magistrates  in  behalf  of  the  captive  servant  of  Christ. 
But  this  is  the  more  strange,  since  James,  with  his  eiders,  states  the 
number  of  converted  Jews  in  Jerusalem  to  have  been  many  myriads,  or 
tens  of  thousands  (Acts  21  :  20).     This  may,  indeed,  be  taken  merely  as 


MISSIONS.]  §  82.     THE    AEEEST    OF    PAUL.  305 

a  natural  hyperbole  to  denote  an  indefinite  multitude,  and  as  including 
also  the  Jewish  Christians  of  the  whole  vicinity,  as  well  as  those  from 
other  countries,  who  were  present  at  the  feast  ;  still,  with  all  we  know 
of  the  later  history  of  the  church  at  Jerusalem,'  the  number  seems  in- 
credibly large,  unless  we  assume,  that  at  least  a  considerable  part  con- 
sisted of  those,  who  had  been  baptized,  indeed,  as  Christians,  with  water, 
but  not  with  fire,  and  hence,  in  the  critical  hour,  either  fell  back  into 
proper  Judaism,  or  propagated  themselves  as  an  Ebionistic  sect.  That 
the  disposition  to  apostatize  was  very  strong,  we  see  from  the  epistle  to 
the  Hebrews,  which  was  addressed  to  the  Jewish  Christians  of  Palestine, 
and  written,  though  not  by  Paul  himself,  yet  by  one  of  his  disciples  under 
the  immediate  influence  of  his  own  spirit.  We  have  reason  to  suppose, 
that  the  appearance  of  Christ  after  his  death  had  a  powerful  efi"ect  also 
on  the  great  mass  of  those,  who,  though,  they  had  been  offended  with 
him  in  his  humiliation,  were  yet  expecting,  from  his  speedy  return,  the 
fulfillment  of  their  carnal  Messianic  hopes,  and  hence  outwardly  assumed 
the  Christian  name,  without  any  change  of  mind  or  heart.  The  more 
necessary,  therefore,  was  the  fearful  crisis  of  the  Jewish  war,  to  put  an 
end  to  this  mock  peace  between  Judaism  and  Christianity,  and  to  sift  out 
the  true  confessors  of  Jesus  from  the  false. 

On  the  very  first  day  after  his  arrival  Paul  went,  with  his  company,  to 
James,  the  presiding  officer  of  the  Christian  community  at  Jerusalem, 
and  related  to  him  and  the  elders  assembled  with  him  the  blessed  result 
of  his  labors  among  the  Gentiles.  For  this  they  praised  God  (Acts  21  .- 
20)  ;  for  James,  as  we  learn  from  the  transactions  of  the  apostolic  coun- 
cil, and  from  the  epistle  to  the  Galatians,  fraternally  acknowledged  the 
peculiar  gifts  and  mission  of  Paul,  though  he  confined  his  own  labors  to 
the  Jews,  and,  for  himself,  adhered  strictly  to  the  Old  Testament  forms 
of  piety.  But  not  all  the  members  of  the  church  were  of  this  mind. 
Among  many,  and,  it  would  seem,  among  the  majority  of  them,  there 
prevailed  strong  jDrejudices  against  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  They 
suspected  him,  not  only  of  absolving  the  Gentiles  from  all  allegiance  to 
the  law  of  Moses,  but  also  of  seducing  all  the  foreign  Jews  to  apostatize 
from  it,  and  of  forbidding  them  to  circumcise  their  children.  Now  it  is 
assuredly  true,  that  he  had  laid  down  and  continually  acted  upon  the 
principle,  that  man  is  saved  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  alone  without  the 
deeds  of  the  law  ;  and  in  this  Peter  and  all  the  apostles  agreed  with 
him  (Acts  15  :  11).  This  principle  must,  in  time,  bring  about  the  abo- 
lition of  the  ceremonial  law  even  for  the  Jewish  Christians.  But  Paul 
was  far  from  attempting  to  effect  this  abolition  suddenly  and  forcibly. 
He  left  it  rather  to  the  inward  development  of  the  spirit  of  the  gospel, 

'  At  the  time  of  Origen,  and  according  to  his  estinnate  [In  Joann.  T.  I.  ^  2) ,  th«» 
number  of  converted  Jews  in  the  whole  world  did  not  amount  to  144,000. 
20 


BOG  §  82.     THE  akrest  of  paul.  [i-  book. 

as  lie  himself  plainly  enough  declared,  when  he  said  :  "Is  any  man 
called  being  circmucised  ?  let  him  not  become  uncircumcised.  Is  any 
called  in  uncircumcisiou  ?  let  him  not  be  circumcised.  Circumcision  is 
nothing,  and  uficircumcision  is  nothing,  but  the  keeping  of  the  command- 
ments of  God.  Let  every  man  abide  in  the  same  calling  wherein  he 
was  called"  (1  Cor.  *I  :  18-20).  Nay,  he  several  times  accommodated 
himself  to  the  Jewish  forms,  as  in  the  circumcision  of  Timothy  (Acts 
16  :  3),  save  where  it  was  maintained,  that  circumcision,  or  any  observ- 
ance of  the  ceremonial  law,  was  necessary  to  salvation.  The  above 
accusation  was,  therefore,  only  half  true,  and  was  based  upon  a  hasty 
inference  from  the  doctrine  of  Paul,  and  perhaps  upon  some  practical 
examples  among  those  Jewish  Christians,  who  were  disposed  to  go  fur- 
ther in  shaking  off  the  old  yoke,  than  he  himself,  under  existing  circum- 
stances, held  to  be  wise  and  prudent. 

James,  who  had  much  at  heart  the  preservation  of  harmony  in  his 
flock  and  the  welfare  of  his  "  brother,"  Paul,  accordingly  advised  him 
to  join  in  the  ascetic  exercises  connected  with  the  Nazarite  vow  (comp. 
Num.  6  :  1-21),  which  just  then,  as  by  a  providential  juncture,  four 
poor  members  of  the  church  had  assumed  ;  to  bear  for  them  the  expense 
of  the  sacrifice  for  purification,  which  passed  for  a  work  of  merit ;  and  in 
this  way  to  present  a  practical  refutation  of  the  dangerous  charge  against 
him.  In  this  advice,  James  had  no  thought  of  encroaching  on  the  free- 
dom of  the  Gentile  Christians.  Hence  his  reference  to  the  decree  of  the 
apostolic  council  (Acts  21  :  25,  comp.  15  :  20,  29).  But  of  Paul,  as  a 
Jew  by  birth,  he  thought  such  a  submission  to  an  ordinance  of  Moses 
might  reasonably  be  expected,  especially  as  the  Lord  himself  had  volun- 
tarily obeyed  the  law.  Paul,  who,  indeed,  had  come  to  Jerusalem  with 
thoughts  of  love  and  peace,  followed  this  well-meant  counsel,  submitted 
to  the  privations  of  the  Nazarites,  and  the  next  day  announced  to  the 
priests  the  time  when  the  vow  was  to  be  accomplished  and  the  closing 
sacrifice  presented.  Of  course  he  did  this  not  merely  out  of  accommo- 
dation to  the  weakness  of  his  Jewish  brethren,  but  with  good  conscience, 
as  in  fact  on  other  occasions  he  voluntarily  ap]ilied  to  himself  the  disci- 
pline of  the  law,'  though  without  any  view  of  thus  earning  salvation. 

This  is  the  conception  hitherto  current  of  the  paragraph  in  Acts  21  : 
18-26.  But  we  prefer  another  explanation,''  according  to  which  Paul 
did  not  become  a  Nazarite  at  all,  but  only  bore  the  expense  of  the  sacri- 
fice for  the  four  Nazarites,  whose  vow,  which  had  been  previously  made 
(comp.  V.  23),  expired  on  the  following  day  (v.  26).  In  this  case  the 
ayvia-dr)Ti,  which  James  demands  of  Paul  (v.  24),  is  to  be  understood  of 

*  Acts  18  :  18.     Comp.  above,  §  76,  especially  the  second  note. 
"  Recently  proposed  by  Wieseler  in  his  Chronologic,  p.  105  sqq. 


MiSSIOXR.j  ^  82.     THE    AEREST    OF    PAUL.  307 

tlie  customary  purification,  which  preceded  the  offering  of  sacrifice  and 
every  visit  to  the  temple,  especially  the  celebration  of  a  feast  ;'  and  the 
somewhat  difficult  verse,  26,  must  be  translated  :  "  Then  Paul  took  the 
men,  and  after  he  had  on  the  next  day  purified  himself  with  them,  he 
went  into  the  temple,  to  announce  the  accomplishment  of  the  days  of  the 
Nazarite  (and  remained  there),  till  the  gift  had  been  presented  for  every 
one  of  them."  This  admirably  suits  the  aorist  (nQoarivtx^Ti) ,  which  seems 
to  indicate  the  actual  offering  of  the  sacrifice  on  this  day,  and  therefore 
the  expiration  of  the  vow.  In  the  other  interpretation  this  verb  must 
be  taken  as  future  (donee  offeretur) ;  in  which  case,  however,  in  a  con- 
ditional clause  with  i'uc  ov,  like  this,  we  should  by  all  means  expect  the 
subjunctive  (comp.  23  :  12,  21.  25  :  21).  Then  again,  it  is  expressly 
observed  in  24  :  18,  that  the  apostle  was  arrested  the  sa^ne  day,  in  which 
he,  being  purified  {yyvta/itvov,  comp.  the  dyvio-&Ei^,  21  :  26),  was  sacrific- 
ing in  the  temple.  Finally,  this  view  relieves  the  case,  at  least  in  a  mea- 
sure, of  the  offensiveness  which  attaches  to  the  idea  of  the  apostle 
Paul's  being  a  formal  Nazarite.  Though  certainly  even  his  participation, 
his  aid  in  the  mere  closing  ceremony  of  the  vow,  involved  a  virtual,  rela- 
tive approval  of  it,  and  of  the  Jewish  form  of  piety,  to  which  it  be- 
longed. 

Thus  did  the  two  apostles,  from  different  starting  points,  meet  here  on 
the  same  conservative,  pacific  ground.  While  we  must  certainly  esteem 
and  admire  their  condescending  love  and  indulgence  towards  the  weak, 
and  their  self-denying  regard  for  the  unity  of  the  church,"  we  may  yet 
leave  room  for  the  opinion,  that  perhaps  on  this  occasion,  both  of  them, 
one  in  counselling,  the  other  in  acting,  carried  their  accommodation  too 
far.  As  their  own  explicit  declarations,  and  the  well-known  temporary 
dispute  of  Paul  with  Peter,  Barnabas,  and  Mark  (comp.  §  *I0),  forbid 
our  acquitting  the  apostles  of  all  human  infirmity,  we  may  ask,  with  all 
modesty  and  reverence  :  Might  not,  nay,  must  not  their  conduct  in  this 
case  have  tended  to  confirm  the  zealots  for  the  law  in  their  unevangelical 
error,  in  the  persuasion,  that  the  observance  of  the  Mosaic  ceremonies 
was  necessary  to  salvation  ?  Should  not  James  rather  have  upheld 
Paul  in  his  principles,  and  fearlessly  endeavored  to  purge  away  the  old 
leaven  of  the  Pharisees  ?  And  did  not  Paul  here,  on  his  own  principles, 
■ — though  certainly  encompassed  with  far  greater  dangers- — commit  the 
same  fault,  for  which  he  so  sharply  rebuked  Peter  at  Antioch  ?     Had  it 

'  Comp.  1  Sam.  16  :  5.     Ex.  19  :  10.     2  Mace.  12  :  38.    Jno.  11  :  .55. 

^  In  regard  to  this  disposition  of  the  apostles  to  yield  to  the  weak  Jewish  believers, 
R.  Stier  says  :  "  Would  that  this  disposition  had  prevailed  in  the  time  of  the  reforma- 
tion! There  would  no  more  have  been  two  evangelical  churches  opposed  to  one 
another,  than  there  were  then  a  Pauline  and  a  Petrine  church  of  God  !"  {Die  Reden 
der  Apostel,  Part  II.  p.  219). 


308  §  82.       THE    AKREST    OF    TAUL.  [l-  BOOK. 

not  been  better,  if  he  had  firmly  withstood  these  half-Christians,  as  for- 
merly, when  they  demanded  the  circumcision  of  the  Gentile,  Titus? 
(Gal.  2:5).  Though  these  doubts,  however,  certainly  very  naturally 
suggest  themselves,  we  have  to  consider,  on  the  other  s!de,  first,  that  the 
record  of  Luke  is  far  too  summary,  and  gives  us  too  little  light  on  the 
particular  circumstances  of  the  church  at  Jerusalem,  to  warrant  such 
unfavorable  inferences.  Secondly,  the  jjosition  of  James,  as  his  martyrdom 
a  few  years  after  shows,  was  at  all  events  one  of  extreme  difficulty  ; 
since,  amidst  the  growing  obduracy  of  the  nation,  and  in  sight  of  its  im- 
pending doom,  he  still  had  to  stand — for  this  was  his  proper  miss'on — 
as  the  connecting  link  between  the  old  and  the  new  dispensations,  to 
rescue  as  many  as  possible  from  the  destruction.  And  finally,  as  to 
Paul,  he  was  here  not  in  his  proper  Gentile-Christian  field  of  labor. 
His  conduct  on  other  occasions  proves  that  he  was  far  from  allowing 
himself  to  be  restricted  in  this  field.  He  reserved  to  himself  entire 
independence  in  his  operations.  But  he  stood  now  on  the  venerable 
ground  of  the  Jewish-Christian  mother  church,  where  he  had  to  respect 
the  customs  of  the  fathers  and  the  authority  of  James,  the  regular 
bishop.  Clearly  conscious  of  already  possessing  righteousness  and  salva- 
tion in  Christ,  he  accommodated  himself,  with  the  best  and  noblest 
intentions,  to  the  weaker  brethren.  Though  himself  free,  he  became  to 
them,  that  were  under  the  law,  as  under  the  law  ;  to  the  Jews,  a  Jew  ; 
to  those  who  were  not  free,  a  servant,  that  he  might  gain  some,  accord- 
ing to  his  own  maxim,  1  Cor.  9  :  19-23.  Should  he,  therefore,  in  this 
particular  instance,  have  yielded  too  much,  it  would  at  all  events  not 
have  been  a  betrayal  of  his  convictions, — this  is  precluded  by  the  firm, 
logical  consistency  of  his  character, — ^but  a  personal  sacrifice  for  the 
great  end  of  the  peace  and  unity  of  the  church.  And  surely  this  sacri- 
fice must  have  been  duly  appreciated  by  the  more  moderate  and  noble- 
minded  of  the  Jewish  Christians. 

The  enmity  of  the  Jews  against  Paul,  however,  was  too  deeply  rooted 
to  allow  them  to  be  propitiated  by  this  approach  to  their  religion.  Be- 
fore the  end  of  the  Pentecostal  week,'  the  Jews  of  Asia  Minor,  who 

'  Here  arises  the  question,  to  what  are  the  perplexing  "  seven  days,"  21  :  27,  to  be 
referred?  They  are  commonly  understood  to  mean  the  whole  duration  of  the  vow  of 
the  four  brethren.  But  this  is  at  variance  with  Jewish  usage.  The  vow  of  a  Naza- 
rite  was  either  for  life,  or  at  least  for  thirty  days.  Grotius,  Ktihnol,  and  De  Wette  sup- 
pose, therefore,  that  the  brethren  at  that  time  had  seven  days  of  their  vow  still  remain- 
ing to  be  ful  tilled,  and  that  Paul  joined  himself  to  them  only  for  this  remainder  ;  and 
De  Wette  thinks,  that  the  priests,  at  their  own  discretion,  allowed  a  shorter  time  to 
those,  who  defrayed  the  expenses  of  the  vow.  But  no  proof  can  be  brought  for  such 
a  custom  ;  and  besides,  this  hypothesis  conflicts  irreconcilably  with  the  statement  of 
twelve  days  (24  :  11\  as  intervening  between  Paul's  departure  from  Caesarea  for  Jeru- 
salem and  the  sixth  day  of  his  confinement  in  Caesarea.     These  must  be  reckoned 


MISSIONS.]  g  82.       THE    AEEEST    OF   PAUL.  309 

were  present  at  the  feast,  and  who  might  have  already  persecuted  the 
apostle  of  the  Gentiles  in  Ephesus,  raised  a  wild  uproar  against  him, 
and  seized  him  in  the  temple,  crying  :  "  Men  of  Israel,  help  :  this  is  the 
man  that  teacheth  all  men  everywhere  against  the  people,  and  the  law,  and 
the  temple,  which  he  has  desecrated."  The  fanatics  groundlessly  inferred 
from  his  association  with  the  Gentile  Christian,  Trophimus,  likewise 
a  native  of  Asia  Minor  (20  :  4.  2  Tim.  4  :  20),  that  he  had  brought 
Greeks  into  the  sanctuary,  which  was  forbidden  under  penalty  of  death.' 
The  furious  multitude  dragged  him  from  the  temple,  that  it  might  not 
be  polluted  with  blood,  abused  him,  and  would  undoubtedly  have  killed 
him,  had  not  the  tribune  of  the  Roman  garrison,  which  was  stationed 
in  the  neighboring  castle  of  Antonia,  northwest  of  the  temple,  hastened 
to  the  spot  in  time  with  his  soldiers  and  captains.  Claudius  Lysias, — as 
the  chiliarch  is  called  in  23  :  26, — rescued  the  witness  of  Jesus  Christ 
from  the  enraged  populace,  and  had  him  brought,  bound  with  two  chains, 
to  the  castle.  How  favorably  the  orderly,  law-abiding  disposition  of  the 
heathen  Roman  here  contrasts  with  the  unbridled  rage  of  the  degenerate 
people  of  God !  Paul  now  from  the  stairs  of  the  castle  delivered  an 
address  in  Hebrew  (22  :  1-21),  hoping  by  the  simple  story  of  his  con- 
version from  the  strictest  Pharisaism  to  the  Christian  faith,  and  by  the 
description  of  the  great  things  God  had  wrought  among  the  heathen  by 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  to  calm  in  some  measure  the  excited  multi- 
tude. But  when  he  came  to  his  divine  call  to  be  the  apostle  of  the 
Gentiles,  which  was  communicated  to  him  by  a  vision  in  the  temjile,  the 
tumult  broke  forth  afresh,  and  the  mob  stormily  demanded  his  execution. 
The  tribune,  who  at  first  took  him  for  an  insurgent,  was  about  to  have 
him  scourged,  to  make  him  confess  his  crime.  But  Paul  knowing  the 
protection  which  the  Roman  law  afforded  him,  declared,  as  he  had  done 

thus :  two  days,  for  his  journey  to  Jerusalem ;  the  third  day,  for  his  interview  with 
Janries  (21  :  18-25);  the  fourth  (probably  Pentecost),  for  the  offering  in  the  temple 
with  the  Nazaritps,  and  for  the  arrest  (21  :  26-22  :  29) ;  the  fifth,  for  the  hearing  before 
the  Sanhedrim  (22  :  30-23  :  11) ;  the  sixth,  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  for  the  de- 
parture f(ir  Caesarea  (23  :  12-31);  the  seventh,  for  his  arrival  there  (23  :  32-35)  ;  and 
the  remaining  five  days  he  had  already  spent  in  prison  there,  when  Ananias  arrived 
from  .Jerusalem  (24  :  1-23).  This  would  leave,  we  see,  only  one  day,  instead  of  the 
supposed  seven,  for  the  Nazariteship  of  Paul.  Under  these  circumstances,  Wieseler 
seems  to  me  to  give  the  proper  solution  of  the  difficulty,  when  he  tells  us  (1.  c.  p.  110). 
that  by  the  Inru  jjfiEpaL  Luke  means  the  Pentecostal  week ;  which  he  might  presume  to 
be  clear  to  his  readers  from  the  connection,  since  he  had  shortly  before  (20  :  16)  no- 
ticed Paul's  intention  of  keeping  this  feast. 

'  On  the  pillars  of  the  porch  of  the  Israelites  stood  the  warning  in  Greek  and 
Latin  :  "  No  foreigner  (one  not  a  Jew)  may  enter  the  sanctuary,"  (Joseph.  De  bello  Jud. 
V.  ^,  2).  According  to  Philo  and  Josephus,  the  Jews  had,  or  at  least  claimed,  the  right 
to  put  to  death  every  Jew,  even  a  Roman,  who  profaned  the  temple  by  transgressing 
this  prohibition. 


310  §  83.      PAUL   BEFORE   THE   SANHEDEIM.  [l-  BOOK. 

on  a  former  occasion  (16  :  31),  that  he  was  a  Roman  citizen,  and  escap- 
ed this  disgrace.' 

§  83.  Paul  before  the  Sanhedrim. 
The  next  day  Lysias  brought  the  prisoner  before  the  assembled  San- 
hedrim. Here  Paul  conducted  with  dignity  and  sagacity.  He  thought 
at  first  to  defend  himself  in  a  regular  discourse  ;  but  in  this  he  was 
rudely  and  unlawfully  interrupted  by  the  presiding  high-priest,  Ananias, 
a  proud  and  cruel  man,  who  afterwards  fell  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin 
in  the  Jewish  war.  This  man  commanded  him  to  be  smitten  on  the 
mouth  ;  whereupon  Paul  let  fall  the  words  :  "  God  shall  smite  thee, 
thou  whited  wall  !"  (23  :  3)  i.  e.  thou  hypocrite,  white  outside,  but  in- 
wardly filthy,  whose  behavior  is  unbecoming  thy  sacred  office.  However 
suitable  and  deserved  this  reproof  may  have  been,  it  nevertheless  betrays 
a  passionate  excitement,  which  ill  compares  with  the  calm  dignity  and 
resignation  of  Jesus  under  a  still  greater  provocation  (Jno.  18  :  22,  23),''' 
and  was  inconsistent  with  the  respect  due  to  the  representative  of  the 
high-priesthood.  This  Paul  himself  felt,  and  instantly  rebuked  his  own 
rashness  by  quoting  a  passage  of  Scripture  :  "Thou  shalt  not  speak 
evil  of  the  ruler  of  thy  people"  (Ex.  22  :  28).  This  seems  to  be  the 
most  natural  view  of  the  scene.  It  is  possible,  however,  to  explain  the 
apostle's  conduct  in  such  a  way  as  to  free  him  from  all  blame,  and  to 
present  him  in  the  light  of  a  prophet  of  God,  who,  with  the  authority  of 
the  heavenly  ruler,  judged  and  condemned  the  unrighteousness  of  his 
unworthy  earthly  judge." 

'  The  lex  Porcia  and  the  leges  Semproniae  made  it  a  crime  to  bind  or  scourge  a  Roman 
citizen.  Hence  Cicero  exclaims,  Verr.  v.  66  : "  0  nomen  dulce  libertatis  !  0  jus  exi- 
mium  nostrae  civitatis  !  O  lex  Porcia,  legesque  Semproniae !  Facinus  est  vinciri 
civem  Romanum,  scelus  verberari." 

'  This  contrast  Jerome  brings  out,  perhaps  too  strongly,  in  the  beginning  of  his  work 
Contra  Pelag.  Ill :  "  Ubi  est  ilia  patientia  salvatoris,  qui  quasi  agnus  ductus  ad  victi- 
mam  non  aperuit  os  suum,  sed  clementer  loquitur  verberanti :  si  male  locutus,  argue  de 
malo,  si  autem  bene,  quid  me  caedis  ?■'  But  he  adds  by  way  of  qualification  :  "  Non 
apostolo  detrahimus,  sed  gloriam  Domini  praedicamus,  qui  in  came  passus  carnis  injii- 
riam  superat  et  fragilitatem." 

'  All  depends  here  upon  the  proper  interpretation  of  the  difficult  words  :  "  /  wist 
not,  that  he  was  the  high-priest "  (23  :  5).  This  can  hardly  be  taken  in  a  strict 
and  literal  sense,  as  Paul  might  have  known  the  fact  even  from  the  seat,  which 
Ananias  held,  and  his  official  dress,  though  he  were  not  personally  acquainted  with 
him.  The  ovK  ijdEiv  has,  therefore,  been  variously  understood;  as  meaning  (I)  non 
agtwsco,  on  the  supposition,  that  Ananias  either  never  was  proper  high-priest,  since  he 
acquired  the  office  in  an  unrighteous  manner,  by  bribery,  or  that  he,  since  his  accusa- 
tion before  the  emperor,  had  ceased  to  be  such,  and  had  only  usurped  the  office  durin^ 
the  interregnum  immediately  after  the  assassination  of  his  successor  Jonathan  Cut 
Luke  calls  him  ''high-priest,"  v.  2,  without  any  qualification.  (2)  Nesriebam, 
but  ironically  :  "I  could  not  suspect  that  a  man,  who  shows  himself  so  unholy,  was 


MISSIONS.]  g  83.      PAUL  BEFOKE   THE   SANHEDRIM.  811 

Seeing  that,  while  his  enemies  were  so  excited,  a  calm  defense  was 
useless,  and  in  fact  impossible,  he  took  the  course  of  that  wisdom,  which, 
so  long  as  it  serves  simply  as  a  means  to  a  higher  end,  and  conflicts  not 
with  truth,  is  not  only  allowed,  but  even  enjoined  (comp.  Matt.  10  :  16).' 
He  presented  the  weighty  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  as  the 
issue.  Thus  he  cast  a  firebrand  into  the  assembly,  composed  as  it  was 
of  Sadducees  (with  Ananias  at  their  head),  and  Pharisees,  and  drew 
the  stronger  party,  at  least  for  the  moment,  to  his  side.  Of  course  he 
conceived  the  resurrection  of  the  pious  in  general  as  intimately  connect- 
ed with,  and  resting  upon,  the  resurrection  of  Jesus,  which  last,  in  fact, 
is  expressly  designated  by  Festus  (25  :  19)  as  the  grand  point  of  con- 
troversy. It  has  been  said  that  this  stratagem  was  a  dishonest  evasion 
of  the  point  in  dispute. °     The  specific  accusation  against  him  was,  to  be 

the  high-priest.  For  him  certainly  no  one  can  lawfully  revile."  This  view,  which  is 
adopted  by  commentators  of  different  theological  tendencies,  Camerarius,  Calvin.  Stier, 
Meyer,  Baumgarten,  and  also  by  Baur  (p.  207),  would  not  require  us  to  suppose  Paul 
to  have  been  rash  in  his  previous  language.  The  matter  might  be  made  to  appear  as 
though,  in  v.  3,  he  spoke  not  in  the  ebullition  of  human  passion,  but  under  the  guid- 
ance of  the  Holy  Ghost  (which  was  promised  to  the  apostles,  especially  for  such  occa- 
sions, Matt.  10  :  19,  20),  telling  the  miserable  Ananias  the  truth  in  the  name  of  God, 
and  announcing  the  punishment,  which  afterwards  actually  came  upon  him.  (So  Stier  : 
Reden  der  Ap.  II.  p.  321  sqq.,  and  quite  lately  Baumgarten,  jlpostclgeschickte  II.  2. 
p.  185  sqq.)  The  expression,  "  thou  whited  wall,"  is  certainly  no  stronger,  than  the 
epithets  which  our  Lord  himself  applies  to  the  Pharisees,  Matt.  23,  where,  among 
other  comparisons,  he  likens  them,  to  "  whited  sepulchres,"  v.  27.  The  angelic  mar- 
tyr Stephen,  too,  said  to  the  assembled  Sanhedrim  to  the  face  :  "  Ye  stiif-necked  and  un- 
circumcised  in  heart  and  ears,  ye  do  always  resist  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  your  fathers 
did,  so  do  ye  "  (Acts  7  :  51).  But  a  great  deal  depends  here  also  upon  the  tone  and 
manner  in  which  such  reproof  is  administered,  and  it  may  be,  that  Paul  suffered  the 
natural  vehemence  of  his  temper  to  rise  too  high  for  a  moment,  as  was  perhaps  also 
the  case  in  his  collision  with  Peter  and  Barnabas  at  Antioch.  For  if  we  free  him  from 
all  guilt  in  this  difficulty,  his  colleagues  would  be  doubly  censurable,  and  nothing  gained 
for  those  who  imagine  an  apostle  to  have  been  an  absolute  saint  while  yet  on  earth. 
Then  again,  in  v.  5,  the  irony  is  evidently  not  sufficiently  manifest.  Hence  in  our  text 
we  have  preferred  the  interpretation  proposed,  under  various  modifications,  by  Bengel, 
Wetstein,  Kiihnol,  Olshausen,  Neander,  and  others  ;  viz.  (3)  non  reputabam,  "I  did  not 
at  the  moment  consider ;"  involving  a  self-correction,  a  retraction  of  his  harsh  lan- 
guage, as  a  violation  of  decorum.  It  must  be  confessed  that  this  unusual  signification 
of  tlSsvai  is  not  sufficiently  supported  by  Eph-  6  :  8.  Col.  3  :  24,  and  other  passages ; 
yet  it  seems  to  give  the  plainest  sense,  and  in  this  case  is  at  once  suggested  by  the  con- 
text, as  the  hearers  took  no  offence  at  this  word,  as  they  probably  would  have  done, 
if  they  had  understood  it  ironically. 

'  On  c.  23  :  6,  Grotius  aptly  remarks  :  "  Non  deerat  Paulo  humana  etiam  prudentia, 
qua  in  bonum  evangelii  utens,  columbae  serpentem  utiliter  miscebat  et  inimicorum 
dissidiis  fruebatur.''  Bengel  views  the  matter  diffijrently  :  '•  Non  usus  est  P.  callidi- 
tate  rationis  aut  stratagemate  dialectico,  sed  ad  sui  defensionem  simpliciter  eos  invitat, 
qui  propius  aberant  a  veritate." 

"  So  Dr.  Baur,  1.  c.  p.  203  sqq.,  who  for  this  very  reason  rejects  the  narrative  of  the 


312  §  83.       TAVL    BEFOKE   THE   SANHEDKIM.  U-  BOOK. 

sure,  that  of  blaspheming  the  law,  the  people,  and  the  temple.  But  this 
was,  iu  reality,  only  a  negative  expression  for  his  energetic  faith  in  Christ 
as  the  author  of  a  new  creation,  through  whom  the  old  was  passing  away 
and  all  was  becoming  new.  This  was  his  sole  crime.  But  what,  in 
Paul's  view,  is  the  foundation  of  this  faith  ?  What  is  pre-eminently  the 
basis  of  this  conviction  of  the  divinity  of  Christianity  ?  Manifestly  the 
fact  of  the  resurrection,  through  which  a  new  principle  of  life  was  intro- 
duced into  humanity.  Hence  tlie  apostles  styled  themselves  emjDhatically, 
"  witnesses  of  the  resurrection,"  and  it  was  for  their  testimony  respect- 
ing this,  that  they  were  first  persecuted,  while  the  Sadducees  were  in 
power  in  the  high  council  (4:2  sqq.  5  :  It  sqq.).  In  this  alone  the 
desire  and  hope  of  Israel  find  their  fulfillment,  and  without  it  the  resur- 
rection of  believers  is  groundless  and  unmeaning.  For  "  if  Christ  be 
not  raised,  your  faith  is  vain  ;  ye  are  yet  in  your  sins"  (1  Cor.  15  :  17). 
This  very  fact,  however,  justifies  us  in  supposing,  that  Paul,  who  was 
far  less  concerned  for  his  own  safety,  than  for  the  glory  of  his  Lord, 
sought,  by  this  policy  of  divide  ei  impera,  to  help  the  gospel,  if  possible, 
to  the  breach,  by  exclaiming  to  the  Pharisees,  as  if  for  the  last  time, 
though  in  vain  :  "  That,  which  ye  hold  as  an  empty  form,  is  present  m 
me  as  living  truth.  If,  therefore,  ye  would  really  triumph  over  the 
dangerous  heresy  of  the  Sadducees,  ye  must  make  earnest  of  your  theory 
of  the  resurrection,  and  believe  in  Christ,  without  whom  it  is  an  idle 
dream."  The  Pharisees  actually  gave,  involuntarily  and  from  bitter  party 
spirit,  a  testimony  to  the  innocence  of  the  apostle,  which  the  simple  love 
of  truth  and  justice  would  never  have  drawn  from  them  :  "  We  find  no 
evil  in  this  man"  (23  :  9).  They  granted,  also,  that  a  spirit  or  an 
angel  may  have  appeared  to  him  on  the  way  to  Damascus.  But  this 
was  all.  They  would  not  consent  to  acknowledge  that  spirit  to  have 
been  the  Messiah.  At  last,  this  party  strife  growing  more  and  more 
violent  and  threatening  the  life  of  the  apostle,  (the  Sanhedrim  thus  giv- 
ing sad  proof  of  the  frightful  corruption  of  the  whole  nation  which  it 
represented),  Lysias  drew  him  away,  and  brought  him  back  to  the  cas- 
tle of  Antonia. 

The  next  night,  while  Paul,  not  only  exhausted  by  his  many  hardships, 
but  also  overcome  with  anxiety  and  fear,  was  probably  in  perplexity 
respecting  his  plan  of  preaching  the  gospel  in  Rome,  and  was  looking 
above  for  light  and  strength,  the  Lord  appeared  to  him  in  a  vision, 
and  comforted  him  with  the  assurance,  that,  as  he  had  borne  witness 
of  his  master"  in  the  metropolis  of  Judaism,  so  he  must  testify  of  him  in 
the  capital  of  Heathendom  (23  :  11).     This  prospect  of  an  abundant 

Acts  as  not  veritable  history,  and  explains  it  as  having  originated  in  the  desire  to  con- 
ceal the  opposition  of  Paul  to  Judaism,  to  make  him  appear  as  Judaizing  as  possible. 


MISSIONS.]  §  84.       PAUL    IN    CAKSAEEA.  313 

harvest,  of  which  lie  was  afterwards  re-assured  in  the  midst  of  his  perils 
at  sea  (21  :  24),  this  divine  "  must,"  was  a  potion  which  nerved  him  for 
all  the  long  sufferings  before  him. 

§  84.   Paul  in  Cccsarca  before,  Felix  and  Feshis.     A.  D.  58-60. 

On  the  following  day  more  than  forty  of  the  worst  zealots,  in  concert 
with  the  high-priest  and  the  Sadducean  party  in  the  Sanhedrim,  con- 
spired against  the  life  of  Paul.  The  Roman  tribune,  apprised  of  this  in 
time  by  a  nephew  of  the  apostle  living  in  Jerusalem,  sent  him  the  same 
night,  under  a  strong  military  guard,  which  seemed  necessary  on  account 
of  the  conspiracy  and  the  bands  of  robbers  then  continually  thickening 
in  Palestine,  to  Csesarea  to  the  procurator  Felix,  with  a  letter  statmg 
the  facts  about  the  prisoner,  and  testifying  his  innocence.  This  Felix  is 
represented  by  Josephus  and  Tacitus  as  a  very  worthless  character, 
cruel,  unjust,  dissolute,  and  servile.'  He  committed  the  apostle  to  the 
preetorium,  built  by  Herod,  till  his  accusers  should  appear,  and  a  trial 
might  be  instituted.  After  five  days  the  prosecutors  came  from  the 
Sanhedrim,  Ananias  himself  at  their  head,  bringing  with  them  an  advo- 
cate by  the  name  of  Tertullus.  This  orator,  in  a  flattering,  deceitful 
speech  (25  :  2-8),  sought  to  asperse  the  apostle  as  a  political  insur- 
gent, a  ringleader  of  the  sect  of  the  Nazarenes,  and  a  profaner  of  the 
temple.  He  complained,  at  the  same  time,  of  the  uncalled-for  interfer- 
ence of  Lysias,  and  hinted  to  Felix  to  force  the  prisoner  to  a  confession 
of  his  crime,  and  to  gain  for  himself  the  favor  of  the  Jews  by  punishing 
him,  or,  still  better,  by  delivering  him  to  the  Sanhedrim.  But  Paul,  in 
his  defense  (v.  10-21),  exposed  the  groundlessness  of  these  charges  ; 
reminded  Felix  of  the  absence  of  the  Asiatic  Jews,  who  should  have 
appeared  as  eye-witnesses  of  the  pretended  sacrilege  ;  and  represented 
himself  as  a  genuine  and  consistent  Israelite,  as  in  fact  he  was,  inasmuch 
as  the  Messiah  is  the  substance  and  end  of  the  Old  Testament,  the  ful- 
fillment of  the  law  and  the  prophets.  The  governor  deferred  giving 
sentence  till  he  should  hear  further  evidence  ;  for  he  could  find  no  pun- 
ishable fault  in  him,  and  was  reluctant  to  meddle  in  the  religious  con- 
troversies of  the  Jew^s. 

Some  days  after  this,  Felix,  with  his  Jewish  wife,  Drusilla,''  daughter 
of  king  Herod  Agrippa  the  elder  (12  :  1),  whom  he  had  alienated  from 
her  former  husband,  Aziz,  king  of  Emesa,  by  the  aid  of  the  magician 

'  Comp.  Winer's  Reallexik.  and  Kitto's  Cydopcedia  of  Bibl.  Liter.,  art.  Felix.  He 
constantly  had  banditti  in  his  service,  Sicarians  as  they  were  called,  whom  he 
employed,  moreover,  even  to  murder  the  high-priest,  Jonathan,  in  the  temple,  and  to 
combat  false  Messiahs  ;  and  he  conducted  so  as  only  to  fan  the  flame  of  tumult. 

^  She  afterwards,  with  her  son,  Agrippa,  met  a  miserable  death  from  the  eruption 
of  Vesuvius,  A.  D.  79.     Josephus,  Antiqu.  XX.  7,  2. 


314  §  84.       PAUL    IN   CAESAREA.  [l-  BOOK. 

Simon,'  had  the  apostle  brought  before  him,  to  gratify  his  curiosity 
respecting  the  Christian  faith.  But  when  Paul  came  to  the  practical 
application  of  the  truth,  and  appealed  to  the  conscience  of  his  hearer 
respecting  righteousness,  temperance,  and  a  judgment  to  come,  the  old  sin- 
ner trembled,  and  dismissed  his  fearless  reprover  with  the  remark,  so 
characteristic  of  the  worldly  mind,  which  feels  the  force  of  truth,  but 
bids  it  defiance  :  "Go  thy  way  for  this  time  ;  when  I  have  a  conve- 
nient season  I  will  call  for  thee"  (24  :  24  sq.).  He  was  undoubtedly 
convinced  of  Paul's  innocence,  but  hoped  to  receive  bribes  from  him  ; 
for  the  apostle,  though  himself  certainly  poor,  could  very  easily  have 
been  supplied  with  money  by  his  Christian  friends  in  Csesarea  and  else- 
where. Of  course  he  scorned  any  such  mesons  for  his  liberation,  trust- 
ing that  the  Lord,  according  to  his  promise,  would,  in  his  own  time, 
and  in  an  honorable  way,  bring  him  to  Rome.  He  accordingly  remained 
two  years  in  confinement  in  Cassarea  (24  :  2t),  uncondemned,  visited 
by  the  Christians,  occasionally  heard  before  the  governor,  and,  it  would 
appear,  mildly  treated,  laboring  for  the  kingdom  of  God  in  a  way  to  us 
unknown. °  At  the  expiration  of  this  time  Felix  was  recalled  ;  but,  to 
please  the  Jews,  who,  however,  complained  to  the  emperor  Nero  of  his 
oppression,  he  left  Paul  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  his  successor,  M. 
Porcius  Festus,  who  entered  on  his  office  in  the  year  60,  or  at  latest 
61.' 

■  Josephus,  Antiqu.  XX.  7,  1. 

"^  Olshausen  (on  Acts  25  :  27)  says  :  "  God's  main  design  in  this  dispensation  might 
have  been,  to  afford  the  apostle  a  time  of  quiet  for  composing  his  mind  and  for  medi- 
tation. The  continual  agitations  of  Paul's  life  must  of  course  have  interfered  with 
that  attention  to  himself  necessary  for  his  happy  inward  development.  Divine  grace, 
therefore,  sees  to  the  union  of  the  two  ;  while  it  uses  its  instruments  for  the  advance- 
ment of  the  truth  in  others,  it  also  at  times  takes  these  instruments  themselves  iu 
hand  for  their  personal  sanctification."  It  is  more  probable,  however,  that  Paul  coa- 
tinued  during  this  confinement  to  superintend  his  churches  in  Asia  Minor  and  Greece 
through  delegates  and  correspondence,  as  he  did  afterwards  as  a  prisoner  at  Rome. 

^  Here  again  we  have  a  fixed  chronological  datum  for  the  life  of  Paul,  whence  we 
can  reckon  forwards  and  backwards.  It  is  true,  the  length  of  the  reigns  of  these  two 
procurators  is  not  expressly  stated,  but  it  can  be  determined  with  tolerable  accuracy 
by  combining  circumstances.  First,  as  to  Felix ;  the  latest  date  for  his  recall  must  be 
the  year  62,  since  his  brother,  Pallas  (a  favorite  of  Nero's),  whose  mediation  cleared 
him  of  the  charges  of  the  Jews  (Joseph.  Antiqu.  XX.  8,  9  sq.),  and  the  prefect,  Bur- 
rus,  who  was  still  living  during  this  impeachment  (XX-  8,  9),  were  poisoned  in  the 
year  62, — the  former  towards  the  end  (at  all  events,  after  the  death  of  the  empress 
Octavia,  Tacitus,  Ann.  XIV.  65.  Dio,  LXII.  14);  the  latter  in  the  beginning  of  it 
(Tac.  XIV.  51  sqq  Dio,  LX.  13).  The  earliest  date  for  the  recall  of  Felix  is  the  year 
60  (comp.  here  the  accurate  calculations  of  Wieseler,  Chronol.  p.  66  sqq  ) .  The 
accessiitn  of  Festus,  who  was  procurator  only  one  or  two  years,  must  fall  in  the  year 
60.  or  at  latest  61  ;  for  his  successor,  Albinus,  had  already  entered  n\mn  his  office  at 
the  time  of  the  feast  of  tabernacles  four  years  before  the  Jewish  war,  therefore,  A.  D. 


MISSIONS.]  BEFOKE   FELIX   AND   FESTUS.  315 

Festus,  who,  judging  from  the  scanty  records  of  his  short  administra- 
tion/ was  a  lover  of  justice,  at  all  events  one  of  the  better  governors,  was 
brought,  three  days  after  his  inauguration,  by  official  and  personal  busi- 
ness, to  Jerusalem,  where  the  high-priest  (Ishmael,  successor  to  Ana- 
nias) and  the  prominent  Jews  besought  him  to  deUver  Paul  to  them, 
intending  secretly  to  kill  him.  But  this  time  also,  through  the  justice 
of  the  heathen,  God  protected  his  apostle  against  the  malice  of  the 
degenerate  Jews.  Festus  required  them  to  present  a  regular  indictment 
in  Csesarea,  and  held  his  court  there  the  day  after  his  return.  Again 
the  prosecutors  failed  to  prove  that  Paul  had  offended  either  against 
the  law  (rightly  understood),  or  against  the  temple,  or  (and  this  was 
the  only  charge  properly  cognizable  by  a  Roman  tribunal)  against  the 
emperor.  Festus,  wishing  on  the  oue  hand  to  please  the  Jews,  but  on 
the  other  not  to  trespass  upon  the  rights  of  Paul,  of  whose  innocence 
he  was  convinced,  asked  him,  whether  he  was  willing  to  be  tried  before 
the  Sanhedrim  under  the  governor's  supervision.  Then  Paul,  who,  as  a 
Roman  citizen,  could  not  be  forced  to  submit  himself  to  a  lower  tribu- 
nal, appealed  to  the  emperor,  and  thus  opened  the  way  to  the  fulfillment 
of  his  long-cherished  desire  to  testify  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world  in  the 
world's  metropolis.  Festus,  who  might  have  anticipated  this  result,  had 
of  course  to  acknowledge  the  right  of  appeal  here,  as  in  the  case  of 
every  Roman  citizen,  and  said,  as  the  unconscious  instrument  of  divine 
providence  (25  :  12),  "Thou  hast  appealed  unto  Caesar.  Unto  Caesar 
shalt  thou  go  1" 

A  few  days  after  this,  the  young  king,  Herod  Agrippa  11.,^ — a  favorite 
of  the  emperor  Claudius,  at  whose  court  he  had  been  educated  ;  son  and 
heir  of  his  namesake,  the  persecutor  of  the  Christians,  mentioned  in  Acts 
12  :  1  ;  great-grandson  of  Herod  the  Great  ;  and  the  last  king  of  his 
house, — with  his  beautiful,  but  abandoned  sister,  Bernice, — formerly 
married  to  her  uncle,  Herod  of  Chalcis  ;  at  this  time,  and  also  again 
after  a  second  marriage,  living,  as  was  suspected,  in  incestuous  inter- 
course with  her  brother  ;  and  finally  mistress  of  the  emperors  Yespasian 
and  Titus, — paid  a  complimentary  visit  to  the  new  governor.     Since 

62  (Joseph.  De  Bella  Jud.  VI.  5,  3) ;  and  the  Jewish  ambassadors,  who,  by  his  leave, 
went  to  Rome  with  a  dispute,  must  have  arrived  there  (as  Wieseier  has  supported, 
against  the  common  opinion,  p.  93  sqq.)  before  the  marriage  of  Poppaea  with  Nero, 
which,  according  to  Tacitus,  took  place  in  May  of  the  year  62.  Consequently  Felix 
and  Festus  changed  places  in  60  or  61,  m^re  probably  60,  as  the  most  eminent  modem 
chronologists,  Wurm.  Winer,  Anger,  and  Wieseier,  suppose.  Now  as  Paul  had 
already  been  two  years  a  captive  in  Caesarea  when  Festus  arrived  (Acts  24  :  27),  his 
arrest  must  have  taken  place  ia  the  year  58. 

*  Besides  Acts  25  and  26,  see  respecting  him  Josephus,  ^ntiqu.  XX.  8,  9  sq.,  and 
De  Bella  Jud.  11.  14,  1. 


S16  §  81.       PAUL   IN    CAESAREA.  [l-   BOOK. 

Agrippa  was  a  Jew  and  the  overseer  of  the  temple,'  Festus  laid  before 
him  the  case  of  Paul,  to  learn  his  opinion  res})ectiug  this  religious  ques- 
tion and  the  resurrection  of  "one  Jesus,  which  was  dead"  (25  :  19), 
that  he  might  be  able  to  give  a  better  account  to  the  emperor.  The 
king,  who  could  not  have  been  unacquainted  with  Christianity, — for  it 
was  his  father,  who  had  executed  the  elder  James,  and  cast  Peter  into 
prison, — desired  to  hear  the  prisoner  for  himself.  Festus,  therefore,  the 
next  day  ordered  Paul  into  his  audience-room,  where  Agrippa  and  Bernice 
had  come  with  great  pomp,  attended  by  the  principal  officers  of  the  five 
cohorts  stationed  in  Csesarea,  and  by  the  most  distinguished  military 
and  civil  personages  of  the  city,  to  gratify  their  curiosity. 

Before  this  brilliant  audience,  after  an  introductory  explanation  by 
the  procurator,  Paul  joyfully  delivered  an  apologetic  discourse  (26  :  1- 
23),  fulfilling  the  Lord's  prediction  (Matth.  10  :  18.  Mk.  13  :  9)  :  "Ye 
shall  be  brought  before  governors  and  kings  for  my  sake,  for  a  testimony 
against  them  and  the  Gentiles."  On  this  occasion  also,  as  before,  to  the 
people  in  Jerusalem,  he  related  how  he  was  miraculously  converted, 
from  a  bigoted  Pharisee  and  persecutor  of  the  Christians  to  an  apostle 
of  Jesus  Christ,  to  turn  the  Gentiles  from  darkness  to  light,  and  from 
the  power  of  Satan  unto  God.  He  had,  therefore,  not  arbitrarily 
chosen  his  calling,  but  had  been  constrained  to  it  by  a  heavenly  vision  ; 
and  he  preached  nothing  but  the  fulfillment  of  what  the  prophets  had 
already  foretold, — the  death  and  resurrection  of  the  Messiah,  and  the 
salvation  offered  in  him  to  Jews  and  Gentiles.  To  the  cold,  Roman 
worldling,  as  to  the  Athenians  {11  :  32),  what  Paul  said,  especially 
about  the  resurrection,  seemed  the  foolish  extravagance  of  an  over-taxed 
brain.  "  Paul,  thou  art  beside  thyself,"  involuntarily'  exclaimed  the 
governor,  "  much  learning  (much  reading  in  the  Jewish  Scriptures,  to 
which  Paul  had  just  referred,  v.  22  and  23)  doth  make  thee  mad."  The 
apostle,  to  whom  the  madness  seemed  to  lie  rather  in  his  former  rage 
against  the  Christians  (v.  11),  could  answer,  in  the  calm  consciousness 
of  victory  :  "  I  am  not  mad,  most  noble  Festus  ;  but  speak  forth  the 
words  of  truth  and  soberness."  Then,  turning  to  the  Jewish  king,  he 
called  him  to  witness,  that  the  great  facts  of  Christianity  did  not  take 
place  in  a  corner,  but  publicly  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  presence  of  the 
whole  assembly,  he  put  to  the  king's  heart  and  conscience  the  question  : 
"  Believest  thou — ^not  me,  not  the  appearance  in  Damascus,  but,  first  of 
all  simply — the  prophets  ?  I  know  that  thou  believest."  Agrippa 
replied,  either  in  real  earnest  under  momentary  conviction,  or  in  ironical 

*  To  him  it  belonged,  also,  to  choose  the  high-priest,  Joseph.  Jnt.  XX.  1.  3. 
"  Others,  as  Olshausen,  take  the  expression  as  a  jest,  by  which  the  Gentile  sought 
to  rid  hinnself  of  the  impression  of  the  discourse,  and  to  repel  the  impulse  of  grace. 


MISSIONS.]  §    85.       PAUL    IN   FvOIVrE.  317 

mockery  designed  perhaps  only  to  hide  his  inward  compunction  :  "  Thou 
wouldst  shortly'  persuade  me  to  be  a  Christian."  Then  Paul  uttered 
that  sublime  sentence,  which  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  his  holy  zeal  for  the 
salvation  of  souls,  and  of  his  own  inward  happiness  :  "  I  would  to  God, 
that,  sooner  or  later,  not  only  thou,  but  also  all  that  hear  me  this  day, 
were  such  as  I  am,  except  these  bonds"  (26  :  29).  How  infinitely 
exalted  the  shackled  servant  of  God  above  his  judges,  bound  to  the 
world  in  the  chains  of  gold  1 

§  85.  Pmd  in  Rome.  A.  D.  61-63. 
Agrippa  also  was  forced  to  testify  to  the  perfect  innocence  of  the 
apostle.  But,  now  that  he  had  appealed  to  the  emperor,  Festus  could 
neither  acquit  nor  condemn  him,  but  must  send  him  to  Rome.  He 
delivered  him,  therefore,  at  the  first  opportunity  for  embarking,  with 
some  other  prisoners,  to  the  care  of  the  centurion,  Julius,*  of  the  impe- 
rial cohort  ;  and  thus  Paul  left  Csesarea,  attended  by  his  faithful  com- 
panions, Luke  and  Aristarchus  of  Thessalonica.^  The  voyage,  which 
Luke  describes  minutely  and  with  the  vividness  and  accuracy  of  an  eye- 
witness,* was  very  dangerous,  as. must  be  expected  at  that  advanced 
season  of  the  year.  For  when  they  landed  at  Lasea  on  the  island  of 
Crete,  the  great  day  of  fasting  and  atonement,  which  fell  on  the  tenth 
of  Tisri,  towards  the  end  of  September,  was  already  past  (27   :  9). 

'  The  words  ei'  6/lty9>  (26  :  28)  are  variously  interpreted  :  (1)  Almost,  lacking 
little  (Chrysost.,  Luth.,  Beza,  Grot.) .  But  then  we  should  expect  7ra/5  oliyov  or 
hliyov.  (2)  With  little,  with  so  few  words,  with  so  little  effort,  as  Eph.  3  :  3 
(Mey.,  Olsh.) .  This  interpretation  would  be  necessary,  if  instead  of  Iv  'koTJKL  (v. 
29  \  we  had  to  read,  with  Lachmann,  according  to  cod.  A.  B.  Vulg.,  iv  fieyuTiU. 
(3)  In  a  short  time,  soon  (Calv.,  Kiihn.,  Neand.).  Corresponding  to  these  are  three 
different  interpretations  of  the  words  in  Paul's  answer,  k.  iv  67-..  k.  ev  irol'k.  (v.  29) ; 
viz,  (1)  Not  only  almost,  but  altogether.  (2)  As  well  by  little,  as  by  much; 
whether  it  require  little  effort,  with  some,  or,  with  others  (where  Festus  might  per- 
haps be  intended),  great,  to  convert  them  to  Christianity.      (3)  Sooner  or  later. 

'  Probably  the  same  as  Julius  Priscus,  who,  according  to  Tacitus,  Hist.  II.  92,  was 
promoted  under  Vitellius,  A.  D.  70,  from  a  centurion  to  prefect  of  the  praetorians,  and 
according  to  Hist.  IV.  11,  committed  suicide:  "Jul.  Prise,  praetoriarum  sub  Vitellio 
cohortium  prsefectus  se  ipse  interfecit,  pudore  magis  quam  necessitate." 

*  Acts  27  :  1,  2.     Comp.  Col.  4  :  10.  Philem.  24. 

*  A  Scotch  gentleman  of  great  naval  experience  and  reading,  James  Smith,  who 
has  subjected  the  narrative  of  this  voyage  to  a  very  thorough  scrutiny  in  his  original 
and  valuable  work  :  The  Voyage  and  Shipwreck  of  St.  Paul,  London,  ]  848,  concludes, 
that  the  author,  without  being  a  seaman  by  profession,  was  well  accustomed  to  the 
sea,  and  proves  himself  an  exceedingly  faithlul  and  careful  eye-witness.  This  point 
he  illustrates  by  the  journals  of  others  similarly  situated,  and  by  comparison  with  the 
evangelist's  own  account  of  the  storm  on  the  Lake  of  Gennesaret.  So  also  the  appa- 
rently useless  minuteness  of  this  account  must  go  to  confirm  the  credibility  of  the 
book  of  Acts,  and  to  put  to  shame  the  airy  speculations  of  its  modern  opponents. 


318  §  85.      PATJX,   IN    ROME.  [l-  BOOK. 

Paul  advised  to  winter  tbere  ;  but  his  advice  was  not  followed,  as  the 
harbor  seemed  unsuitable.  After  a  stormy  run  of  fourteen  days,  the 
ship  stranded  on  the  shores  of  Malta  (27  :  21,  33  sqq.,  28  :  1),  and  the 
apostle,  tlirough  his  prayers  and  good  counsel,  was  tlie  means  of  saving 
the  whole  company  (21  :  21-26,  31  sqq.).  For  the  sake  of  one  right- 
eous man,  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  souls  were  preserved.  So  was 
the  Lord  once  ready  to  spare  Sodom  for  the  sake  of  a  small  renmant 
(Gen.  18  :  32).  The  children  of  God  are  poor,  and  powerless,  and  yet 
by  their  faith  they  protect  the  world.  This  shipwreck  is  the  radiant 
centre  of  the  whole  voyage.  Here  appears  the  majesty  of  tlie  captive 
Paul,  amidst  the  raging  storm  and  in  the  face  of  death, — a  powerful 
proof  of  his  divine  mission. 

Having  remained  in  Malta  three  months,  and  by  his  miraculous  pre- 
servation from  the  bite  of  a  poisonous  serpent  (comp.  Mk.  16  :  18), 
and  by  healing  the  sick,  having  inspired  the  barbarians  and  the  governor 
of  the  island  with  a  sense  of  reverence  and  gratitude  (Acts  28  :  3-10), 
he  sailed  in  the  Alexandrian  ship  "Castor  and  Pollux"  (28  :  11),  to 
Syracuse  in  Sicily,  stopping  there  three  days  ;  then  to  Rhegium  (Reggio), 
opposite  Messina  ;  and  thence  he  arrived  in  two  days  at  Puteoli  (Puz- 
zuolo),  the  destination  of  the  Egyptian  ship,  near  Naples.  Here  he 
remained  a  week  with  the  small  congregation  of  Christians,  and  then 
journeyed  by  land  to  Rome,  where  he  may  have  arrived  about  the  end 
of  March  of  the  year  61,  or  at  latest  62.  Some  brethren  of  the  Roman 
church  had  come  more  than  a  day's  journey  (forty-three  Roman  miles), 
to  the  village  of  Forum  Appii,  on  the  Appian  Way,  and  others  at  least 
to  the  tavern,  Tres  TabernsB  (thirty-three  Roman  miles),  to  meet  the 
apostle  ;  thus  giving  him  a  token  of  their  respect  and  love,  which  must 
have  afforded  him  great  encouragement  and  joy. 

Thus,  therefore,  were  fulfilled  his  ardent  desire'  and  the  assurance  of 
the  Lord,"  that  he  should  yet  testify  of  Christ  in  the  capital  of  the 
world  ;  though  under  other  circumstances  than  he  had  at  first  intended 
(Rom.  15  :  24).  The  centurion  Julius,  who  had  treated  hiln  politely 
and  kindly  throughout  the  voyage,'  now  handed  him  over  to  the  captain 
of  the  imperial  body-guard  (prafectus  pra3torio  28  :  16).*     But  since 

'  Acts  19  :  21.     Comp.  Rom.  1  :  10  sqq.,  15  :  23  sqq. 

^  Acts  23  :  11.    27  :  24.  '  Acts  27  :  3,  43,  44.    28  :  14,  15. 

*  From  the  fact,  that  in  28  :  16  only  one  prefect  {arQaTOireSuQXVC)  is  mentioned,  we 
may  with  tolerable  certainty  infer,  that  the  excellent  Burrus.  the  friend  of  Seneca,  and 
with  him,  preceptor  of  Nero,  is  intended.  For  before  and  after  him  there  were 
always  tico  prefects  of  the  body-guard.  Now  since  Burrus  was  poisoned  in  February, 
or  at  all  events  before  the  middle  of  March,  A.  D.  62,  for  opposing  the  divorce  of  the 
empress  Octavia,  and  the  marriage  of  Nero  with  Poppaea  Sabina  (comp.  Tacitus : 
^nn.  XIV.  51  sqq.),  it  would  follow,  that  Paul  arrived  in  Rome  at  least  a  year  before, 
and  therefore  in  the  spring  of  61  (comp.  Anger,  Temp.  rat.  p.  100,  and  Wieseler,  Chro- 


MISSIONS.]  §  85.      PAXIL    IN    EOIEE.  319 

the  apostle,  according  to  the  testimony  of  Festas,  and  even  of  Agrippa 
himself,  had  transgressed  no  law  of  the  state  ;  sinc§,  therefore,  the  Ht- 
tercE  dimissoruc,  or  apos/oli,  as  they  were  called,  in  which  the  procurator 
was  obliged  to  lay  before  the  emperor  the  charge  against  the  prisoner 
and  the  whole  state  of  the  case,  all  went  only  in  Paul's  favor  ;  and 
since  the  centiu'ion  also,  no  doubt,  gave  evidence  for  him,  his  confine- 
ment must  have  been  a  very  easy  one.  This  is  confirmed  by  Luke's 
description,  28  :  16  sqq.  The  apostle  was,  indeed,  continually  watched 
by  a  soldier,  a  praetorian,  and  boand  with  a  long  chain  on  his  left  arm 
(v.  16,  17,  20)  ;'  but  he  was  allowed  to  rent  a  private  dwelling,  receive 
visits,  and  write  letters  ;  and  in  this  condition  he  might  labor  for  the 
kingdom  of  God,  without  hindrance,  for  two  whole  years  (v.  30,  31), 
till  all  the  witnesses  should  have  arrived,  and  the  proper  trial,  of  which, 
however,  the  Acts  give  us  no  account,  should  begin. 

And  he  did  labor.  Tliree  days  after  his  arrival  he  sent  for  the  most 
prominent  Jews  in  Rome,  probably  the  rulers  of  the  synagogues  ;  partly 
because  he  always  began  his  apostolic  work  vidth  the  children  of  the 
promise  ;  and  partly  because  he  wished  to  inform  them  of  the  true  cause 
of  his  appearance  in  Rome,  to  assure  them  of  his  pure  intentions,  and  to 
prevent  new  machinations  among  them.  For  he  must  have  feared,  that 
they  had  received  slanderous  accounts  of  him  from  Jerusalem,  and  would 
look  upon  him  as  an  enemy  to  their  nation.  But  this,  according  to  their 
own  declaration,  was  not  the  case.  They  said,  they  had  heard  nothing 
bad  about  him  either  by  letters  or  orally  ;  yet  they  desired  to  hear  him 
personally,  for  thus  much  they  certainly  knew  of  the  Christian  sect,  that 
it  was  everywhere  spoken  against  (28  :  21,  22).  It  is  undoubtedly 
true,  that  the  Sanhedrim  could  not  have  given  any  official  intelligence  to 
the  Roman  Jews  till  after  Paul's  appeal  ;  and  as  the  winter  soon  set 
in,  which  shut  up  all  communication  by  sea  {mare  daiisum),  any  such 
report  could  not  well  have  reached  Rome,  at  all  events,  before  Paul 
himself.     It  is  also  possible,  that  these  Roman  Jews  of  quality  gave 

nol.  pp.  83  and  87  sqq.).  It  is  certainly  possible,  but  not  so  natural,  to  understand  the 
singular,  with  Meyer  and  De  Wette,  thus  :  "  The  prcefectus  prcetorio  concerned,  the  one 
to  whom  transfer  was  nnade." — That  the  comnnanders  of  the  imperial  body-guard,  the 
highest  military  officers  of  the  city,  were  charged  with  the  safe-keeping  of  accused 
persons  sent  from  the  provinces  to  the  emperor,  and  that  Luke,  therefore,  here  tells 
historical  truth,  is  evident  from  Pliny,  Epp.  X.  6-5,  where  Trajan  writes  :  '■  Vinctus 
mitti  ad  prssfectos  prsetorii  mei  debet."     Comp.  Joseph.  .Antiqu-  XVIII.  6,  §  6  and  7. 

*  This  was  the  usual  mode  of  fettering  in  the  custodia  militaris.  and  was  designed 
not  for  punishment,  but  for  the  safe-keeping  of  persons  on  trial.  See  Josephus,  jlnt. 
XVIII.  6,  7,  according  to  which  Agrippa  was  connected  with  the  centurion  on  guard  ; 
and  Seneca,  Epist.  5 :  "  Quemadmodum  eadem  catena  et  militem  et  custodiam  copu- 
lat ;"  comp.  Sen.,  De  tranquill.  10:  "Eadem  custodia  universes  circumdedit  alliga- 
tique  sunt  etiam,  qui  alligaverunt,  nisi  tu  forte  leviorem  in  sinistra  catenam  putas.'' 


320  §  85.       PAUL    IN   EOME.  [l-   BOOK. 

themselves  but  little  trouble  about  religious  matters.  Yet  it  is,  after 
all,  exceedingly  improbable,  that  they  had  never  heard  by  private  com- 
munications anything  against  the  renowned  apostate  ;  for  he  had 
already  for  twenty  years  been  hated  and  persecuted  by  the  Jews  in 
Palestine,  Asia  Minor,  and  Greece  ;  and  the  Christian  community  in 
Rome,  as  appears  from  the  epistle  to  the  Romans,  was  large  enough  to 
attract  attention.  Besides,  the  first  part  of  their  declaration  is  not 
fully  consistent  with  the  second,  that  they  knew  "this  sect"  to  be 
everywhere  spoken  against.  We  are  forced,  therefore,  to  suppose  this 
pretended  want  of  acquaintance  with  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  to  have 
been  intentional  dissimulation  on  the  part  of  the  Jews,  whether  it  be, 
that  they  wished  thereby  to  express  their  contempt  for  his  supposition 
of  the  contrary,  or  that  they  feared  they  should  fail  in  sustaining  their 
charges  against  him,  and  be  in  turn  prosecuted  by  himself.  When 
Paul,  on  an  appointed  day,  preached  the  gospel  to  them  more  fully,  a 
division  arose  among  them  ;  some  believed  ;  the  others  hardened  their 
hearts,  as  Isaiah  (6  :  9,  10)  had  predicted  ;  and  thus,  repulsed  by  his 
own  brethren,  he  could  again  turn  with  good  conscience  to  the  Gentiles, 
who,  here  as  elsewhere,  manifested  a  greater  susceptibility  to  the  gospel. 

In  his  epistle  to  the  Philippians  (1  :  t,  13,  14)  Paul  could  write,  that 
his  imprisonment  was  favorable  to  the  spread  of  the  gospel.  As  his 
guards  relieved  one  another,  each  told  his  comrades,  what  he  had  heard 
from  the  apostle,  so  that  the  word  of  the  cross  became  known  to  the 
whole  imperial  guard  {i\iQ  pratorium,  the  castra  prcetoria,  Phil.  1  :  12- 
14).  The  very  personal  appearance  of  the  apostle,  his  courage,  the 
cheerfulness,  with  which  he  sacrificed  everything  for  his  cause,  must  have 
wrought  in  favor  of  his  doctrine.  In  Rome  also,  it  is  true,  there  was  no 
lack  of  Judaizing  false  teachers,  who  preached  the  gospel  from  impure 
motives,  from  envy  and  the  spirit  of  contention,  and  sought  to  under- 
mine Paul's  reputation  and  to  embitter  his  condition  (Phil.  1  :  15,  16). 
He  complains,  that  only  three  of  the  Jewish  Christians,  Aristarchus, 
Mark,  and  Jesus  Justus,  were  a  comfort  to  him  (Col.  4  :  10,  11).  But 
he  did  not  allow  this  to  discourage  him.  In  genuine  self-denial,  he  for- 
got his  own  person  in  the  cause  of  the  Lord,  and  rejoiced,  that  the  facts 
and  truths  of  Christianity,  though  mixed  with  many  errors,  were  spread 
even  by  his  enemies.  "  What  then  ?  notwithstanding,  every  w*y, 
whether  in  pretense  or  in  truth,  Christ  is  preached  ;  and  I  therein  do 
rejoice,  yea,  and  will  rejoice"  (Phil.  1  :  18). 

His  activity  was  not  limited,  however,  to  the  Roman  church.  He 
had  around  him,  at  least  at  times,  most  of  his  friends  and  felloAV-laborers, 
Luke,  Aristarchus,   Timothy,  Mark,  Tychicus,  Epaphras,  Demas,   and 


AflSSIONS.]   §  86.      EPISTLES    FROM   THE    EVIPKISONMENT    AT   EOME.         321 

Jesus,  surnamed  Justus.*  Through  them  he  could  the  more  easily  keep 
up  intercourse  with  all  his  churches  in  Greece  and  Asia  Minor,  and  con- 
tinue to  direct  them.  This  he  did  by  sending  his  delegates  to  these 
churches  with  oral  instructions,  and  with  letters,  by  which  he  wrought 
upon  the  whole  church  of  his  day  and  of  succeeding  ages,  so  that  we 
still  continue  to  enjoy  the  rich  fruits  of  his  imprisonment. 

§  86.  The  Epistles  written  during  the.  Imprisonment  at  Rome,  to  the 
Colossians,  Ephesians,  Philemon,  and  Philippians.     A.  D.  61-63. 

During  this  Roman  captivity  appeared  the  epistles  to  the  Colossians, 
to  tne  Ephesians,  to  Philemon,  to  the  Philippians,  and  the  second  to 
Timothy  ;  concerned  partly  with  personal  matters,  partly  with  the  new 
dangers  of  the  church,  and  especially  with  the  development  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  person  of  Christ,  forming  the  transition  to  the  writings  of 
John.  That  Paul  wrote  these  epistles  while  a  prisoner,  he  himself 
informs  us  in  several  passages  of  them.'* 

These  alone  are  not,  indeed,  enough  to  show  that  Rome  was  the 
place  of  composition  ;  for  he  was  also  confined  upwards  of  two  years  in 
Caesarea.  Yet  the  almost  unanimous  tradition  of  the  ancient  church 
favors  the  opinion  that  it  was.  In  the  case  of  the  second  epistle  to 
Timothy  this  is  conceded  by  all  modern  critics,^  since  in  c.  1  :  IT  Rome 
is  expressly  named  (compare  also  the  Roman  names,  Pudens,  Linus, 
and  Claudia,  4  :  21)  ;  the  only  difficulty  here  being,  whether  the  epistle 
were  written  during  the  first  or  a  second  imprisonment  in  Rome,  of 
which  we  shall  hereafter  speak.  The  epistle  to  the  Philippians  conveys 
a  salutation,  c.  4  :  22,  from  the  house  of  the  tmperor,  by  which  it  is 
most  natural  to  understand  the  palace  of  Nero  and  the  members  of  his 

*  Col.  4  :  10-15.     Phil.  2  :  19,  25.     Philem.  v.  23,  24.     Comp.  2  Tim.  4  :  10  sqq. 

""  Such  as  Eph.  3  :  1,  13.  4:1.  6  :  20.  Col-  1  :  24,  29.  2:1.  4:3,  IS.  Philem. 
V.  1,  9,  10,  13,  22.  Phil.  1  :  7,  12  sqq.,  17,  19-26,  30.  2:17.  2  Tim.  1  :  16.  2:8. 
4  :  6  sqq.,  16  sqq. 

^  With  the  exception  of  Biittger  in  his  Beitrdgen  ziir  histor.  kritischen  Einhitung  in 
die  paulinischcn  Bricfe.  Gottingen,  1837,  Part  2,  where  he  propounds  and  ingeniously 
defends  the  singular  view,  that  Paul  was  confined  in  Rome  but  five  days  at  most,  and 
spent  the  remainder  of  the  two  years  in  perfect  freedom  there.  Against  this  comp. 
the  remarks  of  Neander,  I.  p.  498  sq.,  and  Wieseier,  Clvonologie,  p.  411  sqq.  Thiersch 
also  {Apost.  Kirch,  p.  151)  places  the  composition  of  the  second  epistle  to  Timothy  in 
the  imprisoment  at  Caesarea  in  the  year  58,  and  in  its  beginning  and  close  sees  evident 
indications  of  Paul's  departure  from  Ephesus  having  taken  place  but  a  few  months 
before  (2  Tim.  1  :  4,  compared  with  Acts  20  :  37.-2  Tim.  4  :  13,  with  Acts  20  :  13.— 
2  Tim.  4  :  20,  with  Acts  20  :  15) .  T  he  strongest  ground  for  this  hypothesis  seems  to 
us  to  lie  in  the  forsaken  condition  of  the  apostle  (2  Tim.  4  :  10),  which  cannot  be 
easily  explained  if  he  were  in  Rome.  But  against  it  is  especially  the  expectation  of 
death,  with  which  he  was  then  filled  (2  Tim.  1:8.  4  :  16);  whereas  in  Caesarea  he 
distinctly  hoped  to  reach  Rome,  and  could  rest  this  hope  on  a  vision  seen  in  Jerusalem. 
21 


323  §    86.      EPISTLES    WRITTEN    DURING  [i.   BOOK. 

body-guard  or  his  domestics.  What  Paul  says  in  c.  1  :  1,  12-18,  of  the 
beneficial  results  of  his  imprisoument  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel,  also 
suits  far  better  with  what  the  Acts  tell  us  of  his  situation  in  Rome, 
than  with  their  description  of  his  captivity  in  Caesarea.  It  is  more  diffi- 
cult to  determine  the  place  from  which  the  epistles  were  written  to  the 
Ephesians,  the  Colossians,  and  Philemon.  Yet  in  favor  of  Ccesarea,  for 
which  Schulz,  Wiggers,  Meyer,  and  Thiersch  have  declared,  not  a  single 
positive  argument  can  be  brought,  while  the  freedom  and  boldness, 
which  Paul  used  in  preaching,'  point  again  to  Rome.  Then,  too,  we  can 
more  easily  conceive,  how  the  many  fellow-laborers  above  enumerated 
might  join  Paul  in  Rome,  the  world's  rendezvous,  than  how  they  should 
meet  with  him  in  the  less  important  city  of  Csesarea.  Finally,  the 
passage  Philem.  v.  22,  according  to  which  Paul  hoped  to  go  soon  to 
Phrygia,  seems  decisive.  In  Rome  he  might,  no  doubt,  think  of  such  a 
journey  ;  but  not  in  Caesarea  ;  for  here  Rome  and  Spain  were  upper- 
most in  his  mind,''  while  the  thought  of  returning  to  Asia  Minor  was  far 
from  him  (comp.  Acts  20  :  25). 

As  to  the  chronological  order  of  these  letters  ;  w^e  suppose,  that  the 
epistles  to  the  Ephesians,  the  Colossians,  and  Philemon  were  written  and 
sent  first  and  almost  simultaneously,  during  the  author's  two  years  of 
quiet,  Acts  28  :  30,  31  (A.D.  61  :  63)  ■  the  epistle  to  the  Philippians, 
somewhat  later  ;  and  the  second  to  Timothy,  last.'  In  favor  of  this  is 
the  gradual  change,  which  these  letters  exhibit,  in  the  condition  of  the 
apostle  in  his  confinement.  According  to  Eph.  6  :  19,  20.  Col.  4  :  3, 
4,  he  preaches  the  gospel  without  hindrance,  and  is  expecting  his  libera- 
tion. In  his  epistle  to  Philemon  in  Colosse,  he  already  bespeaks  a  lodg- 
ing in  that  city  (v.  22),  since  the  circumstances  of  the  church  in  Asia 
Minor  made  his  presence  desirable,  and  seem  to  have  caused  a  change 
in  his  former  plan  of  going  to  Spain.  These  letters  are  as  silent  as  the 
Acts  respecting  a  trial.  While  writing  the  epistle  to  the  Philippians,  he 
could  speak  already  of  the  great  success  of  his  preaching  in  Rome 
(1:1,  12-19.  4  :  22).  This  indicates  a  later  date.  He  also  then 
still  entertained  the  hope  of  being  snon  set  free  and  revisiting  the  Philip- 
pians  (1  :  25,  26.      2  :  24)  ;    but   the  prospects    were  no  longer  so 

'  Eph.  6  :   19.     Col.  4  :  3,  4.     Comp.  Acts  28  :  30  sq 

=  Acts  19  :  21.     20  :  2.5.     Comp.  Rom.  1  :  13.     1-5  :  23  sqq 

^  So  Marcion  (as  early  as  A.D.  1.50)  in  his  canon,  which  is  chronologically,  and, 
with  the  exception  of  the  epistles  to  the  Thessalonians.  which  should  stand  first,  cor- 
rectly arranged.  According  to  Epiphanius  {Haeres,  42,  9),  he  read  the  ten  epistles  of 
Paul,  which  he  received,  in  the  following  order  :  Galatians,  Corinthians,  Roman.s, 
Thessalonians,  Laodiceans  (the  same  as  Ephesians),  Colossians,  Philemon,  Philip))ians. 
So  Wieseler,  p.  422  sqq.  of  his  Chronologie ;  only  he  places  the  epistles  to  Philemon 
and  the  Colossians  before  that  to  the  Ephesians  (comp.  p.  455). 


MISSIO.VS.]  THE    IMPRISONMENT    IN    ROME,  323 

favorable,  and  he  had  before  him  the  possibility  of  speedy  martyrdom. 
Finally,  the  second  epistle  to  Timothy  shows,  that  he  had  already  made 
his  first  judicial  defence  before  the  emperor  (4  :  16,  1/1)  ;  was  bound  as 
a  malefactor  (2:9);  expected  nothing  now  but  his  execution  ;  and 
saw  his  course  already  finished,  his  battle  fought  (4  :  6-8,  18).  The 
number  of  attendants  assembled  round  him  leads  to  the  same  result. 
Coloss.  4  :  7-14  shows  eight  :  Philem.  10,  23  sq.,  five  ;  Phil.  1  :  1. 
2  :  25  (comp.  however,  4  :  21),  only  two,  Timothy  and  Epaphroditus  ; 
and  at  the  writing  of  the  second  epistle  to  Timothy,  all  but  Luke  had 
forsaken  the  apostle  ;  some,  as  Tychicus,  under  commission  from  him  ; 
others,  of  their  own  accord,  and,  it  would  seem,  from  fear  of  the  im- 
pending danger,  and  from  love  of  ease  (4:9,  10,  16      1:15). 

1.  The  epistle  to  the  Colossians  was  sent  by  Tychicus,  the  faithful 
helper  of  Paul  (Col.  4  :  t,  8  ;  comp.  Acts  20  :  5.  Tit.  3  :  12),  as  was 
also  the  epistle  to  the  Ephesians  (Eph.  6  :  21).  From  this  circumstance 
and  the  striking  similarity  in  the  matter  of  the  two  letters,  we  should 
judge  that  they  were  written  at  about  the  same  time.  The  one  to  the 
Colossians  is  probably  the  older,  since  the  epistle  to  the  Ephesians  con- 
sists iu  part  of  a  mere  enlargement  of  the  same  thoughts  and  exhorta- 
tions.' The  church  of  Colosse,  a  city  of  Phrygia,  not  far  from  Laodicea 
and  Hierapolis,  was  not  founded  by  Paul  himself,  but  by  his   disciples, 

'  We  have  no  decisive  external  marks  of  the  priority  of  one  or  the  other  of  these 
epistles.  Harless,  indeed  (in  the  Introduction  to  his  thorough  Commentary  on  Ephe- 
sians. p.  lix.),  thinks  he  finds  in  the  apparently  insignificant  particle  Kai  before  i/zcrf, 
Eph.  6  :  21,  a  decisive  proof,  that  ^he  epistle  to  the  Colossians  had  been  previously 
written ;  since  it  implies  a  reference  to  the  parallel  passage,  Col.  4  :  7,  8,  as  written 
shortly  before,  the  sense  be.ng:  "But  that  ye  a/so  " — as  well  as  the  Colossians  to 
whom  I  have  just  written — "  may  know  my  affairs,  and  how  I  do,  I  have  sent  Tychi- 
cus," &c.  So  Wiggers,  Meyer,  Neander  (I.  p.  524,  Note  1),  and  Wieseler  (Chronol. 
p.  432).  But  Paul,  in  using  the  /cat,  might  very  well  have  had  in  mind  other  brethren, 
to  whom  he  had  not  written,  but  whom  Tychicus  was  to  visit ;  and  the  expression 
could  not  have  made  the  Ephesians  think  of  the  Colossians,  unless  they  had  the  epistle 
to  that  church  before  them,  as  we  have  ;  for  elsewhere  in  the  epistle  to  the  Ephesians 
there  is  not  the  slightest  reference  to  it. — On  the  other  hand,  the  advocates  of  the 
priority  of  the  epistle  to  the  Ephesians  appeal  (a)  to  Col.  4  :  16,  on  the  presumption, 
that  the  letter  to  the  Laodiceans  here  mentioned  is  identical  with  that  to  the  Ephe- 
sians. But  the  apostle  might  have  referred  to  this  by  anticipation,  as  he  intended  to 
write  it  immediately.  (6)  To  the  omission  of  Timothy's  name  in  the  superscription 
of  the  epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  while  it  is  inserted  in  Col.  1:1;  indicating,  that  he  did 
not  arrive  in  Rome  till  after  the  composition  of  the  first  letter.  But  this  omission  is 
more  naturally  accounted  for  by  the  encyclical  character  of  the  letter  to  the  Ephesians ; 
which,  in  general,  has  nothing  to  do  with  personal  matters,  and  gives  salutations 
neither  from  nor  to  third  persons.  So  with  the  epistle  to  the  Galatian  churches.  It  is 
possible,  also,  that  Timothy  left  Rome  a  short  time  after  the  writing  of  the  letter  to 
the  Colossians,  and  returned  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  apostle  before  the  composition 
of  the  epistle  to  the  Philippians. 


324:  §  86.      EPISTLE   TO    THE    COLOSSIANS.  [l-   BOOK. 

particularly  Epaphras.  It  consisted  mostly  of  Geutile  Christians.  The 
occasion  of  Paul's  letter  to  it  was  the  intelligence,  partly  cheering,  partly 
suspicious,  which  Epaphras  had  brought  him  (1  :  6-8.  4  :  12,  13).  The 
church  of  Asia  Minor  was  threatened  with  new  danger  from  the  adul- 
teration of  the  gospel,  against  which  the  apostle  had  already  warned 
the  Ephesian  elders  in  his  parting  address  (Acts  20  :  29,  30).  The 
gross  Pharisaical  Judaism  had  been  for  a  while  suppressed  by  the  pow- 
erful and  decided  attack  upon  it  in  the  epistle  to  the  Galatians.  But 
now  the  Judaistic  error  was  assuming  a  more  refined,  spiritualistic  form, 
and  beginning,  by  union  with  elements  of  Hellenistic  philosophy,  to  shape 
itself  towards  Gnosticism.  Many  educated  Jews,  especially  at  Alexandria, 
had  become  ashamed  of  the  uncouth  realistic  character  of  their  religion, 
and  sought  to  clothe  its  naked  simplicity  with  the  fig-leaves  of  Grecian 
speculation.  They  declared  the  facts  of  sacred  history  to  be  merely 
symbols  veiling  higher  Platonic  ideas,  and  these  ideas  they  endeavored  to 
find  in  the  Old  Testament  itself  by  means  of  allegorical  interpretation. 
Thus  arose  that  remarkable  amalgamation  of  Judaism  and  Heathenism, 
which  we  have  noticed  above  in  Philo  and  the  Therapeutae.'  The  Co- 
lossian  errorists,  however,  seem  to  have  stood  in  no  direct  connection 
with  this  eclecticism.  Their  theory  may  be  more  simply  explained  from 
the  union  of  Essenism  with  the  Phrygian  national  character,  which  was 
inclined  to  enthusiasm  and  extravagance.  In  the  epistle  before  us  (par- 
ticularly c.  2)  they  appear  as  ascetic  theosophists,  who  lost  themselves 
in  the  cloudy  regions  of  the  spiritual  world  ;  worshipped  angels  at  the 
expense  of  the  higher  dignity  of  Christ  ;  boasted  of  a  hidden  wisdom  ; 
and  sought  to  atone  for  sin  by  the  mortification  of  sense. 

This  Judaizing  Gnosticism  the  apostle  meets  with  a  positive  refutation, 
setting  forth  briefly  but  comprehensively  the  doctrine  of  the  person  of 
Jesus  Christ  and  his  redeeming  work.  Christ  is  presented  as  the  centre 
of  the  whole  spiritual  world,  raised  above  all  created  beings  ;  as  the 
mediator,  by  whom  the  world  was  made  and  is  u})held  ;  as  the  embodi- 
ment of  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  ;  as  the  head  of  the  church,  and 
the  source  of  all  wisdom  and  knowledge.  The  redemption  wrought  by 
him  embraces  heaven  and  earth  ;  releases  believers  form  outward  sta- 
tutes, from  this  perishable  world  ;  and  leads  them  on  gradually  to  the 
true  perfection. — Then  follow  practical  exhortations,  items  of  intelli- 
gence, and  salutations. 

2.  The  epistle  to  the  Ephesians  has  no  such  direct  and  clear  reference 
to  a  particular  error  or  a  particular  circle  of  readers,  and,  on  account 
of  its  general  character,  has  been  by  some  modern  critics,  like  De  Wette 
and  Baur,  rejected  as  spurious.      Considering  that  Paul  had  labored 

'  See  above,  §  51. 


MISSIONS.]  g  86.       EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPIIESIANS.  325 

three  years  in  Ephesus,  it  must  certainly  seem  strange,  that  he  no  where 
roniinds  his  readers  of  this  residence  with  them  ;  that  he  salutes  them 
neither  for  h'.mself  nor  for  his  companions,  but  rather  concludes  in  the 
third  person  with  a  general  benediction  on  all  Christians  (6  :  24)  ;  and 
even  seems  to  be  acquainted  with  them  only  indirectly  from  hearsay.' 
These  singular  circumstances  are  sufficiently  explained,  however,  by  the 
simple  assumption,  that  we  here  have  before  us  a  circular  letter,  address- 
ed, indeed,  to  the  church  of  Ephesus,  the  principal  congregation  of  Asia 
Minor,  particularly  to  the  Gentile  Christians  there,''  but  at  the  same  time 
to  the  neighboring  churches  also,  which  had  sprung  from  it,  and  with 
which  Paul,  especially  after  having  been  three  or  four  years  absent  from 
them,  could  personally  be  but  partially  acquainted.^  In  favor  of  this  are 
also  the  facts,  that  the  words  of  address  :  h  E^eVcj  (1  :  1),  in  the  impor- 
tant codex  Vaticanus  (B),  are  found  only  on  the  margin,  and,  in  Tischen- 
dorf 's  opinion,*  were  put  there  by  a  second  hand  in  smaller  characters  ; 
that  in  cod.  61,  they  are  marked  as  suspicious  by  diacritical  points  ;  and 
that,  according  to  the  statements  of  Basil  the  Great,'  and  Jerome,^  they 
must  have  been  wanting  also  in  other  ancient  manuscripts.  Now  though 
this  address  be  sufficiently  ascertained  by  the  preponderance  of  testimony 
to  be  the  original  reading  ;  yet  the  omission  of  it  in  many  copies  is  most 
easily  accounted  for  by  supposing  the  letter  to  have  been  a  circular.  Fi- 
nally, we  know,  that  the  Gnostic  Marcion,  in  the  middle  of  the  second  cen- 
tury, entered  the  epistle  to  the  Ephesians  in  his  canon  as  Epistola  ad 
Laodicenos  {irpbc  A-aodiKta^).''  We  can  see  no  reason  for  supi  osing  this  to 
have  been  an  intentional  falsification,  and  it  confirms  the  opinion,  to  us  very 
probable,  that  the  epistle  to  the  Laodiceans,  which  the  Colossians  (4  : 
16)  were  charged  to  read,  was  no  other  than  the  epistle  to  the  Ephesians.* 

'  Eph.  1:15.  3  :  2-4.  Comp.,  however,  the  similar  form  of  expression  in  2  Thess. 
3:11.     Phil.  1  :  27. 

'   Comp.  2:11  sqq.,  19  sqq.     3  :  1  sqq.     4  :  17,  22. 

*  So  Beza :  "  Suspicor  non  tarn  ad  Ephesios  ipsos  propria  missam  epistolam,  quam 
Ephesum,  ut  ad  caeteras  Asiaticas  ecclesias  transmitteretur."  The  opinion,  that  the 
epistle  to  the  Ephesians  is  an  enc3clical  or  catholic  letter,  is  likewise  held,  with  im- 
material modifications,  by  Usher  {Annal.  V.  et  N.  T.,  ad  a.  64.  p.  686).  Hammond, 
Bengel,  Hess,  Flatt,  Neander,  Anger  (Der  Laodicenerbrief.  Leipz.  1843^,  Harless,  Stier, 
and  others. 

^  In  the  "  Studien  und  Kiitiken,"  1847,  p.  133  sq. 
"  Adv.  Eunom.  II,  19. 

*  Ad  Ephes.  1:1. 

'  According  to  Tertullian  :  jldv.  Marc.  V.  11  and  17. 

*  The  phrase  :  e-kigtoTi/)  ?/  Ik  AaodiKeiac,  Col.  4  :  16,  may  mean,  according  to  the 
connection,  simply  an  epistle  of  Paul  intended  for  Laodicea.  The  ek  describes  Lao- 
dicea  not  as  the  place  where  the  letter  was  written,  but  as  the  place  whence  it  was  to 
be  brought.  Harless,  De  Wette,  and  others,  understand  by  it.  indeed,  an  epistle,  now 
lost,  intended  expressly  for  the  Laodiceans.     But  in  this  case  we  should  rather  expect 


326  §  86.       EPISTLE    TO    THE    EPHESIANS.  [l-  BOOK. 

Perhaps  Laodicea  was  the  last  church  in  the  circle,  as,  in  fact,  the  series 
of  epistles  in  the  Apocalypse  begins  with  Ephesus,  and  closes  with  the 
lukewarm  Laodicea. 

The  contents  of  the  epistle  are,  as  already  remarked,  much  the  same 
as  those  of  the  epistle  to  the  Colossians,  but  indicative  of  progress, — 
the  idea  of  the  church  being  more  fully  developed  in  the  closest  connec- 
tion with  the  person  and  work  of  the  Redeemer.  The  main  doctrinal 
thought  of  this  circular  is.  The  church  in  Christ  Jesus,  the  eternal  prin- 
ciple of  her  life,  her  unity  of  many  members,  her  warfare  and  victory,  her 
steady  growth,  and  her  glorious  end.  Tlie  church  is  represented  as  the 
body  of  Jesus  Christ  ;  the  fulness  of  all  his  theanthropic  glory  ;  a  mys- 
tical spiritual  temple,  which  rests  on  Christ  as  its  corner-stone,  and  iu 
which  Gentiles  and  Jews  are  joined  together  in  a  fellowship  of  peace  and 
love  before  unknown.  Hence,  in  the  hortatory  portion,  the  apostle  urges 
especially  the  preservation  of  unity  .(4  :  1  sqq.),  and  derives  the  duties 
of  husband  and  wife  from  the  relation  of  Christ  to  his  church  and  of  the 
church  to  Christ  (5  :  22  sqq).  Here,  therefore,  we  have  an  epistle  on 
the  church,  designed  primarily  for  the  church  of  Asia  Minor,  but 
through  it  for  that  of  all  ages  and  climes.  Even  at  the  time  of  the 
apostle's  departure  from  Ephesus  the  fundamental  conception  of  this 
epistle  was  floating  in  his  mind  (Acts  20  :  28).  There  everything  urged 
to  the  maintenance  of  a  firm  unity  in  the  growing  church,  that  it 
might  withstand  as  well  the  approaching  persecutions  from  without,  as  the 
incipient  errors  from  within,  which  threatened  to  dissolve  and  evaporate 
the  historical  substance  of  Christianity.  The  epistle  to  the  Ephesians 
nowhere,  indeed,  combats  errors  directly,  like  that  to  the  Colossians  ; 
yet  it  is  at  the  same  time  a  positive  refutation  of  the  spiritualistic  Gnos- 
ticism, and  marks  in  ideal  outline  the  course  which  the  church  in  the 
next  age  had  to  take  to  oppose  an  effectual  barrier  to  this  dangerous  foe.' 

the  designation  :  rfjv  npbg  AaodiKelQ.  It  is  inexpedient,  also,  to  increase  unnecessarily 
the  number  of  the  lost  epistles  of  the  apostles  ;  and  there  is  here  the  less  reason  for  so 
doing,  since  Paul  had  already  sent  three  letters  sinaultaneously  into  these  regions. 
Latterly  Wieseler  {Cnmmentat.  dc  epist.  Laodicena.  quam  vulgo  pcrditam  putant-  1844, 
and  Chronol.  p.  450  sqq.)  advocates  the  view,  that  the  epistle  to  the  Laodiceans  is  iden- 
tical with  that  to  Philenaon.  But  against  it  are  the  facts,  that  this  last  epistle  has  to 
do  merely  with  a  private  matter,  and  that  Philemon  and  Archippus  lived  not  in  Lao- 
dicea, as  Wieseler  tries  to  show,  but  in  Colosse  (Col.  4  :  17  and  9). 

^  Dr.  Baur,  on  the  contrary  (p.  417  sqq.),  makes  this  epistle  the  product  of  the 
Gnosticism  of  the  second  century,  as  expressions  like  i?p6voi.  KvgLdrrjTeg,  alwv,  K?Jjiju)fj.a, 
yvcJaic,  TvoXynoiKilog  ao(pia,  fivarr/Qioif,  are  supposed  to  testify!  With  this  he  joins 
also  a  Montanistic  source,  since  the  v'ews  of  this  epistle  respecting  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  Christian  prophecy  (3:5.  4:1 1),  respecting  the  different  stages  and  the  holiness 
of  the  church  (4  :  13,  14.  5  :  3  sqq.\  and  respecting  marriage  (5  :  31)-  were  first 
brought  into  vogue  by  Montanism!     So  also  Schwegler:   Das  nackapost.  Zeitalter,  IL 


MISSIONS.]  §  86.       EPISTLE    TO    PHILEMON.  327 

Not  that  it  had  distinctly  in  view  the  specific  form  of  church,  govern- 
ment, which  meets  us  in  the  second  and  third  centuries  ;  but  that, 
which  was  true  and  eternal  in  the  ancient  church,  that,  which  armed  her 
for  victorious  conflict  with  the  grand  heresies,  and  which  is  now  again 
needed  for  her  rebuilding,  was  mainly  the  complete  doctrine  of  the  the- 
anthropic  person  of  Christ  and  the  church  unity  founded  upon  it, — a 
doctrine,  the  development  of  which  started  first  from  the  later  epistles 
of  Paul,  particularly  those  to  the  Ephesians  and  Colossians,  as  also  from 
the  writings  and  later  activity  of  John. 

As  to  style  ;  in  no  other  epistle  do  the  ideas  flow  in  such  an  unbroken 
stream  and  such  involved  periods,  as  in  that  to  the  Ephesians.  The 
perverted  taste  of  some  modern  critics  has  pronounced  this  "  diffuseness," 
"  verbosity,"  &c.  Grotius  understood  the  matter  better,  when  he  said  : 
"  Rerum  sublimitatem  adaequans  verbis  sublimioribus,  quam  alia  habuit 
umquam  lingua  humana  !"  The  first  chapter  has,  so  to  speak,  a  liturgi- 
cal, psalmodic  character,  being'  as  it  were  a  glowing  song  in  praise  of 
the  transcendent  riches  of  the  grace  of  God  in  Christ  and  the  glory  of 
the  Christian  calling. 

3.  The  short  epistle  to  Philemon,  a  zealous  Christian  in  Colosse,  is  a 
recommendation  of  his  slave  Onesimus,  who  had  run  away  from  his  mas- 
ter on  account  of  some  offense  he  had  committed  (ancient  tradition  says 
theft),  but  was  converted  by  the  apostle  during  his  imprisonment,  and 
now  penitently  desired  to  retui'n  in  company  with  Tychicus  (Col.  4:9). 
The  letter  is  a  "  gem  of  Christian  tenderness,"  an  invaluable  contribu- 
tion to  the  portrait  of  the  generous,  amiable,  kind-hearted  apostle,  who, 
in  the  midst  of  his  cares  for  the  whole  church,  had  also  a  warm  heart 
for  a  poor  slave,  and  treated  him  as  a  dear  brother  in  Jesus  Christ. 

4.  Some  time  after  the  composition  of  the  above  epistles,  perhaps 
not  till  the  expiration  of  the  first  two  years  of  the  apostle's  confinement, 

p.  330  sqq.,  and  p.  375  sqq.  But  are  not  Montanism  and  Gnosticism  two  directly  op- 
posite systems,  as  the  relation  of  TertuUian  to  Marcion  itself  shows  ?  And  how  can 
it  be  thouj!;ht  possible,  that  the  same  church,  which  fought  against  Gnosticism  as  its 
deadly  enemy,  should  universally  recognize  such  a  Gnostic  production  as  apostolic  and 
canonical  ?  It  is  a  fundamental  mistake  in  Baur's  construction  of  history,  that  it  makes 
error  the  source  of  truth,  darkness  the  mother  of  light ;  whereas  the  very  reverse  is 
the  fact,— that  heresy  arises  only  in  opposition  to  truth  already  substantially  present, 
and  borrows  from  this  truth  its  best  weapons.  Gnosti-cism,  indeed,  brings  its  view  of 
the  world  from  heathenism  ;  but  what  gave  this  system  its  peculiar  form,  and  made  it 
so  dangerous  an  enemy  of  the  church,  was  the  union  of  old  Oriental  and  Grecian  prin- 
ciples of  philosophy  with  Christian  ideas,  which  it  took  chiefly  from  the  writings  of 
Paul  and  John.  The  same  reasoning,  by  which  this  destructive  criticism  derives  the 
epistle  to  the  Ephesians  from  the  school  of  Valentine  and  Montantis,  might  make  the 
Gnostic  Marcion  the  author  of  the  epistles  to  the  Galatians  and  Romans. 


328  §  8Y.      HYPOTHESIS    OF   A   SECOND  [l-  BOOK. 

A.D.  63/  but  probably  before  the  proper  trial  began/  was  written  the 
epistle  to  the  church  at  Philippi,  the  first  congregation  planted  by  Paul 
on  European  soil,  and  one  with  which  he  stood  on  terms  of  peculiar 
friendship  (comp.  1  :  3-11).  It  was  sent  by  Epaphroditus,  who  had 
brought  the  vapostle  a  present  of  money  from  the  Philippians  (4  :  10,  18. 
2  :  25).  For  this  Paul  returned  his  thanks  (4  :  10-20),  together  with 
information  respecting  his  personal  condition  and  his  labors  in  Rome 
(1  :  12-26)  ;  exhortations  to  humility  and  unity,  to  rejoicing  in  the  Lord, 
to  prayer,  and  to  delight  in  every  virtue  ;  and  warnings  against  Judaiz- 
ing  false  teachers,  who  would  substitute  their  own  righteousness  of  works 
for  the  righteousness  of  faith  (1  :  2T-4  :  9).  The  close  consists  of 
salutations  and  the  usual  benediction  (4  :  21-23).  In  a  doctrinal  point 
of  view  the  christological  passage  c.  2  :  5  sqq.  is  the  passage  of  chief 
importance.  In  other  respects  this  epistle  has  more  the  character  of  a 
familiar  letter,  than  any  other  of  Paul's  epistles  to  churches.  It  is  full 
of  personal  matters  ;  it  is  the  hearty  effusion  of  the  impressions  and 
feelings  of  the  moment  ;  and  a  lovely  memorial  of  the  author's  tender, 
sympathizing  heart,  and  his  susceptibility  to  hallowed  friendship. 

§  81.    The  Hypothesis  of  a  second  Imprisonment  of  Paul  in  Rome.      The. 

Pastoral  Epistles. 

The  book  of  Acts  concludes  its  narrative  of  the  labors  of  Paul,  c.  28  : 
81,  with  the  remark,  that  for  two  years,  while  in  custody  in  Rome,  he 
preached  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  taught  concerning  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  "  with  all  confidence,  no  man  forbidding  him"  (/^f-u  nilar]r  -na^ipr^aia^ 
uKDlvTug)  ;  thus  leaving  it  altogether  problematical,  whether  he  was 
ever  set  at  liberty  or  not.  Luke  seems  to  have  employed  these  two 
years  of  rest  in  writing  or  continuing  his  two  works  (probably  begun  in 
Caesarea),  partly  on  the  basis  of  older  documents,  partly  from  his  own 
observation,  and  to  have  finished  the  book  of  Acts  just  at  the  expiration 
of  this  time.  In  this  second  work,  which  forms  with  his  gospel  a  con- 
tinuous composition,  his  purpose  of  describing  the  planting  of  the  Cliris- 
tian  church  among  the  Jews  and  Gentiles  by  the  two  leading  apostles 

'  Hug  infers  from  Phil.  2  :  21  compared  with  Col.  4  :  14,  that  Luke  was  no  longer 
with  the  apostle  when  the  epistle  to  the  Philippians  was  written.  Yet  he  may  very 
well  be  included  in  the  salutation,  c.  4  :  21.  At  all  events  we  find  him  again  with 
Paulin  2  Tim.  4  :  10. 

'  It  is  true,  many  commentators,  following  Chrysostom,  have  referred  the  u-o'loyla, 
Phil.  1  :  7,  to  a  defence  before  a  court  (comp.  2  Tim.  4:16,  uiroXoyia  /lov).  But  this 
word  is  plaiidy  to  be  closely  connected  with  tov  evayyeHov,  as  is  evident  irom  the 
very  omission  of  the  article  before  f3e,3ai.6(j£i,  and  from  v.  16  ;  and  denotes  the  activity 
of  the  apostle  in  defending  the  gospel,  not  so  much  against  the  civil  power  of  the  hea- 
then, as  against  the  false  teachers  from  amongst  the  Jews  (comp.  v.  16  and  17). 


MISSIONS.]  mPKISONMKKT    OF    PAUL    IN    EOME.  329 

(comp.  1:8),  finds  a  convenient  stopping-place  in  Paul's  joyful  preach- 
ing of  Christianity  in  Rome,  the  capital  of  the  then  known  worid,  and 
soon  the  centre  of  the  Christian  church.  With  this  the  promise  giveu 
to  the  apostle  (23  :  11,  comp.  19  :  21.  2*7  :  24)  was  fulfilled,  and  the 
final  triumph  of  the  gospel  decided. 

But  here  at  once  arises  the  cjuestion  respecting  the  subsequent  for- 
tunes of  the  apostle.     From  tradition  no  more  is  certain  and  generally 
received,  than  that  he  suffered  martyrdom  at  Rome  under  Nero.     But 
whether  this  took  place  during  his  first  imprisonment  or  a  second,  is  a 
point  on  which  commentators  and    church   historians  to  this  day  dis- 
agree.'    According  to  one  view,  the  apostle  was  executed  as  early  as 
the  year  63  or  64  ;  according  to  the  other,  he  was  set  at  liberty,  made 
several  more  missionary  tours,  and  did  not  die  till  about  A.  D.  66  or  6T. 
In  the  latter  case  his  liberation  must  be  dated  at  all  events  before  the 
year  64.     For  in  this  year  broke  out  the  great  conflagration  in  Rome, 
and,   in  consequence  of  it,  the  cruel  persecution  of  the  Christians,  in 
which  Paul,  as  the  leader  of  the  hated  sect,  would  be  the  very  last  to 
be  spared.     But  what,  now,  did  Paul  do  between  the  first  and  second 
imprisonments  ?     On  this  point  the  advocates  of  the  latter  hypothesis 
are  themselves  divided.     Baronius  and  Hug  place  the  composition  of 
the  Pastoral  Epistles  before  the  time  of  Paul's  liberation,  while  Usher, 
Pearson,  Heidenreich,  Gieseler,  and  Neander  date  the  first  epistle  to 
Timothy  and  the  epistle  to  Titus  during  the  interval  between  the  two  terms 
of  confinement,  and  the  second  epistle  to  Timothy,  after  the  example  of 
Euseblus,   during  the  second  imprisonment  in  Rome.     Neander  then, 
with  his  usual  circumspection  and  judgment,  constructs  from  the  his- 
torical hints  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles  the  following  picture  of  that  part 
of  Paul's  hfe,  which  the  Acts  leave  entirely  unnoticed."     After  his  lib- 
eration, Paul  first  carried  out  the  purpose,  expressed  in  the  epistles  to 
Philemon  and  the  Philippians,  of  making  a  tour  of  visitation  to  Asia 
Minor  and   Greece  ;   left  Timothy  in  Ephesus  to  govern  the   church 
there  and  watch  against  the  secret  intrusion  of  errorists  ;  brought  the 
gospel  to  Crete  ;  entrusted  the  further  management  of  the  church  on 
this  island  to  his  disciple  Titus  ;  then  went  again  into  Greece  (to  Nico- 

'  This  difference,  however,  is  one  of  merely  scientific  interest,  and  does  not  touch  at 
all  the  doctrines  of  faith  and  morality.  Among  the  advocates  of  a  second  imprisoihent 
of  Paul  in  Rome  are  to  be  named  particularly,  Baronius,  Tillemont,  Usher,  Pearson, 
Mosheim,  Mynster,  Hug,  Wurm,  Schott,  Credner,  Gieseler,  and  Neander;  on  the  other 
side  are  Petavius,  Lardner,  Schrader,  Hemsen,  De  Wette,  Winer,  Baur,  Niedner, 
Wieseler.  The  latter  seems  to  us  to  have  most  thoroughly  and  ingeniously  investi- 
gated this  question  in  its  exegetical  and  traditional  aspect,  in  his  Chronologie  des  apost. 
Zeitaltcrs,  p.  461  sqq.,  and  p.  521-551. 

"  Apost.  Gesrk.  I   p   538  sqq. 


330  §  87.      HYPOTHESIS   OF   A   SECOND  [l-  COOK. 

media  in.  Epirus)  and  Asia  Minor,  took  leave  of  Timothy,  and  now  ful- 
filled his  former  resolution  to  preach  the  gospel  in  Spain  ;'  was  here 
arrested  a  second  time,  and  taken  to  Rome,  where  he  wrote  the  second 
epistle  to  Timothy,  and  afterwards  suflfered  martyrdom.  But  we  must 
here  at  once  remark,  that  so  many,  so  extensive  missionary  tours  could 
scarcely  have  been  crowded  into  the  space  of  three,  or,  at  most,  four 
years  ;  especially  since,  for  all  we  know  from  the  book  of  Acts,  the 
apostle  did  not  usually  merely  fly  through  the  countries  he  visited,  but 
settled  in  the  larger  cities  for  a  considerable  time. 

We  propose  now  to  examine,  with  all  possible  impartiality,  the  princi- 
pal arguments  for  and  against  the  hypothesis  of  a  second  imprisonment 
in  Rome.  Here  six  points  present  themselves  :  (1)  The  nature  of 
Paul's  trial  ;  (2)  the  conclusion  of  the  book  of  Acts  ;  (3)  Paul's  own 
expectations  ;  (4)  the  date  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  especially  (5)  of 
the  second  epistle  to  Timothy  ;   (6)  the  statements  of  patristic  tradition. 

1.  As  to  the  first  point  ;  Paul  was  properly  innocent.  He  had  com- 
mitted no  crime,  for  which  he  could  be  condemned  before  the  tribunal 
of  the  Roman  law.  The  Roman  state  had  as  yet  taken  no  official  notice 
of  Christianity  as  such,  had  not  yet  declared  it  a  religio  illiciia,  and 
gave  itself  no  concern  with  the  internal  religious  disputes  of  the  Jews. 
Felix,  Festus,  and  Agrippa  were  convinced  of  the  apostle's  innocence  ; 
the  official  statement,  which  accompanied  him  to  Rome,  was  no  doubt 
in  his  favor  ;  and  to  it  the  centurion,  Junius,  who  had  learned  on  the 
voyage  to  esteem  and  love  him,  and  who  owed  him  the  preservation  of 
his  own  life,  might  have  added  his  recommendation,  founded  on  personal 
knowledge. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  must  be  considered,  that  the  Jews  cer- 
tainly left  no  means  untried  to  evade  the  real  point  in  dispute,  and  to 
hold  up  the  victim  of  their  fanaticism  as  a  disturber  of  the  public  peace, 
and  therefore  a  political  offender,  as  had  already  been  attempted  by 
their  advocate,  Tertullus,  in  Cffisarea.  In  the  empress  Poppaea,  who 
was  married  to  Nero  in  the  year  62,  they  could  easily  find  support  ;  for 
she  was  a  Jewish  proselyte,  and  often  successfully  interceded  for  the 
Jews.''  Then  again,  the  efficient  labors  of  Paul  in  Rome  itself  had 
led  many  Gentiles  and  Jews  to  apostatize  from  their  religion,  and  drew 
upon  the  new  sect  the  attention  and  suspicion  of  the  Roman  authorities. 
The  persecution  of  the  Christians,  which  broke  out  in  the  year  64,  there- 
fore at  all  events  soon  after  the  expiration  of  the  two  years  of  Acts 

'  Mynster,  on  the  contrary  (De  ultimis  annis  muneris  apnstolici  a  Paulo  gesti.  in  his 
Minor  Theological  Writings,  p.  234),  reverses  this  order,  making  Paul  to  have  gone 
first  to  Spain  and  then  to  Asia  Minor. 

'  Josephus.  Anhceol.  XX.  8,  11,  and  his  Vita.  §  3. 


MISSIONS.]  IMPKISONMENT    OF   PAUL   IN   KOME.  331 

28  :  30,  shows  that  the  Christians  had  already  become  an  object  of 
public  hatred  and  abhorrence  ;  otherwise  the  slander,  which  made  them 
the  incendiaries  of  Rome,  could  not  have  been  so  easily  taken  up.  And 
that  Nero  should  shortly  before  have  treated  Paul  justly  and  fairly,  is 
very  improbable,  since  even  from  the  year  60,  and  especially  from  the 
death  of  Burrus  in  62,  he  had  begun  to  rule  with  the  most  arbitrary 
self-will  and  horrible  cruelty.  Granting,  moreover,  that  Paul  was  actu- 
ally acquitted  of  the  charge  brought  by  the  Jews,  it  by  no  means  follows 
that  he  left  Rome,  and  was  afterwards  a  second  time  arrested.  In  the 
circumstances  of  the  Roman  church  he  might  have  seen  good  reasons 
for  continuing  to  labor  there  after  his  liberation,  until  the  outbreak  of 
the  Neronian  persecution  in  the  summer  of  64  put  an  end  to  his  life  and 
all  his  further  missionary  plans. 

2.  The  silence  of  the  book  of  Acts  as  to  the  result  of  the  appeal  to 
the  emperor  and  respecting  the  apostle's  end  has  been  variously  ex- 
plained ;  from  the  acquaintance  of  Theophilus  with  the  facts  ;  or  from 
an  intention  on  the  part  of  Luke  to  continue  the  history  ;  or  from  con- 
siderations of  prudence,  lest  the  mention  of  the  Xeronian  persecution  of 
the  Christians  should  cause  excitement  ; — but  all  these  explanations  can 
easily  be  shown  to  be  unsatisfactory.  Probably  when  the  Acts  were 
finished  the  fate  of  Paul  was  yet  entirely  undecided  ;  and  in  this  case 
the  silence  would  be  neither  for  nor  against  a  liberation,  unless  it  were 
assumed,  that  a  turn  for  the  worse  in  the  condition  of  the  prisoner,  or 
that  the  outbreak  of  the  persecution  hindered  the  author  from  continuing 
his  work.  But  if  the  book  were  not  completed  till  after  the  death  of 
the  apostle,  it  is  rather  against  a  second  imprisonment,  that  the  author 
says  nothing  at  all  of  the  plan  of  going  to  Spain,  which  Paul  conceived 
in  Corinth  (Rom.  15  :  24,  28),  but  afterwards  seems  to  have  given  up, 
or  at  least  to  have  indefinitely  postponed  (Philem.  22.  Phil.  2  :  24), 
and  generally  speaks  of  Rome  quite  distinctly  as  the  farthest  and  last 
point  of  the  apostle's  labor  (19  :  21.  23  :  11.  27  :  24.  Comp.  20  : 
25,  38). 

3.  Paul  himself,  in  his  epistle  to  Philemon,  v.  22,  and  in  Philippians, 
I  :  25.  2  :  24,  expresses  the  hope  of  being  set  free,  and  on  this  builds 
his  plan  of  a  tour  of  visitation  to  his  churches  in  Greece  and  Asia 
Minor,  and  even  engages  a  lodging  in  Colosse.  This,  however,  by  no 
means  warrants  the  supposition,  that  he  was  actually  set  free.  For  this 
hope  proceeded  not  from  a  higher  revelation,  as  in  the  case  of  his  jour- 
ney to  Rome,  but  merely  from  his  own  mind  and  his  very  natural  desire 
to  revisit  his  brethren  and  I'enew  his  labors  for  the  kingdom  of  God. 
We  are  not  at  all  at  libt  rty  to  attribute  to  the  apostles  an  infallible 
foreknowledge  of  their  own  future.     We  find,  on  the  contrary,  that 


332  §  87.       HTPOTHESIS    OF   A   SECOND  b-  BOOK. 

Paul's  mind,  as  to  such  personal  matters,  changed  with  his  circum- 
stances. In  his  valedictory  at  Miletus  he  took  leave  of  the  Ephesiau 
elders  for  ever  ;'  his  previous  plan  of  going  directly  from  Rome  to  Spain 
(Rom.  15  :  24)  he  gave  up  ;  and  when  he  wrote  his  epistle  to  the 
Philippians,  he  was  by  no  means  so  confident  of  being  released,  but 
rather  had  in  view  the  possibility  of  speedy  martyrdom  (2  :  17),  and  in 
his  own  mind,  also,  he  wavered  between  the  desire  to  depart  and  be 
with  Christ,  and  the  wish  still  longer  to  serve  his  brethren  (1  :  20-23). 
But  how  easily  might  an  unfavorable  change  have  taken  place  in  his 
situation  in  Rome,  especially  after  his  regular  trial  had  begun  !  When 
writing  the  second  epistle  to  Timothy,  which  several  even  of  the  advo- 
cates of  a  second  imprisonment  suppose  to  have  been  written  before  his 
liberation,  he  was  still  bound,  indeed,  with  only  one  chain  (2  Tim.  1  : 
16),  yet  as  an  evil-doer  (2  :  8)  was  forsaken  by  many  of  his  brethren, 
even  by  his  fellow-laborer,  Demas,  through  fear  of  death  (4  :  10.  16  : 
18),  and  was  expecting  nothing  but  a  martyr's  crown  (4  :  6-8). 

4.  A  much  stronger  argument  in  favor  of  a  second  imprisonment  in 
Rome  seems  at  first  sight  to  be  furnished  by  the  Pastoral  Episiles,  the 
genuineness  of  which  some  modern  critics,  Baur  and  De  Wette,  after  the 
Gnostic  Marcion,  have  in  vain  impugned.  As  to  the  first  epistle  to 
Timothy  and  the  epistle  to  Titus,  it  is  difficult  to  find  a  place  for  these 
in  the  earlier  life  of  Paul,  mainly  because  the  Acts  give  no  account  of 
Paul's  preaching  the  gospel  on  the  island  of  Crete  (now  Candia),  which 
is  nevertheless  presupposed  by  Tit.  1  :  5.'  Then  again,  their  contents 
seem  better  suited  to  a  later  time.  The  apostle  gives  Timothy,  whom 
he  finds  in  Ephesus  (1  Tim.  1:3),  and  Titus,  whom  he  had  left  behind 
him  in  Crete  (Tit.  1:5),  instructions  respecting  the  conduct  of  church 
affairs,  especially  as  to  the  qualifications  and  duties  of  church  officers, 
and  the  resistance  of  Gnosticizing  errorists,  who  are  represented,  some 
as  already  present,  others  as  still  to  come.  Finally,  the  spirit  and  style 
of  the  Pastoral  Epistles  so  differs  from  those  of  Paul's  other  epistles, 
as  to  indicate  their  later  composition.  They  are  not  so  didactic,  so 
logically  argumentative,  so  strictly  coherent  as,  for  instance,  the  epistles 
to  the  Galatians  and  Romans,  but  almost  exclusively  practical,  desul- 
tory, abrupt  in  their  transitions,  and  pervaded  by  a  kind  of  mournful 

*  Comp.  above,  ^  81. 

*  Luke,  it  is  true,  notices  a  very  short  and  accidental  visit  of  Paul  at  "  Fair 
Havens,"  near  the  city  of  Lasea  (probably  the  same  as  the  Lisia  of  the  Peutingerian 
Table),  on  his  way  to  Rome  (Acts  27  :  8).  But  this  stoppage  there  cannot  possibly 
be  meant  in  Tit.  1  :  5.— Furthermore,  this  chronological  difficulty  seems  to  me  an 
evidence  for  the  genuineness  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles ;  for  a  later  forger  would  cer- 
tainly not  have  involved  them  in  relations  which  cannot  be  at  all  shown  from  the 
Acts  to  have  existed. 


MISSIONS.]  IMPKISONMENT    OF   PAUL    IN    KOME.  333 

tone,  as  though  the  writer  longed  to  escape  from  the  heat  of  the  day 
and  the  theatre  of  strife  into  a  land  of  quiet. 

But  all  these  considerations  are  by  no  means  decisive  against  the 
earlier  composition  of  these  epistles,  and  are  in  part  set  aside  by  the 
very  fact,  that  the  ancient  church  almost  unanimously,  and  even  many 
advocates  of  the  hypothesis  in  question,  take  the  first  epistle  to  Timothy 
and  the  epistle  to  Titus  to  have  been  written  before  the  first  imprison- 
ment in  Rome.  Had  they  been  composed  shortly  after  it,  we  should 
expect  some  intimation  of  the  fact ;  but  we  find  none.  And  closer 
inspection  enables  us  to  solve  the  difficulties  to  tolerable  satisfaction. 

(a)  The  silence  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  respecting  Paul's  labors 
in  Crete  is  not  decisive,  since  this  book  does  not  propose  to  give  a  com- 
plete history,  and  entirely  omits  many  other  events,  as  the  apostle's  three 
years'  residence  in  Arabia  (Gal.  1  :  It),  his  second  visit  to  Corinth 
(see  above,  §  11),  his  work  in  lUyria  (Rom.  15  :  19),  and  many  of  his 
hardships  and  persecutions  (2  Cor.  11  :  23  sqq.).  Paul  might  very  easily 
have  made  a  trip  to  Crete  from  some  one  of  the  larger  cities,  Antioch, 
Ephesus,  Corinth,  where  he  staid  for  years  ;  and  since,  according  to 
Rom.  15  :  19  (comp.  v.  23),  therefore  before  his  arrest,  he  had  finished 
the  preaching  of  the  gospel  between  Jerusalem  and  Illyricum,  and  had 
no  more  room  to  labor  here  (for  which  reason  he  turned  his  eye  towards 
Rome  and  Spain),  it  is  even  very  probable,  that  he  had  at  that  time 
already  been  also  in  Crete,  as  well  as  in  Cyprus  (Acts  13  :  4  sqq.)  ;  for 
Crete  was  the  largest  and  most  important  island  of  the  Archipelago,  and 
lay  directly  between  Illyricum  and  Jerusalem.'  To  us  the  best  founded 
supposition  seems  to  be,  that  Paul's  journey  to  Crete,  as  also  the  epistle 
to  Titus  and  the  first  to  Timothy,  fall  in  the  time  of  his  three  years'  resi- 
dence in  Ephesus  (Acts  19  :  1,  10,  comp.  20  :  31),"  in  which  we  have 
also  placed  (§  71)  his  second  visit  to  Corinth,  likewise  passed  over  in 
Acts,  but  made  certain  by  2  Cor.  12  :  13,  14.  13  :  1.  These  two 
journeys  agree  very  well  with  one  another,  and  with  the  intended  win- 
ter's residence  at  Nicopolis  (Tit.  3  :  12),  which  can  be  no  other  than 

'  From  the  fact,  that  Luke  in  his  detailed  account  of  the  voyage  (c.  27  :  7  sqq.)  says 
nothing  of  a  salutation  by  Christian  brethren,  Dr.  Neander  is  somewhat  hasty  in  con- 
cluding that  there  were  as  yet  no  Christians  in  Crete  {Jp.  Gesch.  I.  p.  543).  For,  in 
the  first  place,  the  Christians  had  no  opportunity  whatever  to  hear  of  Paul's  accidental 
and  brief  stoppage  there  ;  and  secondly,  he  might  have  labored  in  quite  another  part  of 
this  large  island,  which  is  called  even  by  Homer  the  "'  hundred-citied  "  (eKarofnroXtc). 

*  Perhaps  the  well-known  difference  of  nine  months  between  the  dates  given  by 
Luke  and  Paul  may  be  adjusted  by  supposing  Paul  to  have  included  also  his  journey 
to  Crete  and  his  second  visit  to  Corinth  (2  Cor.  13  :  1),  from  which  he  again  returned 
to  Ephesus. 


334  §  87.       HYPOTHESIS    OF    A    SECOND  [l-  BOOK. 

the  Nicopolis  in  Epirus,  belonging  to  the  province  of  Achaia/  built  by 
Augustus  in  commemoration  of  his  victory  over  Antony,  and  early  a 
very  flourishing  city.  For  from  the  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  also, 
which  was  written  from  Ephcsus  about  this  time,  in  the  spring  of  51 
(see  §  t7),  we  know,  that  Paul  hoped  to  spend  the  ensuing  winter  in 
Achaia,  to  which  province,  as  just  observed,  Nicopolis  in  Epirus  be- 
longed.^  This  purpose,  according  to  Acts  20  :  2,  3,  he  carried  out,  and 
on  his  way  through  Macedonia  to  Corinth  he  might  very  easily  have 
touched  at  Nicopolis.  This  possibility  is  even  made  a  certainty  by  the 
explicit  declaration  of  the  apostle  in  the  epistle  to  the  Romans,  written 
soon  after  in  58,  that  he  had  at  that  time  labored  in  Illyria,  which  joins 
Epirus  (15  :  19),  and  had  no  more  room  for  preaching  the  gospel  in 
those  parts  (v.  23).  Besides,  the  Acts  say,  that  he  spent  the  winter  of 
67-58,  not  in  Corinth  alone,  but  in  Hellas,  i.  e.  Achaia  (20  :  2,  3)  ; 
and  when  he  was  in  Illyria,  his  nearest  way  to  Corinth  was  by  Nicopolis. 
Thus,  on  closer  examination,  all  the  circumstances  fit  admirably  toge- 
ther ;  whereas,  in  placing  the  epistle  to  Titus  between  the  first  and 
second  imprisonments  in  Rome,  one  finds  himself  entirely  on  the  uncer- 
tain ground  of  conjecture.^ — And  that  the  first  epistle  to  Timothy  was 
written  at  the  same  time  with  the  epistle  to  Titus,  perhaps  even  earlier, 
is  favored  by  the  fact,  that  Timothy  was  still  a  youth  (1  Tim.  4  :  12  ; 
comp.  Tit.  2  :  15),  and  in  general  little  acquainted  with  the  management 
of  cliurch  affairs  ;  which  ill  accords  with  the  time  after  the  first  impri- 
sonment, as  Timothy  had  been  Paul's  assistant  ever  since  Acts  16  :  1  sq., 
A.D.  51  (see  §  U)." 

(b)  The  presence  of  church  officers  and  false  teachers  at  so  early  a 
day  is  nothing  strange.  There  were  deacons  and  presbyters  much  earlier 
in  the  mother  church  at  Jerusalem,*  and  in  the   churches  planted  by 

'  As  Tacitus  expressly  says,  Annal.  II.  53  :  "  Apud  Achajae  Nicopolim,  quo  veiierat 
per  Illyricam  oram,"  etc. 

'^  1  Cor.  16  :  3  sqq.,  6.     Comp.  2  Cor.  10  :  1.'5,  16-     Acts  19  :  21. 

^  We  refer  here,  respecting  the  two  pastoral  epistles,  to  the  extended  and  discerning 
investigation  of  Wieseler :  CAronofoo-/e,  p.  286-315  and  p.  329-355,  where  also  the 
various  views  are  tested.  Wieseler,  as  we  have  already  remarked,  places  the  first 
epistle  to  Timothy  in  the  year  56,  during  Paul's  absence  from  Ephesus  either  in  Mace- 
donia or  in  Achaia;  arid  the  epistle  to  Titus  somewhat  later,  in  the  last  months  of  the 
apostle's  residence  at  Ephesus,  A.D.  57,  between  the  two  epistles  to  the  Corinthians. 

*  Even  in  the  second  epistle,  which  is  at  all  events  later  than  the  first,  Paul  warns 
Timothy,  it  is  true,  against  '"youthful  lusts"  (2  Tim.  2  :  22)  ;  by  which  we  must 
understand,  according  to  the  context,  particularly  disputafrousness,  propensity  to  useless 
subtleties,  and  ambition.  But  an  older  man,  also,  may  very  well  be  subject  to  such 
temptations,  and  has  to  guard  against  them  the  more,  because  such  faults  are  in  him 
especially  unbecoming. 

'  Acts  6  :  3  sqq.     11:30.     15:2,46. 


MISSIONS.]  rMPEISONJVIENT    OF    PAUL   IN   KOME.  335 

Paul.'  A  Judaizing  Gnosis,  altogether  like  that  combated  in  the  Pas- 
toral Epistles  had  spread  at  least  in  Colosse  even  at  the  time  of  the  first 
imprisonment."  Why  should  not  the  germs  of  it  have  been  visible  some 
few  years  before  in  the  leading  church  of  Asia,  that  centre  of  Jewish 
and  Heathen  magic  and  false  philosophy?  (Comp.  Acts  19  :  13-19). 
Paul  himself,  in  one  of  his  earliest  epistles,  A.D.  53,  says,  that  "  the 
mystery  of  iniquity"  (2  Thess.  2:1),  which,  however,  stands  connected 
with  an  apostasy  from  the  Christian  truth  (comp.  v.  11),  "doth  already 
work."  We  may,  indeed,  adduce  against  this  Paul's  valedictory  at 
Miletus  (Acts  20  :  29,  30),  where  he  warns  the  elders  against  false 
teachers,  who  should  appear  after  his  departure.  But,  strictly  under- 
stood, he  is  there  speaking  of  the  approaching  intrusion  of  errorists 
among  the  Ephesian  presbyters;  and  from  this  we  should  infer,  that  in 
the  congregation  they  were  present  earlier,  rather  than  later.  And  who 
does  not  know  the  instability  and  changeableness,  the  ebb  and  flow,  of 
the  history  of  heresies  and  sects  !  How  easily  might  the  false  brethren 
impudently  raise  their  heads  under  the  administrat'.on  of  the  young  and 
inexperienced  Timothy  ;  be  disarmed  for  a  time,  on  the  return  of  Paul, 
by  his  intellectual  power  and  personal  weight  of  character  ;  and  then 
re-appear  after  his  departure  with  new  and  more  dangerous  weapons. 
Add  to  this,  that  the  evil  is  represented  in  the  first  epistle  to  Timothy, 
4  :  1  sqq.  (comp.  2  Tim.  2  :  It  sqq.  3  :  1  sqq.),  as  one,  which  should 
not  fully  unfold  itself  till  hereafter,  "in  the  last  times." 

(c)  Finally,  the  peculiar  contents  and  tone  of  the  epistles  in  question 
are  explained  to  the  satisfaction  of  those,  who  are  firmly  convinced  of 
their  genuineness,  by  their  concern  with  the  practical  affairs  of  the 
church  ;  by  the  specially  agitated  state  of  the  author's  mind,  to  which 
we  have  a  parallel  in  the  second  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  (comp.  §  *i9)  ; 
and  by  the  character  of  the  persons,  to  whom  he  wrote. 

5.  The  main  exegetical  bulwark  of  the  hypothesis    in  hand  is  the 

*  Acts  14  :  23.  1  Thess.  5  :  12.  1  Cor.  16  :  15  sq.  Rom.  16  :  1,  where  even  a 
deaconess,  Phebe,  is  mentioned.  Mosheim  reasons  the  other  way,  and  from  the  many- 
instructions  of  the  first  epistle  to  Timothy,  infers  the  still  incomplete  organization  of  the 
Ephesian  church,  and  consequently  the  very  early  composition  of  the  epistle. 

'  According  to  Dr.  Baur,  indeed,  the  false  teachers  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles  were  the 
anti-Jewish  Marcionites  of  the  second  century.  But  this  view  rests  on  a  forced  inter- 
pretation- Neander  (I.  p.  538,  note)  justly  remarks  :  "  What  is  said  of  false  teachers 
in  this  epistle  (the  first  to  Tim.),  can  excite  no  suspicion  in  my  mind.  The  allusions 
to  the  later  Gnostic  doctrines,  which  Baur  would  find  in  this,  as  in  the  other  pastoral 
epistles,  I  am  utterly  unable  to  detect.  The  germs  of  such  a  .Judaizing  Gnosticism, 
or  theosophico-ascetic  tendency,  as  comes  to  view  in  the  two  epistles  to  Timothy, 
I  should  expect  a  priori  to  be  present  at  this  time;  since  the  phenomena  of  the 
second  century  point  back  to  some  such  tendency  gradually  evolving  itself  out  of 
Judaism." 


336  §  87.       THE    SECOND    EPISTLE   TO   TIMOTITY.  [l-  BOOK. 

second  epistle  to  Tiniothy.  To  this  epistle,  therefore,  the  most  recent 
advocates  of  a  second  imprisonment  make  their  chief  aipeal.  This  let- 
ter, which  presupposes  that  the  person  to  whom  it  was  addressed  was 
in  Ephesiis,  or  at  least  in  its  vicinity,'  and  summons  him  to  come  quickly 
with  Mark  to  the  imprisoned  apostle  in  Rome  (4  :  9,  11,  21),  contains 
some  apparent  hints  of  Paul's  having  lately  been  in  Asia  Minor  and 
Corinth,  and  of  his  having  taken  a  route  varying  from  that  of  Acts  21  ; 
besides  indicating,  that  his  situation  was  not  the  same  as  in  the  first  im- 
prisonment Acts  28  :  30  sq.  A  more  accurate  exegesis,  however,  leads 
to  altogether  different  results,  as  we  shall  now  proceed  to  show.  The 
passages  in  point  are  the  following  : 

(fl.)  Paul  charges  Timothy  to  bring  with  him  the  portmanteau,' 
books,  and  parchments,  he  had  left  at  Troas  (4  :  13).  But  this  may 
very  well  be  referred  to  the  visit  of  Paul  in  Troas  mentioned  in  Acts 
20  :  6  ;  his  leaving  these  things  there  having  been  either  intentional,  or 
made  necessary  by  his  travelling  to  Assos  on  foot  (v.  13).  It  is  unde- 
niable, that  several  years  had  passed  since  this  time.  But  there  is  no- 
thing to  hinder  us  from  supposing,  either  that  he  had  hitherto  had  no 
good  opportunity  to  send  for  the  books,  or  had  purposely  left  them  there 
so  long  for  the  use  of  Carpus,  or  had  not  till  now  needed  them.  And 
since,  when  he  wrote  the  second  epistle  to  Timothy,  he  was  expecting 
soon  to  suffer  martyrdom,  there  is  certainly  room  for  the  opinion,  that 
he  sent  for  these  documents  at  that  time  simply  because  they  were  im- 
portant in  his  trial,  as  evidence  of  his  innocence.  It  is  also  possible, 
however,  that  they  were  of  use  to  Luke  in  the  composition  of  his  Gos- 
pel and  the  book  of  Acts. 

{h)  The  remark,  that  he  "left  Trophimus  at  Miletum  sick,"  and  that 
"  Erastus  abode  at  Corinth"  (4  :  20),  is  not  enough  to  establish  the 
fact  of  his  having  shortly  before  made  a  visit  to  Corinth  and  Miletus,  of 
which  the  Acts  take  no  notice.  For  the  narrative  in  Acts  simply  states, 
that  Erastus  (undoubtedly  the  chamberlain  of  Corinth,  Rom.  16  :  23), 
contrary  to  Paul's  expectation,  did  not  come  to  Rome,  where  the  apos- 
tle might  have  employed  him,  on  account  of  his  high  station,  as  depreca- 
tor,  and  perhaps  as  a  witness  in  the  trial,  if  his  Jewish  accusers  had 
renewed  their  prosecution  before  the  tribunal  of  Annaeus  Gallio  (Acts 
18  :  12-27).  And  as  to  his  leaving  Trophimus  behind  him  sick,  the 
un^'XLTTov,  which  is  commonly  taken  as  the  first  person  singular,  with  Paul 
for  its  subject,  may  just  as  grammatically  be  the  third  person  plural,  and 
read  :  Trophimus  they  (i.  e.  his  countrymen,  the  Asians,  2  Tim.  1  :  15, 

*  2  Tim.  1  :  15,  18.     4  :  19,  with  which  4  :  12  is  not  necessarily  inconsistent. 
"  i'elbvri^  may  mean  "  cloak,"  or  "  portmanteau,"  "  case,"  "  portfolio."     The  latter 
is  best,  on  account  of  the  books  and  parchments. 


MISSIONS.]  §  87.       THE   SECOND    EPISTLE   TO    TIMOTHY.  337 

16)  left  at  Miletum  sick/  Should  this  not  satisfy,  we  may  refer  the 
statement — in  case  it  is  really  the  Carian  Miletus,  and  not  the  Cretan, 
which  is  meant,  or  if  the  reading  might  not  even  be  Malta  {h'  MeliTTj) — 
to  the  apostle's  transportation  from  Cffisarea  to  Rome.  On  this  voyage 
he  came,  it  is  true,  only  to  Myra  in  Lycia,  and  there  took  another  ship 
(Acts  27  :  5)  ;  but  he  might  have  left  Trophimus  behind,  distinctly  in- 
structing and  expecting  him  to  go  on  to  Miletus  in  the  first  vessel,  which 
was,  in  fact,  bound  for  Adramyttium  near  Troas,  and  was  to  sail  by  the 
maritime  cities  of  Asia  Minor  (21  :  2).''  At  any  rate,  the  apostle  hardly 
intended  here  to  tell  Timothy  anything  new  about  Trophimus  ;  for  Timo- 
thy himself  was  then  in  or  near  Ephesus,  and  therefore  near  Miletus. 
He  was  describing  his  own  lonesome,  forsaken  condition  (2  Tim.  4  :  16), 
and  showing  the  reasons  for  his  request,  that  Timothy  should  come  to  him 
to  Rome  before  winter  (v.  21).  It  must  have  been  the  harder  for  him 
to  be  without  Trophimus,  since  this  brother  had  been  the  innocent  occa- 
sion of  his  arrest  at  Jerusalem  (Acts  21  :  29),  and  might  therefore  have 
been  of  special  service  to  him  as  a  witness,  in  disproving  the  charge  of 
his  having  profaned  the  temple  by  bringing  into  it  a  Gentile. 

(o)  In  2  Tim.  4  :  16,  17,  Paul  speaks  of  his  Jirsi  answer  {ttqu-ii 
uTvoloyLo,) ,  in  which  his  human  friends  forsook  him  through  fear  of  death, 
but  the  Lord  strengthened  him  mightily,  and  rescued  him  from  the  jaws 
of  the  lion  {ek  arofiaToc  Tieovrog) .  By  this  several  church  fathers,  follow- 
ing Eusebius,  understand  liberation  from  a  former  imprisonment  in  Rome, 
and  from  the  power  of  the  emperor  I^ero  ;  and  then  refer  the  words  : 
"  that  by  me  the  preaching  might  be  fully  known,  and  that  all  the  Gen- 
tiles might  hear,"  to  the  subsequent  labors  of  the  apostle  among  other 
western  nations,  which  he  had  not  visited  before.  But,  not  to  mention, 
that  uTToloyta  is  not  the  same  as  alxiJ-aluaia,  nor  tv^uttj  as  nQoriga,  this  inter- 
pretation is  at  once  contradicted  by  the  fact,  that  Paul  is  here  telling 
Timothy  something  new  ;  whereas  his  deliverance  from  a  first  imprison- 
ment could  not  have  been  unknown  to  him.  Hence  almost  all  commen- 
tators now  place  the  "  first  answer  "  within  the  time  of  the  imprisonment, 
during  which  Paul  wrote  the  letter,  and  refer  the  preaching  before  all 
the  Gentiles  to  the  judicial  defense  of  the  apostle,  since  criminal  trials 
among  the  Romans  were  public,  and  Rome  was  a  rendezvous  for  all 

'  So  Hug  in  his  EinJ.  z.  N.  T.  II.  418  sq.,  where  he  cites  a  passage  from  Lucian 
{De  morte  pergr.  §  13),  to  show  with  what  zeal  the  primitive  Christians  sent  to  an 
imprisoned  brother  commissioners  at  the  common  expense,  to  comfort  him  and  defenii 
his  cause. 

*  So  Wieseler,  p.  466  sqq.     The   simplest   way  of  all   to  ged   rid  of  this  difficidty 
would  be  to  place  the  composition  of  the  second  epistle  to  Timothy,  as  Thiersch  doe^. 
in  the  time  of  Paul's  imprisonment  in   Ca?sarea,  a  few  months  after  he  was  in  Miltttia 
(Acts  20  :  1.')).     But  to  this  there  sf^em  to  us  to  be  too  many  objectirns. 
0-) 


338  §  87.       THE    SECOND   EPISTLE  TO   TIMOTHY.  [l-  BOOK. 

nations.  The  interpretation  of  the  "  lion  "  is  decisive  neither  way  ;  yet 
we  are  probably  to  understand  by  it  not  Nero,  but  either  the  peril  of 
death,  or  Paul's  prosecutor,  the  representative  of  the  Sanhedrim.'  Be- 
sides, the  epistle  before  us  gives  no  hint  of  a  former  imprisonment  in 
Rome  ;  even  in  c.  3  :  11,  where  something  of  the  kind  would  be  expect- 
ed in  the  apostle's  enumeration  of  his  sufferings  and  persecutions. 

As  this  epistle,  accordingly,  furnishes  no  decisive  proof  of  a  second 
imprisonment  of  Paul  in  Rome  ;  so,  on  the  other  hand,  its  general  tenor  is 
positively  against  this  hypothesis.  It  indicates,  that  the  apostle's  situation 
was  substantially  the  same,  as  when  he  wrote  the  epistles  of  the  first 
imprisonment.  He  had  the  same  attendants  ;  some  of  them  with  him, 
as  Luke  (4  :  11)  f  some  shortly  before  sent  on  a  mission,  as  Tychicus 
(v.  12)  f  some  with  orders  to  come  to  him,  as  Timothy  and  Mark  (v. 
9,  11).  He  was  bound  with  only  one  chain  (1  :  16).  He  was  at  lib- 
erty to  receive  visitors  and  write  letters.  That  his  circumstances  in  a 
second  captivity  were  precisely  the  same,  and  that,  even  after  the  Nero- 
nian  persecution,  he  was  allowed  intercourse  and  correspondence  with 
friends  and  a  second  defense  (to  which  ngurr],  2  Tim.  4  :  16,  properly 
points),  is  surely  very  improbable.  For  this  reason  many  advocates  of 
a  second  imprisonment,  as  Baronius  and  Hug,  have  assigned  2  Timothy 
to  the  first  imprisonment  ;  though  erroneously  to  the  earlier  part  of  it.* 
For  all  the  circumstances,  particularly  the  absence  of  most  of  the  apos- 

*  The  singular  would  still  be  proper;  for  the  Roman  law  uniformly  allowed  but  one 
accuser.  Wieseler,  p.  476,  cites  a  passage  from  Josephus,  Antiqu.  XVIII.  6,  10,  where 
Muv  is  used  in  the  same  sense.  Compare  also  the  term  i^Tigio/nuxrjaa,  1  Cor.  15  : 
32,  where  by  wild  beasts  are  probably  to  be  understood  the  enraged  accusers  of  Paul. 

^  Comp.  Col.  4  :  14.     Philem.  24. 
^  Comp.  Eph.  4  :  21.     Col.  4  :  21. 

*  In  this  Petavius,  Lightfoot,  Schrader,  Matthias,  &c.,  agree  with  them.  The  only 
argument  for  this  view  is,  that  Timothy  was  not  yet  in  Rome ;  whereas  at  the  wri- 
ting of  the  epistles  to  the  Colossians  (1  :  1),  Philemon  (v.  1),  and  Philippians  (2  :  19), 
we  find  him  with  the  apostle  (Hug's  Einleit.  II.  p.  415  and  451).  But  this  is  rather  to 
be  explained  by  Timothy's  having  been  twice  in  Rome  ;  because  everything  else  indi- 
cates the  earlier  composition  of  the  last  named  epistle  (comp.  ^  86).  It  was  Paul's 
intention,  while  writing  the  epistle  to  the  Philippians,  to  send  Timothy  as  soon  as 
possible  to  Philippi  (Phil.  2  :  19-24);  and  it  was  not  far  from  there  to  Ephesus, 
whence  the  apostle  afterwards  called  him  back.  Mark  he  had  already  sent  into  the 
same  region,  to  Colosse  (Col.  4:10).  The  salutation,  which  he  gives  Timothy  from 
several  Christians  in  Rome  (2  Tim.  4  :  21),  likewise  makes  it  probable,  that  Timothy 
had  already  been  in  Rome.  Hug's  conclusion  is  opposed  by  the  far  more  certain  con- 
clusion from  the  absence  of  Aristarchus  (2  Tim.  4:11);  for  Aristarchus  had  come 
with  Paul  to  Rome  (Acts  27  :  2),  is  named  in  Col.  4  :  10  and  Philem.  24,  as  in  his 
company,  and  cannot,  therefore,  have  left  until  after  the  two  last  mentioned  epistles 
had  been  written. 


MISSIONS.]  §  87.     tht:  second  epistle  to  timothy.  339 

tie's  companions,  his  forlorn  condition  (4  :  9,  10,  16)/  the  advanced 
stage  of  his  trial  (4  :  16,  H),  his  expectation  of  speedy  martyrdom  (4  : 
7,  8,  18),  and  the  apostasy  of  Demas  (4  :  10,  comp.  with  Col.  4  :  14), 
go  to  show,  that  the  second  epistle  to  Timothy  was  written  last,  and 
after  the  exjsiration  of  the  two  years,  with  which  the  book  of  Acts 
closes  ;  since  Paul  had  already  had  his  first  hearing,  of  which  Luke  says 
nothing,  and  his  condition,  though  still  essentially  the  same,  had  become 
considerably  worse  as  to  its  probable  issue.  The  limits,  for  the  date  of 
this  epistle,  therefore,  are  the  spring  of  the  year  63,  and  the  conflagra- 
tion of  Rome  in  July,  64,  after  which  the  persecution  broke  out.  And 
since  Paul  charged  Timothy  to  come  to  him  soon  (4  :  9),  and  before 
winter  (v.  21),  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  of  the  year  63  might  be 
sated  as  the  most  probable  date  of  this  epistle. 

In  the  New  Testament  itself,  therefore,  we  find  no  proper  evidence 
whatever  in  favor  of  the  hypothesis  in  question  ;  and  even  supposing, 
that  the  above  difficulties  in  the  interpretation  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles 
cannot  be  solved  to  perfect  satisfaction,  yet  they  by  no  means  authorize 
us  to  assume  a  series  of  historical  facts,  of  which  we  otherwise  have  not 
the  slightest  reliable  trace.' 

But  now  the  question  arises  :  May  not  the  hypothesis  of  a  second 
imprisonment  be  established  by  later  testimony  ?  Several  of  its  sup- 
porters, as  Baronius  and  Hug,  while  they  abandon  the  exegetical 
ground,  betake  themselves  to  the  authority  of  some  church  fathers.  In 
this  case  we  should  have  no  documents  whatever  respecting  the  labors 
of  Paul  after  his  liberation,  and  would  know  simply^  the  general  facts, 
that  he  either  remained  in  Rome,  or,  according  to  his  former  purpose, 
made  several  more  missionary  tours,  perhaps  to  the  East,  perhaps  to 
Spain,  perhaps  to  both,  and  then  suffered  martyrdom  in  a  second  con- 
finement.    This  brings  us  to  the  sixth  and  last  point. 

'  This  forlorn  condition  of  the  apostle,  by  the  way,  is  certainly  somewhat  mys- 
terious, when  we  consider,  how  many  Roman  friends  he  salutes  in  Rom.  16,  whose 
number  must  have  been  increased  by  his  personal  labors  there ;  and  that,  according  to 
Tacitus,  an  '"''ingens  multitudo'-  of  Christians  were  put  to  death  under  Nero.  This  fur- 
nishes, we  should  think,  a  very  plausible  argument  for  the  opinion,  that  the  second 
epistle  to  Timothy  was  written  during  PauTs  imprisonment  in  Caesarea  ;  though  for 
other  reasons  this  is  highly  improbable.  It  will  perhaps  be  necessary  to  limit  the 
ndvTeg  fie  iyKarDuwov,  ■'  all  forsook  me  "  (v.  16),  to  the  witnesses  in  the  trial. 

'  Winer,  in  his  Reallcxikon,  sub  "Paulus"  (II.  p.  220  sq.  3d  ed.),  well  remarks: 
"  We  should  not  fail  to  observe,  that,  as  we  have  in  Acts  no  complete  history  of  Paul'.s 
journeyings ;  as  the  proper  notices  of  the  apostle  are  only  incidental ;  it  is  very 
natural  that,  in  dating  an  epistle,  which  contains  numerous  special  references,  we 
should  meet  with  difficulties.  These  difficulties,  and  the  impossibility  of  solving  m;my 
of  them,  may  be  openly  acknowledged  where  they  occur;  but  this  furnishes  no 
reason  for  the  positive  assertion  of  a  fact,  resting  on  so  uncertain  historical  grounds. 


340  §  87.      THE    TESTIMONY   OF    CLEMENT   OF  KOME.  [l-  BOOK. 

6.  Of  the  statements  of  tradition  only  two  here  come  properly  into 
view,  those  of  Clement  of  Rome  and  Eusebius  ;  for  on  this  point  the 
other  church  fathers  draw  entirely  from  Eusebius. 

{a)  Clement  of  Rome,  a  younger  contemporary  and  probably  a  dis- 
ciple of  Paul  (Phil.  4:3),  and  thus  a  witness  of  special  weight,  says  in 
his  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  c.  5,  according  to  the  covwion  interpreta- 
tion, that  Paul  bore  chains  seven  times  ;  preached  the  gospel  in  the 
East  and  West  ;  taught  the  whole  world  righteousness  ;  came  to  the 
limit  of  the  West;  and  died  a  martyr  under  the  riders.^  Had  Clement 
said  in  plain  words,  Paul  was  in  Spain,  the  matter  would  soon  be  set- 
tled. We  should  then  have  unequivocal  testimony,  that  the  apostle  was 
released  from  his  first  confinement  in  Rome  ;  since  he  cannot  be  proved 
to  have  been' in  Spain  before  it,  but  designed  to  go  thither  from  Rome 
(Rom.  15  :  24,  28).  The  case,  however,  is  not  so  simple.  Everything 
depends  on  the  interpretation  of  the  expressions  re'p/za  t7/q  Svaeu^  and 
uapTvpjjaac  ettI  tuv  ^yov/uevuv.  To  begin  with  the  latter  ;  the  advocates  of 
a  second  imprisonment  take  juaprvpeiv  in  the  sense  (usually  only  in  later 
authors),  "to  suffer  martyrdom,"  and  refer  r/yov/xevoi  either  (with  Pear- 
son) to  Helius  and  Polycletus,  the  regents  at  Rome  during  the  absence 
of  Nero  in  Greece,  A.  D.  66-67,  therefore  after  Paul's  first  imprison- 
ment, or  (with  Hug)  to  the  prefects,  Tigellinus  and  Nymphidius  Sabi- 
nus.  But,  apart  from  some  historical  difficulties,  i^i  here  is  hardly  a 
designation  of  time:  "in  the  time  of  the  princes"  {sub  pnrfedis,  as 
Hefele  translates  it)  ;  it  means,  coram  principibus.  And  then,  too, 
/lapTvpTJaag  is  rather  to  be  understood  in  its  usual  sense,  as  meaning  the 
public,  bold  confession,  which  Paul  made  before  the  imperial  court." 

^  As  the  interpretation  of  this  passage  is  disputed,  we  give  the  Greek  original  : 
Aiu  ^rjTiov  [6]  Jiav'kog  inofiovi/g  (ipaPelov  [^7recr;^]ej',  EK-aKig  6ea/j,u  (j>ogE(7ag,  [Trai]6EV- 
i?e?f,  XL-9aa-&£ig.  KJ/pv^  j[£v6']/xevoc  h  re  ry  uvaroX^  kol  ev  \t7J\6vgei,  tov  jevvoIov 
T7/C  nioTEuq  avTov  Acileof  eAa/?ev  diKaioavvrjv  (^M^ac  61,ov  tov  koo/iov  K[al  £  tt  t]  to 
T  e  p  fia  TT]q  6v  a  E  u  g  t7i-&  i)v  k  at  /lapTvptjaac  et^I  tuv  7/joviu.evo)v, 
ovTug  uTTTiTiTiuyr]  tov  koojiov  koI  Eig  tov  uyiov  tottov  knopEV'&r],  vKOfiovr/c  yev6fj.Evog 
/lEyidToc  vnoypafijuoc.  The  parts  enclosed  in  brackets  have  been  sup))lied  by  the  editor 
of  this  anciently  very  notable  epistle,  the  librarian,  Patricius  Junius,  and  cannot,  there- 
fore, be  confidently  substituted  for  the  original  text.  In  the  codex  Alexandrinus  in  tho 
British  Museum,  in  which  alone  the  epistle  of  Clement  is  still  preserved,  and  from 
which  Junius  committed  it  to  the  press  for  the  first  time  A.  D.  1633,  at  Oxford, 
several  characters  have  faded  away,  leaving  chasms  in  the  text,  which  can  be  filled 
only  by  conjecture  (comp.  on  this,  Hefele  :  Patrum  Apostolicorum  Opera,  prolegg.  p. 
XXXV.  sqq.  ed  3) . 

*  Comp.  2  Tim.  4  :  16,  17.  Acts  23  :  11.  So  also  Dr.  Neander,  I.  529,  note  1, 
explains  the  passage  ("'he  bore  witness  of  his  faith  before  the  heathen  magistrates"), 
and  holds  it  inadmissible  to  suppose,  that  Clement  intended  by  tnl  tui>  riyovji.  to  desig- 
nate the  time  more  distinctly,  and  to  refer  to  the  men  who  were  at  that  time  entrusted 
with  the  supreme  control  of  the  affairs  of  the  empire  at  Rome. 


MISSIONS.]  §  87.     THE   TESTIMONY    OF    CLEMENT    OF   ROME.  341 

The  idea  of  death   Clement  expresses,  in  fact,  immediately  after  by 

uirriUdyri  tov  aoajiov  kol  elg  tov  ujlov  ronov  ei:opEV-&r]  ( e   muudo   migravit   et   ill 

locum  sanctum  abiit).  Consequently  the  whole  burden  of  proof  falls 
upon  the  much  disputed  phrase  ripfia  rfig  dvaeug.  By  this  expression 
Pearson,  Hug,  Neander,  Olshausen,  and  others,  think  it  most  natural  to 
understand  Spain  ;  inasmuch  as  Clement,  in  fact,  wrote  from  Rome,  so 
that  Italy  was  for  him  not  the  limit,  but  rather  the  beginning  of  the 
West.  For,  in  itself,  the  word  "limit"  may  denote  beginning  as  well 
as  end  ;  and  its  meaning  is  to  be  determined  by  the  writer's  posi- 
tion. Anglican  theologians,  interested  in  the  apostolical  origin  of  their 
church,  have  referred  the  phrase  to  Britain,  still  more  remote  from 
Rome."  But  ripixa,  if  ever  interpreted  geographically,  admits  also  of 
being  taken  subjectively,  and  may  possibly  denote  only  what  was  for 
Paul  the  limit  of  his  apostolic  labor,''  or  what  appeared  to  the  Corin- 
thians, to  whom  Clement  was  writing,  to  be  the  boundary  of  the  West. 
And  even  aside  from  this,  the  whole  passage  is  plainly  so  colored  by 
rhetoric  and  panegyric,  that  it  cannot  possibly  furnish,  of  itself,  ade- 
quate ground  for  so  important  a  hypothesis.  Clement  says,  for  example, 
that  Paul  bore  chains  seven  times, — which  certainly  cannot  mean,  that 
he  was  so  many  times  imprisoned.  He  speaks  of  him  as  having  taught 
'^  the  whole  world"  righteousness, — which  at  any  rate  can  only  be  under- 
stood as  a  hyperbole.  Paul  uses  just  such  expressions  to  denote  the 
rapid  spread  of  the  gospel  over  tb,e  whole  Roman  empire,  and  that,  too, 
in  a  time,  when  confessedly  he  had  not  yet  been  in  Spain.  See  Col.  1  : 
6,  23  (2  Tim.  4  :  It),  and.  even  Rom.  10  :  18,  where  he  applies  to  the 
heralds  of  the  gospel  the  words  of  the  nineteenth  Psalm  :  "  Their  sound 
went  into  all  the  earth,  and  their  words  u7ito  the  ends  of  the  world" 

{elg  Td  nepara  n/c  olnovfihnjg).      So  it   is   said,  Acts  1   :  8  (comp.    13   :  41), 

that  the  apostles  should  be  witnesses  of  Jesus  "  iinto  the  uttermost  part 
of  the  earth"  {iug  iaxdrov  T>/c  yT/g)  ;   and  yet  Luke,  likewise  writing  in 

'  So  Usher  {Brit.  Ecd.  Antiqu.  c.  1),  and  Stillingfleet  [Orig.  Brit.  c.  1). 

'  So  Dr.  Baur  explains  the  expression  in  hand  :  "  Paul  canne  to  the  limit  fixed  for 
him  in  the  West,  which,  while  lying  in  the  West,  was  also  the  natural  boundary  of 
his  occidere"  {Paulus,  p.  231;  and  in  several  articles).  Schenkel,  in  the  "  Studien 
und  Kritiken,"  1841,  p.  71,  offers  the  same  explanation,  and  endeavors  also  to  show, 
that  Clement  wrote  his  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  as  early  as  64-6.'),  as  an  eye- 
witness of  Paul's  martyrdom,  from  the  midst  of  the  scenes  of  terror,  himself  beset  with 
perils  ;  and  could  thus  have  spoken  of  no  other  than  the  first  imprisonment  in  Ri>me. 
This  hypothesis,  however,  has  a  very  precarious  foundation.  From  c.  40  and  41, 
which  seem  to  presuppose  the  temple  and  temple-worship  as  still  existing  in  Jeri:- 
salem,  the  most  that  can  be  inferred  is.  that  the  epistle  was  written  before  the  year 
70.  Comp.  Hefele  :  Patrum  Apostolic.  Opera,  prolegg.  p.  xxxvi.  But  there  are 
indications  in  the  letter  which  favor  a  still  later  date  towards  the  end  of  the  first 
century. 


342  §  8T.      THE   TESTIMONY   OF   CLEMENT    OF   KOME.  L^-  ^OOK. 

Rome,  closes  his  narrative  of  the  founding  of  the  church  with  the 
preaching  of  Paul  in  Rome  ;  though  this,  it  is  true,  at  once  secured  the 
victory  of  Christianity  in  all  the  West.  The  same  Luke  says,  Acts 
2  :  5,  that,  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  "Jews  out  of  every  nation  under 
heaven"  were  in  Jerusalem  ;  and  yet  immediately  after,  in  enumerating 
them  (v.  10),  he  mentions  the  Romans  as  the  westernmost  nation, — 
showing,  that,  according  to  the  usage  of  those  times,  Rome  might,  in 
fact,  very  well  be  called,  in  hyperbole,  the  limit  of  the  West/ 

But  is  not  the  local  sense  of  repfxa,  in  the  passage  from  Clement,  to  be 
altogether  given  up  ?  Considering  that  not  one  of  the  church  fathers 
has  appealed  to  this  passage  in  proof  of  Paul's  having  been  in  Spain  ; 
and  that  the  preposition  im,  which  first  suggested  the  geographical 
interpretation,  is  purely  a  conjecture  of  the  editor,  Junius,  to  fill  a 
chasm  here  in  the  original  cod.  Alex. ;— we  are  inclined  to  adopt  the 
explanation  recently  proposed  by  Wieseler,  who  supplies  vtto  instead  of  im, 
and  takes  Tsp/ia  in  the  familiar  sense  of  "  supreme  power,"  "  highest  tribu- 
nal."^ Accordingly  we  translate  the  passage  in  question  thus  :  "  After 
having  been  a  herald  (of  the  gospel)  in  the  East  and  in  the  West,  he 
(Paul)  obtained  the  noble  renown  of  his  faith  ;  having  taught  the  whole 
world  righteousness,  and  having  appeared  before  the  highest  tribunal  of 
the  West,  and  having  borne  witness  (of  Christ)  before  the  rulers,  he 
departed  from  the  world  and  went  to  the  holy  place,  having  furnished 
the  sublimest  model  of  patience."  This  interpretation  alone  brings  out 
the  beautiful  climax  in  Clement's  language  ;  and  this  alone  clears  him 
of  the  tautology  of  which  the  other  would  make  him  guilty  ;  the  pre- 
ceding words  from  Kypv^  to  Koa/xov  having  already  sufficiently  described 
the  great  extent  of  Paul's  preaching. 

(6)  Of  the  fragment  from  Dionysius,  bishop  of  Corinth  (about  A.D. 
110), in  Euscbius  (II,  25),  we  shall  speak  more  particularly  in  the  section 
on  Peter's  residence  in  Rome.  We  here  pass  it  by,  as  it  makes  Peter 
and  Paul,  indeed,  joint  founders  of  the  Corinthian  church  (which  is  man- 
ifestly incorrect),  and  speaks  of  their  simultaneous  martyrdom,  but  not 
of  their  going  together  from  Corinth  to   Italy,  as  they  certainly  could 

*  Had  Neander's  interpretation  of  Clement's  rspiia  been  so  natural  for  that  day,  one 
could  not  but  wonder,  that  Eusebius.  who  so  unequivocally  asserts  a  second  imprison- 
ment of  Paul,  and  was  very  well  acquainted  with  the  then  almost  canonical  epistle  of 
Clement,  did  not  at  once  appeal  to  it,  instead  of  contenting  himself  with  a  mere  indefi- 
nite :  "  It  is  reported." 

"  We  remind  the  reader  of  the  phrases  :  ■Qeoi  anuvruv  Tsp/u'  £;j;ovref,  the  gods,  who 
hold  the  supreme  power  or  jurisdiction  of  all ;  repjLia  auTT/Qtac  £;te<v,  to  have  power  to 
save;  rep/ia  Kopiv&ov  tjen^  to  hold  the  supreme  government  of  Corinth,  &c.  Comp. 
also  the  examples  in  the  lexicons. 


MISSIONS.]         §  87.      TESTIMONY   OF  DIONYSIUS   AND   EUSEBIUS.  343 

have  done  only  after  the  first  imprisonment.*  So  with  a  fragment  on  the 
Canon,  written  about  A.D.  170,  and  published  by  Muratori.  This,  in- 
deed, makes  the  first  explicit  mention  of  a  "profectio  Pauli  ab  urbe  ad 
Spaniam  proficiscentis,"  but  in  a  passage  so  defaced  and  obscure,  that 
the  most  we  can  gather  from  it  is,  that  there  was  then  current  a  report 
of  such  a  journey.  This  rumor,  however,  not  a  single  ecclesia  Paulina 
in  that  land  can  substantiate,  and  it  may  be  very  easily  accounted  for, 
according  to  Neander's  own  concession,  as  a  premature  conclusion  from 
the  apostle's  purpose  (Rom.  15  :  24  sqq.)  to  his  execution  of  it." 

(f)  The  first  clear  and  unequivocal  statement  of  Paul's  release  from 
his  first  confinement  and  of  a  subsequent  second  imprisonment  in  Rome, 
is  that  of  Eusebius  (f340),  in  the  second  book  of  his  Church  History, 
eh.  22.  The  force  of  his  testimony,  however,  is  materially  weakened  by 
the  fact,  that  he  bases  it,  not  on  any  historical  foundation  (simply  saying 
in  the  most  indefinite  way  :  ?,6yog  £x>^i),  but  rather  on  his  own  interpreta- 
tion of  2  Tim.  4  :  16,  17,  as  noticed  above.  And  this  is  now  given  up 
as  erroneous  even  by  most  of  the  advocates  of  a  second  imprisonment. 
Besides,  the  whole  chronological  system  of  Eusebius  required  this  hypo- 
thesis to  support  it.  For  he  made  Paul's  first  imprisonment  begin  with 
the  spring  of  the  year  55,  which  is  at  any  rate  decidedly  incorrect  ;  and 
put  his  death  in  the  thirteenth  year  of  Nero's  reign,  the  year  67.  Un- 
less, therefore,  he  had  assumed  a  liberation  of  the  apostle,  he  would  have 
had  to  suppose  a  continuous  confinement  of  tioelve  years. 

To  sum  up  in  few  words  the  result  of  this  discussion  ;  we  must  say, 
that  the  hypothesis  of  a  second  imprisonment  of  Paul  in  Rome  rests  on 
a  very  poor  foundation,  and  has  been  suggested,  not  so  much  by  reliable 
historical  tradition,  as  by  the  efi"ort,  on  the  one  hand,  to  extend  as  far 
as  possible  the  sphere  of  the  apostle's  labor,  and,  on  the  other,  to  remove 
certain  exegetical  difficulties,  which  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  particularly 
the  second  epistle  to  Timothy,  present, — difficulties,  however,  which  may 
be  more  satisfactorily  solved  without  this  hypothesis  and  the  vague  com- 
binations connected  with  it. 

§  88.    The  Martyrdom  of  Paul,  and  the  Nero7iian  Persecution.    A.D.  64. 

Respecting  the  formal  trial  of  the  apostle  we  know  nothing,  but  what 

may  be  gathered  from  a  general  knowledge  of  the  usages  of  the  Roman 

tribunal,  and  from  some  hints  in  the  second  epistle  to  Timothy.     At  all 

*  Comp.  the  details  in  Wieseler,  p.  534  sq. 

'  Comp.  also  on  this  point,  Wieseler,  p.  536  sqq.  This  scholar,  who,  in  the  frag- 
ment above  referred  to,  supplies  the  verb  "omittit,"  thinks,  that  Muratori's  Canon 
would  deny  Paul's  journey  to  Spain,  and  for  the  reason,  that  Luke  makes  no  mentioa 
of  it  in  A«ts. 


344  §  88.      THE   MAKTYBDOM   OF   PAUL,  [l-   BOOK. 

events,  the  fact,  that  at  least  two  years  passed  away,  accordmg  to  Acts 
28  :  30,  31,  before  his  case  came  up  for  decision,  can  give  us  no  surprise. 
For  we  have  to  consider,  in  the  first  place,  that,  by  reason  of  its  connec- 
tion with  a  religious  controversy,  this  case  was  very  complicated ; 
secondly,  that  the  defendant  had  remained  two  years  also  in  Cffisarea 
without  being  tried  ;  thirdly,  that  despotic  emperors,  among  whom  Nero, 
after  his  quinqueimmvi,  most  emphatically  belonged,  often  purposely  de- 
layed judicial  investigations  ;  and  finally,  that  the  Jews  would  have 
good  reason  to  prolong  the  suit,  whether  to  have  time  to  secure  patrons 
at  court,  or  to  make  the  apostle  harmless,  at  least  as  long  as  possible, 
by  keeping  the  issue  in  uncertainty.  In  cases  like  that  before  us,  where 
the  witnesses,  who  were  commonly  required  to  appear  in  person  (comp. 
Acts  24  :  19),  had  to  come  from  a  gTeat  distance,  the  prosecutor  was 
allowed  considerable  time.  The  principal  parts  of  a  formal  process  w^ere, 
successive  speeches  from  the  prosecutor  and  his  colleagues,  speeches  in 
defense  {dTToTioyiai)  from  the  accused  and  his  friends,  the  hearing  of  wit- 
nesses, and  the  examination  of  other  sources  of  evidence.  Then  followed 
immediately  the  decision  of  the  judge.  Where  the  evidence  of  guilt  or 
innocence  was  clear,  he  either  condemned  or  acquitted,  but  in  doubtful 
cases  adjourned  the  court,  i.  e.  pronounced  a  non  liquet ;  and  then  after 
an  appointed  interval  the*  above  named  process  must  be  repeated  in  an 
actio  secunda,  till  a  definite  judgment  could  be  given.  From  2  Tim. 
4  :  15,  according  to  the  true  interpretation,  it  appears,  that  in  Paul's 
case  such  an  adjournment  took  place,  as  also  formerly  in  Csesarea  (Acts 
24  :  22).  In  his  first  defense  he  was  deserted,  indeed,  by  his  own 
friends,  through  their  fear  of  death,  but,  in  the  strength  of  the  Lord, 
made  a  fearless  confession  of  his  faith  before  the  highest  tribunal  of  the 
heathen  world.  But  though  he  was  not  this  time  condemned,  his  condi- 
tion seems  to  have  become  somewhat  worse.  Whether  he  came  to  a 
second  hearing,  as  he  expected  according  to  2  Tim.  4  :  16,  18,  or  whe- 
ther the  persecution,  which  soon  broke  out,  interrupted  the  course  of  the 
law  by  violence,  we  do  not  know. 

The  second  epistle  to  Timothy,  however,  which  bears  plain  marks  of 
being,  at  all  events,  the  last  letter  of  the  great  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles, 
allows  us  at  least  a  glimpse  of  his  state  of  mind  shortly  before  his  mar- 
tyrdom. For  nearly  thirty  years  had  he  now  served  his  heavenly  Lord 
and  Master  with  unexampled  fidelity  and  self-denial.  Innumerable 
perils,  conflicts,  and  persecutions,  on  land  and  sea,  in  city  and  desert, 
among  Jews,  heathens,  and  false  brethren,  he  'had  borne  with  a  heroism 
possible  only  by  help  from  above,  and  mightier  than  any  arguments  of  rea- 
son to  prove  the  divinity  of  the  Christian  religion.  And  now  as  he  nears 
the  goal  of  his  noble  career,  he  leaves  behind  him  a  most  beautiful  me- 


MISSIONS.]  t^j)   XIIE    NEEONIAN    Pl-iKSICCUTION.  M5 

morial  of  his  paternal  love  for  his  disciple,  Timothy  ;  of  his  .unwearied 
care  for  the  church  and  for  the  purity  of  saving-  doctrine  ;  of  his  exalted 
tranquillity  of  soul ;  and  of  his  unshaken  trust  in  the  almighty  and  faith- 
ful God,  and  in  the  final  triumph  of  His  gospel  over  all  its  foes.  He 
could  not  have  retired  more  worthily  from  the  field  of  his  warfare,  than 
with  those  sublime  words,  2  Tim.  4:7,8:  "I  have  fought  a  good  fight, 
I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith  :  henceforth  there  is 
laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous 
judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  day  ;  and  not  to  me  only,  but  unto  all  them 
also  that  love  his  appearing." 

According  to  tradition,  Paul,  being  a  Roman  citizen,  was  put  to  death 
with  the  sword,'  either  shortly  before,  or  during,  the  persecution  of  the 
Christians  under  Nero,  which  began  in  the  year  64.* 

The  immediate  outward  occasion  of  this  firsf  imperial  persecution  of 
the  Christians  was  the  fearful  conflagration,  which  broke  out  on  the 
19th  of  July  (XIV  Kalend.  SextiL),  A.D.  64,  lasted  six  days  and  seven 
nights,  and,  of  the  fourteen  wards,  into  which  Rome  was  then  divided, 
laid  three  entirely,  and  seven  half,  in  ruins.  The  heathen  authors  unani- 
mously attribute  the  incendiarism  to  Nero  himself,  who,  for  the  first  five 
years  of  his  reign  (54-59),  under  the  guidance  of  Seneca  and  Burrus, 
was  a  model  prince,  but  afterwards  abandoned  himself  to  such  arbitrary 
despotism  and  unnatural  cruelty,  that  he  must  be  counted  one  of  the 
most  horrible  of  tyrants.  During  the  conflagration,  the  greatest  known 
to  history,  he  staid  in  Antium,  not  far  from  the  city  ;  regaled  himself 

'  On  the  Ostian  way,  outside  the  city,  near  the  present  church  of  St.  Paul.  So  says 
the  Roman  presbyter,  Caius.  at  the  end  of  the  second  century,  in  Eusebius  :  Hist.  Eccl. 
II,  25  (sTTi  T^v  66bv  Tjjv  'Q,aTiav).  His  being  beheaded  is  mentioned  first  by  Tertul- 
lian  :  De  praescript.  haer.  c.  36  :  "  Habes  Ronnam.  .  .  ubi  .  .  .  Paul  us  Johannis  (the 
Baptist's)  exitu  coronatur."  Then  Eusebius  :  H.  E.  II,  25  :  IlavTiog  d?)  ovv  in'  avr^g 
'V6[irjQ  Trjv  KEa'kfjv  aTTorfiTjdijvai  ....  caroQeiTai,  cf.  Ill,  1.  Jerome  {De  script,  eccl., 
c.  5)  says  of  Paul :  "  Decimo  quarto  Neronis  anno  eodem  die,  quo  Petrus,  Romae  pro 
Christo  capite  truncatus  sepultusque  est  in  via  Ostiensi." 

"^  Wieseler,  p.  531,  puts  the  execution  of  Paul  in  the  beginning  of  the  year  64,  and 
the  crucifixion  of  Peter  in  the  Neronian  persecution,  therefore  some  months  later. 
Tradition  places  the  death  of  both  apostles  in  the  Neronian  persecution,  and  some  wit- 
nesses, as  Jerome  and  Gelasius,  put  both  martyrdoms  on  the  same  day ;  while  others, 
as  Arator,  Cedrenus,  Augustine,  separate  them  by  an  interval  of  one  year  or  less.  That 
Paul  suffered  first,  before  the  outbreak  of  the  persecution  properly  so  called,  seems  to 
be  indicated  by  the  easier  mode  and  the  locality  of  his  death.  For  in  the  persecution 
itself  his  Roman  citizenship  would  hardly  have  been  respected ;  and  the  scene  of  that 
persecution  was  not  the  Ostian  way,  but  the  Vatican  across  the  Tiber,  where  Nero's 
gardens  and  the  circus  lay  (comp.  Tacitus  :  Annal-  XIV,  14,  and  Bunsen  :  Beschreibv/ng 
(fcr  Stadt  Rom.  II,  1.  p.  13  sqq  ). 

'  For  in  Claudius'  edict  of  banishment  the  Christians  were  not  yet  distinguished 
from  the  Jews. 


346  §  88.      THE   MARTYRDOM   OF   PAUL  [l-  BOOK. 

from  t\\e  tower  of  Maecenas  with  the  magnificent  sight  of  the  flames  ; 
recited,  in  his  favorite  theatrical  dress,  the  destruction  of  Troy  ;  and 
hurried  back  to  Rome  only  when  the  raging  element  approached  his  own 
palace.  To  divert  from  himself  the  general  suspicion  of  the  incendiarism, 
and  at  the  same  time  to  furnish  new  entertainment  for  his  diabolical 
cruelty,  he  cast  the  blame  upon  the  hated  Christians,  who,  meanwhile, 
especially  since  the  public  trial  of  Paul  and  his  successful  labors  in 
Rome,  had  come  to  be  distinguished  from  the  Jews  as  a  genus  tertium, 
and  of  whom  not  only  the  rude  multitude,  but  even  earnest  and  cultivat- 
ed heathens — as  the  example  of  Tacitus  shows — were  inclined  to  believe 
the  most  shameful  things.  On  this  suspicion  and  the  equally  groundless 
charge  of  misanthropy  and  unnatural  vice,  Nero  caused  a  vast  multitude 
[ingens  multitudo,  as  Tacitus  says)  to  be  put  to  death  in  the  most 
shocking  manner.  This  was  the  answer  of  the  powers  of  hell  to  the 
mighty  preaching  of  the  two  chief  apostles,  which  had  shaken  Heathen- 
ism to  its  centre.  Some  of  the  Christians  were  crucified  ;  some  sewed 
up  in  the  skins  of  wild  animals  and  thrown  out  to  be  torn  to  pieces  by 
dogs  ;  some  smeared  with  combustible  material,  and  burned  at  night  for 
torches  in  the  imperial  gardens.  The  whole  wound  up  with  a  theatrical 
exhibition,  in  which  Nero  appeare'd  as  charioteer.'     This  event  in  the 

*  Suetonius:  iVero,  16  :  "Afflicti  suppliciis  Christiani,  genus  hominum  superstitionis 
novae  ac  maleficae."  The  conflagration  he  describes  in  another  connection,  c.  38. 
Much  more  accurate  is  the  famous  narrative  of  Tacitus  in  his  jlnnales,  XV.  44.  He 
holds  the  Christians,  indeed,  innocent  of  the  incendiarism,  but  yet,  in  his  ignorance  of 
the  Christian  religion,  gives  an  altogether  unjust  description  of  them,  and  still  quite  con- 
founds them  with  the  Jews  in  their  notorious  odium  generis  humani  (comp.  Hist.  V.  5, 
where  he  says  of  the  Jews  :  "  Apud  ipsos  fides  obstinata,  misericordia  in  promptu,  sed 
adversus  omnes  alios  hostile  odium^').  The  passage,  Annal.  XV.  44,  in  many  respects 
remarkable,  we  give  in  the  original :  "  Sed  non  ope  humana,  non  largitionibus  princi- 
pis  aut  deum  placamentis  decedebat  infamia,  quin  jussum  incendium  crederetur.  Ergo 
abolendo  rumori  Nero  subdidit  reos,  et  quaesitissimis  poenis  affecit,  quos  per  flagitia 
invisos  vulgus  Christianos  appellabat.  Auctor  nominis  ejus  Christus  Tiberio  imperi- 
tante  per  procuratorem  Pontium  Pilatum  supplicio  affectus  erat ;  repressaque  in  prae- 
sens  exitiabilis  superstitio  rursus  erumpebat,  non  modo  per  Judaeam,  originem  ejus 
mali,  sed  per  urbem  etiam.  quo  cuncta  undique  atrocia  aut  pudenda  confluunt  celebran- 
turque.  (This  "rursus  erumpebat"  refers  no  doubt  to  the  extraordinary  success  which 
must  have  crowned  the  labors  of  Paul  and  Peter  in  Rome,  and  which  the  more  readily 
accounts  for  the  diabolical  cruelly  of  the  Neronian  persecution.)  Igitur  primo  cor- 
repti  qui  fatebantur  (what?  the  incendiarism,  or  the  Christian  faith?),  deinde  indicio 
eorum  multitudo  ingens,  baud  perinde  in  crimine  incendii  quam  odio  humani  generis 
convicti  sunt.  Et  pereuntibus  addita  ludibria,  ut  ferarum  tergis  contecti  laniatu  canum 
interirent,  aut  crucibus  affixis,  aut  flammandi,  atque  ubi  defecisset  dies,  in  usum  noc- 
turni  luminis  urerentur.  (Juvenal  says,  that  the  Christians,  standing  with  their  throats 
pinned  to  posts,  burned  like  torches  !)  Hortos  sues  ei  spectaculo  Nero  obtulerat,  et 
circense  ludicrum  edebat,  habitu  aurigae  permixtus  plebi  vel  curriculo  insistens.    Unde, 


MISSIONS.]  AND    THE   NEKONIAN    PEKSECUTION.  347 

metropolis  could,  of  course,  only  make  the  condition  of  the  Christians  in 
the  provinces  worse,  and  perhaps  drew  after  it  several  other  persecutions. 
Unfortunately  no  account  has  come  down  to  us  of  the  tremendous  impres- 
sion, which  this  tragical  scene  and  the  almost  simultaneous  martyrdoms 
of  the  two  leading  apostles  must  have  made  on  the  Jewish  as  well  as 
the  Gentile  Christians. 

It  is  no  accident,  that  the  line  of  persecuting  emperors  began  with 
the  man,  who  represents  the  ripest  product  of  heathen  depravity  ; 
stands  branded  in  history  as  one  of  the  most  wicked  of  men,  a  real  moral 
monster  ;  and  was  made  by  common  rumor  the  forerunner  of  Anti- 
christ.' History  delights  to  place  in  immediate  contrast  the  greatest 
moral  opposites,  as  here  the  apostles  Paul  and  Peter,  and  the  monster 
Nero,  and  to  illustrate  at  once  the  destiny  of  virtue,  forever  victorious 
in  seeming  defeat,  and  the  fate  of  vice,  whose  triumph  is  the  eternal 
monument  of  its  shame. 

quanquam  adversus  sontes  et  novissima  exempla  meritos,  miseratio  orieb^tur,  tanquam 
non  utilitate  publica,  sed  in  saevitiam  unius  absumerentur." 

^  The  report  arose  first  among  the  heathen,  that  Nero  was  not  really  dead,  and 
would  conne  forth  again  from  his  concealment;  according  to  Tacitus  {Hist.  II.  8)  : 
"  Sub  idem  tempus  Achaja  atque  Asia  falso  exterritae,  velut  Nero  adventaret,  vario 
super  exitu  ejus  rumore,  eoque  pluribus  vivere  eum  fingentibus  credentibusque." 
Among  the  Christians  this  rumor  took  the  form,  that  Nero  would  rerurn  as  Antichrist, 
or  (according  to  Lactantius)  as  the  forerunner  of  Antichrist.  That  such  an  expecta- 
tion arose,  at  least  afterwards,  in  the  church,  though  merely  as  the  private  opinion  of 
individuals,  is  plain  from  Augustine,  De  civitate  Dei,  lib.  xx.  cap.  19,  where  he  says, 
that,  by  the  "mystery  of  iniquity,"  2  Thess.  2  :  7,  some  understood  Nero,  and  then 
proceeds  :  "  Unde  nonnulli  ipsum  (Neronem)  resurrecturum  et  futurwn  jlntichristum 
tuspicantur.  Alii  vero  nee  eum  occisum  putant,  sed  subtractum  potius,  ut  putaretui 
occisus;  et  vivum  occultari  in  vigore  ipsius  setatis,  in  qua  fuit,  quum  crederetur  ex- 
stinctus,  donee  suo  tempore  reveletur  et  restituatur  in  regnum.  Sed  multum  mihi  mira 
est  haec  opinantium  tanta  praesumptio."  Lactantius  mentions  a  similar  opinion,  De 
mort.  persec.  c.  2,  with  a  reference  to  a  passage  in  the  Sibylline  Oracles  (lib.  iv.  p.  525, 
ed.  Ser.  Gallaeus),  which,  however,  refer  not  at  all  to  Antichrist,  but  probably  to  the 
appearance  of  the  pseudo-Nero  in  the  time  of  Titus  (comp  Tacitus  :  Hist.  I.  2),  as  to  a 
past  fact;  as  Thiersch  has  shown  {Kritik  der  N.  Tlichen  Schri/ten,  1845,  p.  410  sqq.) 
against  Bleek.  Altogether  erroneous  is  the  view  of  Ewald,  Liicke,  and  others,  who 
charge  this  superstition  respecting  Nero  as  the  future  Antichrist  upon  the  author  of 
the  Apocalypse;  taking  the  beast,  which  "was,  and  is  not,  and  yet  is"  (17  :  8,  11), 
to  be  Nero.    This  betrays  an  exceedingly  low,  unworthy  view  of  this  holy  book. 


3i8  §    89.      CHAEAOTEK   OF   PETER.  [i.  boOE. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

LABORS  OF  THE  OTHER  APOSTLES  DOWN  TO  THE  DESTRUCTION 

OF  JERUSALEM. 

§  89.  Character  of  Peter 
Simon,  as  he  was  originally  called,  or,  as  he  was  afterwards  named, 
Peter,  was  the  son  of  the  fisherman  Jonas.*  He  was  a  native  of  Beth- 
saida  in  Galilee,"  and  a  resident  of  Capernaum/  where  he  followed  his 
father's  occupation.  His  brother  Andrew,  a  disciple  of  John  the  Bap- 
tist, first  brought  him  to  Jesus,  by  whom  he  was  called  to  be  a  fisher  of 
men.*  After  that  miraculous  draught  of  fishes,  from  which  he  received 
an  overwhelming  impression  of  power  and  majesty  of  tliB  Lord,  and  by 
which  he  was  awakened  to  a  sense  of  his  own  weakness  and  sinfulness 
(Luke  5  :  3  sqq.),  he  surrendered  himself  wholly  to  the  service  of 
Christ,  and  became,  with  John  and  the  elder  James,  a  confidant  of  his 
Master,  and  a»witness  of  the  transfiguration  on  Mt.  Tabor  and  the 
agony  in  Gethsemane.  And  in  this  triad  itself  he .  is  plainly  the  most 
prominent  personage.  He  is,  in  fact,  the  "  organ  of  the  whole  college 
of  apostles,"'  speaking  and  acting  in  their  name.  While  the  contempla- 
tive, reflecting  John  lay  in  mysterious  silence  on  the  Saviour's  bosom, 
the  more  practical  and  energetic  Peter  could  never  conceal  his  inmost 
nature,  but  everywhere  involuntarily  exposed  it.  Hence  the  gospels 
reveal  him  to  us  both  in  his  virtues  and  his  failings,  more  fully  than 
they  do  any  other  apostle.  "With  the  most  honest  enthusiasm  he  gives 
himself  up  to  Jesus,  confessing,  for  all  his  colleagues,  that  He  is  the 
Messiah,  the  Son  of  the  living  God  (Matth   16  :  16).     Soon  after,  with 

'  Matth.  4  :  18.     16  :  17.     Jno.  1  :  42.     21  :  16. 

"  Jno.  1  :  44.  «  Matth.  8  :  14.     Luke  4  :  38 

*  Matth.  4  :  18  sqq.     Mk.  1  :  16  sqq.     Jno.  1  :  41  sq. 

*  So  Chrysostom  styles  him,  In  Joann.  homil.  88,  where  he  says  of  Peter  :  'Ekkpitoq 
fjv  Tuv  dnoaToTiUV  Kal  arofia  tuv  fxa-&TjTuv  Kol  Kopv(j>TJ  tov  ;tOfJo{i. 


MISSIONS.]  I  89.      CHABACTER   OF   PETER.  349 

unbecoming  familiarity  and  unconscious  presumption,  he  undertakes  to 
rebuke  his  Lord,  and  to  dissuade  him  from  the  course  of  suffering,  which 
was  necessary  for  the  redemption  of  the  world  (Matth.  16  :  22).  On 
the  mount  of  transfiguration  he  proposes,  under  the  impulse  of  the 
moment,  to  build  tabernacles,  and  make  sensuous  provision  for  retaining 
the  happiness  he  felt  (Matth.  It  :  4).  When  Jesus  was  washing  the 
disciples'  feet,  Simon,  in  high-minded  modesty,  presumed  to  know  better 
than  his  Master  :  "  Lord,  dost  thou  wash  my  feet  ?"  "  Thou  shalt 
never  wash  my  feet"  (John  13  :  6,  8).  What  a  remarkable  mixture  of 
glowing  love  to  Christ  and  rash  self-reliance  expresses  itself  in  his  vow 
shortly  before  the  arrest  in  the  garden  :  "  Though  all  men  shall  be 
offended  because  of  thee,  yet  will  I  never  be  offended  !"....  "Though 
I  should  die  with  thee,  yet  will  I  not  deny  thee  !"  (Matth.  26  :  33,  35.) 
How  stormy  and  inconsiderate  his  carnal  zeal  in  the  garden  of  Gethse- 
mane,  where,  instead  of  meekly  suffering,  he  draws  the  sword  !  ( Jno. 
18  :  10.)  And  then  erelong  came  his  deep  and  grievous  fall  ;  fear  of 
man  and  love  of  life  making  him  unfaithful  to  his  Master.  But,  in  the 
hands  of  God,  all  this  was  the  means  of  showing  him  his  own  weakness 
by  bitter  experience,  humbling  his  heart,  and  teaching  him  to  place  his 
strength  in  the  grace  of  God  alone.  The  Lord  did  not  forsake  him. 
He  prayed  that  his  faith  might  not  fail  (Luke  22  :  31,  32)  ;'  restored 
him,  after  His  resurrection,  to  the  pastoral  office,  of  which  he  had  ren- 
dered himself  unworthy  by  his  apostasy  ;  and  gave  him  charge  of  His 
sheep  and  lambs.  The  apostle  had  first,  however,  to  be  thoroughly 
tested  by  the  thrice  repeated  question  :  "  Simon,  son  of  Jonas,  lovest 
thou  me, — lovest  thou  me  more  than  these  ?"  The  Lord  would  here 
humble  and  shame  him,  by  reminding  him  of  his  thrice  repeated  denial 
of  his  Master,  and  of  his  self-exaltation  above  his  fellow-disciples.  Now 
h!s  pride  is  brokeu,  his  ardor  purified.  He  ventures  no  more  to  place 
himself  above  the  rest,  but  submits  the  measure  of  his  love  to  the 
Searcher  of  hearts  ;  conscious  that  he  loves  his  Lord,  and  recognizing 
in  this  love  the  element  of  his  life  ;  but  at  the  same  time  painfully  sen- 
sible, that  he  does  not  love  him  as  he  ought,  and  as  he  gladly  would 
(Jno.  21  :  15  sqq.).  That  he  allowed  himself,  even  after  this,  to  be 
hurried  by  momentary  impulse  into  inconsistencies,  is  shown  by  the  well- 
known   occurrence   at   Antioch.'''     But   he   was   doubtless   enabled   to 

'  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  in  this  passage,  according  to  the  original,  the  faith  of 
the  other  apostles  seems  to  be  made  dependent  on  that  of  Peter.  "  And  the  Lord  said, 
Simon,  Simon,  behold,  Satan  hath  desired  to  have  you  {i/^ug,  which  includes  all  the 
disciples) ,  that  he  may  sift  you  as  wheat  ;  but  I  have  prayed  for  thee  {Trepl  gov,  refer- 
ring to  Peter),  that  thy  faith  fail  not;  and  when  thou  art  converted,  strengthen  thy 
brethren.''^ 

*  Com.  ^  70  above. 


350  §  90.     POSITION   OF   PETER   IN   CHURCH    HISTORY.        [l-  BOOK. 

improve  this  repeated  disclosure  of  his  weakness  to  his  own  humiliation, 
and  ever  kept  in  view  the  Lord's  last,  prophetic  words,  that  he  should 
walk  in  the  path  of  self-denial,  and  should  finally  complete  his  obedience 
and  faithfulness  by  suffering  a  violent  death  (Jno  21  :  18  sq.).  For 
we  elsewhere  find  him  fearlessly  confessing  his  faith  before  the  people, 
before  the  council,  and  in  the  face  of  the  greatest  danger  ;  steadfast,  in 
love  to  the  Lord  under  toil  and  tribulation,  even  to  the  most  excrucia- 
ting martyrdom  ;  and  thus,  after  all,  proving  himself  eminently  worthy 
of  his  new  name.' 

This  sketch  of  the  life  of  Simon  Peter  gives  us  a  picture  of  a  remark- 
able combination  of  great  natural  talents  and  virtues  with  peculiar 
weaknesses.  This  apostle  was  distinguished  from  the  other  eleven  by  an 
ardent,  impulsive,  choleric,  sanguine  temperament,  an  open,  shrewd, 
practical  nature,  bold  self-confidence,  prompt  energy,  and  an  eminent 
talent  for  representing  and  governing  the  church.  He  was  always 
ready  to  speak  out  his  mind  and  heart,  to  resolve,  and  to  act.  But 
these  natural  endowments  brought  with  them  a  peculiarly  strong  temp- 
tation to  vanity,  self-conceit  and  ambition.  His  excitable,  impulsive 
disposition  might  very  easily  lead  him  to  over-estimate  his  powers,  to 
trust  too  much  to  himself,  and,  in  the  hour  of  danger,  to  yield  with 
equal  readiness  to  entirely  opposite  impressions.  This  explains  his 
denial  of  his  Lord,  in  spite  of  his  usual  firmness  and  joy  in  confessing  his 
faith.  In  depth  of  knowledge  and  love  he  doubtless  fell  short  of  a  Paul 
and  a  John,  and  hence  was  not  so  well  fitted,  as  they,  for  the  work  of 
perfecting  the  church.  His  strength  lay  in  the  fire  of  immediate  inspira- 
tion, in  promptness  of  speech  and  action,  and  in  an  imposing  mien,  which 
at  once  commanded  respect  and  obedience.  He  was  born  to  be  a  church 
leader,  and  his  powers,  after  proper  purification  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ, 
admirably  fitted  him  for  the  work  of  beginning,  for  the  task  of  founding 
and  organizing  the  church. 

'  §  90.  Position  of  Peter  in  Church  History. 

What  has  now  been  said  already  indicates  the  place  and  significance 
of  this  apostle  in  the  history  of  the  church.  His  position  was  deter- 
mined by  his  natural  qualifications,  so  far  as  they  were  under  the  guid- 
ance of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  enlisted  for  the  truth.  The  Lord  knew,  at 
once,  what  was  in  him,  and  named  him,  at  the  outset,  with  reference  to 
his  future  activity,  Cephas,  in  the  Aramaic  language,  or,  as  translated 
into  Greek,  Peter,  signifying  Rock.^  A  year  afterwards  the  Saviour 
confirmed  and  explained  to  him  this  title  of  honor,  and  connected  with 

'  Acts  3  :  1-4  :  22.         5  :  17-41.     12  :  3-17. 
'  John  1  :  42.     Mark  3  :  16- 


MISSIONS.]      §  90.       POSITION    OF   PETER   IN    CHUECH   HISTORY.  351 

it  that  remarkable  promise,  which  has  been  such  an  apple  of  discord  in 
the  history  of  the  church.  While  others  regarded  Jesus  as,  at  best,  a 
forerunner  of  the  Messiah,  and  therefore  a  mere  man,  however  distin- 
guished, Simon  was  the  first  to  recognize  and  acknowledge,  with  his 
whole  soul,  and  with  the  energy  of  living  faith,  the  great  central  mys- 
tery, the  fundamental  article  of  Christianity,  the  Messiahship  of  his 
Master  ;  the  absolute  union  of  the  divine  and  the  human,  and  the  all- 
sufficient  fullness  of  life,  in  the  person  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  In  a 
critical,  sifting  hour,  when  many  were  apostatizing,  Simon  declared,  in 
the  name  of  all  his  colleagues,  from  the  depths  of  his  inmost  experience, 
and  with  the  emphasis  of  the  most  assured  and  sacred  conviction  : 
"Thou  art  the  Christ"  (the  Anointed  of  God,  the  long  promised  and 
anxiously  expected  Messiah),  "the  Son  of  the  living  God!"'  Or, 
according  to  the  somewhat  more  extended  account  of  John  :  "  Lord,  to 
whom  shall  we  go  ?  thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life  ;  and  we  believe 
and  are  sure  that  thou  art  that  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God" 
(Jno.  6  :  66-69).  On  the  ground  of  this  first  Christian  creed,  this  joy- 
ful confession  of  saving  faith,  revealed  to  him  not  by  flesh  and  blood 
(i.  e.,  neither  by  his  own  nature,  nor  by  another  man,  as  formerly  by  his 
brother  Andrew,  Jno.  1  :  40,  41),  but  by  the  Father  in  heaven,  the 
Lord  pronounced  him  blessed,  and  added  :  "  Thou  art  Peter "  (rock, 
man  of  rock)  ;  "  and  upon  this  rock  I  ifill  huUd  my  churchy  and  the  gates 
of  hell  shall  not  ■prevail  against  it.  And  I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  and  whatsoeverthou  shalt  bind  on  earth,  shall 
be  bound  in  heaven  ;  and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth,  shall  be 
loosed  in  heaven"  (Matth.  16  :  18,  19).  We  have  here  an  uncom- 
monly significant  play  upon  words,  which  we  cannot  feel  the  full  force  of 
without  referring  to  the  Greek,  or,  what  is  still  better,  the  Hebrew 
original.  Without  doubt  our  Lord,  used  in  both  clauses,  the  Aramaic 
word  spi,  (hence  the  Greek  K?;^(if  applied  to  Simon,  Jno.  1  :  42).^  In 
the  Greek  :  aO  eZ  n e r p o f,  /ca^  km  TavTTj  rfj  Tverpci,  as  also  in  the  Latin  :  tu  es 
Petrus,  et  super  banc  petram, — the  play  on  words  is  somewhat  obscured 
by  the  necessary  change  of  gender.'     In  the  German  and  English  it  is 

'  Matth.  16  :  16      Comp.  Mk.  8  :  29.     Luke  9  :  20. 

"  Hence  the  old  Syriac  translation,  the  Peshito,  renders  the  passage  in  question 
thus  :  Anath  chipha,  vehall  hada  chipha.  The  Arabic  translation  has  alsachra  in  both 
places 

'  The  Cephas  in  the  first  clause  must  be  translated  nerpof,  Petrus,  because  it 
denotes  a  man ;  and  the  masculine  form,  too,  was  already  in  use  as  the  name  of  a  per- 
son (comp.  Leont.  Schol.  18;  Fabric,  biblioth.  gr.  xi.  334).  In  the  classics  nerpo^ 
signifies  properly  a  stone,  and  nerpa  the  whole  rock.  But  this  distinction  is  nm 
always  observed  ;  and  in  the  passage  before  us  it  is  entirely  disregarded,  as  the  Greek 
word  must  in  both  places  correspond  to  the  Aramaic,  Cephas,  which  always  means 


352  §  89.    POSITION  or  petek  in  chuech  history,      [r-  book. 

wholly  lost,  since  Fels  and  rock  are  never  used  as  proper  names.  But 
in  the  French  :  Tu  es  Pierre,  et  sur  cette  jiierre  je  batirai  mon  eglise, — 
it  is  brought  out  as  clearly  as  in  the  Semitic  dialects. 

In  the  interpretation  of  this  passage  two  errors  are  to  be  avoided. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  promise  must  not  be  sundered  from  the  confession, 
and  attached  to  the  mere  person  of  Peter,  as  such.'  For,  in  the  first 
place,  the  name,  "Peter,"  v.  18,  is  antithetic  to  the  original  name, 
"  Simon  Bar-Jona,"  v.  IT,  and  thus  denotes  the  new,  spiritual  man,  into 
which  the  old  Simon  either  already  was,  or  was  gradually  to  be  trans- 
formed by  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  Then  again,  the  Lord  immediately 
afterwards  (Matth.  16  :  23)  says  to  the  same  apostle,  when  indulging 
his  natural  spirit:  "Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan"  (evil  counsellor, 
adversary)  ;"  thou  art  an  offence  unto  me  ;  for  thou  savorest  not  the 
things  that  be  of  God,  but  those  that  be  of  men."  His  fault  was,  that 
he  had  undertaken,  with  the  best  intentions,  indeed,  yet  with  the  short- 
sightedness, fear  of  suffering,  and  presumption,  of  the  natural  man,  to 
dissuade  his  Master  from  submitting  to  the  suffering  of  the  cross,  which 
was  indispensable  for  the  salvation  of  the  world. 

Equally  unreasonable  is /it,  on  the  other  hand,  to  disjoin,  as  many 
Protestant  theologians  do,  the  "petra"  from  the  preceding  "  Petros," 
and  refer  it  solely  to  the  confession  in  v.  16.  For  this  plainly  destroys 
the  beautiful,  vivacious  play  upon  words  and  the  significance  of  the 
ravrri,  which  evidently  refers  to  the  nearest  antecedent,  "  Petros."  Be- 
sides, the  church  of  Christ  is  built,  not  upon  abstract  doctrines  and  con- 
fessions, but  upon  living  persons,  as  the  bearers  of  the  truth. ^ 

Rather  must  we,  with  all  the  fathers  and  the  best  modern  Protestant 
interpreters,  refer  the  words :  "Thou  art  a  rock,"  &c.,  by  all  means  to 
Peter,  indeed,  but  only  to  him  as  he  appears  in  the  immediate  context  ; 
that  is,  to  the  renewed  Peter,  to  whom  God  had  revealed  the  mystery 

rock,  and  is  used  both  as  a  proper  and  a  common  noun.  The  most  we  can  say  is,  that 
irerpa,  in  the  second  clause,  more  plainly  includes  Peter's  confession  also,  as  well  as 
his  person,  and  so  far  points  us  at  once  to  the  true  interpretation.  In  figurative  lan- 
guage, TTETpa  denotes,  in  the  classics,  as  in  this  passage,  firmness,  stability ;  as  in 
Homer:  Odyss.  XVII.  463 ;  but  very  often,  also,  hardness  of  heart,  want  of  feeling. 
The  corresponding  words  in  the  modern  languages  admit  of  the  same  twofold  appli- 
cation. 

'  Then  we  should  ralher  have  in  the  Greek  :  im  aoi,  tu  Trerpu. 

'^  Hardly  worth  mentioning  is  the  reference  of  the '"petra"  to  Christ.  Christ  is, 
indeed,  the  rock  of  the  church,  and  the  immovable  Rock  of  Ages,  in  the  highest  sense 
of  the  term.  But  in  this  passage  he  evidently  appears  as  the  architect  of  the  building, 
and  cannot,  without  violating  all  rules  of  sound  taste,  present  himself  in  one  breath 
under  two  different  images.  Besides,  this  interpretation  would  make  the  preceding : 
"  Thou  art  a  rock,"  utterly  unmeaning,  and  dest-oy  the  natural  significancy  of  the 
demonstrative  particle,  '"this." 


MISSIONS.]      §  89.      POSITION   OF   PETER   IN   CHUECH   HISTORY.  353 

of  the  Incarnation  (v.  16,  17)  ;  to  Peter,  the  fearless  confessor  of  the 
Saviour's  divinity  ;  in  a  word,  to  Peter  in  Christ.  Thus  the  sense 
is  :  "I  appoint  thee,  as  the  living  witness  of  this  fundamental  truth, 
which  thou  hast  just  confessed,  to  be  the  chief  instrument  in  the  found- 
ing of  my  indestructible  church  ;  and  endow  thee  with  all  the  powers  of 
its  government,  under  me,  the  builder  and  supreme  ruler  of  the  same." 
In  these  words,  therefore,  our  Lord  describes  the  official  character  of  this 
apostle,  and  foretells  to  him  h's  future  plate  in  the  history  of  the  church. 
Peter,  with  his  faith  and  the  bold  profession  of  it,  here  appears  as  the 
foundation,  and  Chr.'st  himself  as  the  master  builder,  of  that  wonderful 
spiritual  edifice,  which  no  hostile  power  can  destroy.  Absolutely,  Christ, 
of  course,  is  called  the  foundation  {i&efieXiov)  of  the  church,  besides 
which  no  other  can  be  laid  ( 1  Cor.  3:11);  but,  in  a  secondary  or  rela- 
tive sense,  so  are  the  apostles  also,  whom  Christ  uses  as  his  instruments. 
Hence,  in  Eph.  2  :  20,  it  is  said  of  the  saints,  that  they  "are  built  upon 
the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets  {tm  t'j  ■&Eiie7u(j  riiv  uttogtoIuv 
Kai  Tt-poc^TiTuv) ,  Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief  corner-stone  ;"  and 
hence  the  twelve  foundations  {^e/ithoi)  of  the  New  Jerusalem  bear  the 
names  of  the  twelve  apostles,  of  the  Lamb  (Rev.  21  :  14).  If  now  the 
apostles,  in  general,  under  the  guidance,  of  course,  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
are  the  human  founders  of  the  church,  as  ministers  of  Christ,  and 
"laborers  together  with  God"  (1  Cor.  3  :  9),  the  proper  Builder  ; — 
this  is  true  in  an  altogether  peculiar  sense  of  Peter,  their  representative 
and  leader. 

The  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  accordingly,  testify  to  this ; — the  first 
twelve  chapters  foi-ming  a  continuous  commentary  on  the  prophecy  of 
Christ,  Matt.  16  :  18.  If,  even  before  the  resurrection,  Peter  stands  at 
the  head  of  the  apostolic  college,'  he  is  plainly,  after  that  event  until  the 
appearance  of  Paul,  the  leading  spirit,  the  organ  of  the  whole  Christian 
body  in  word  and  deed.  He  is  chief  actor  in  the  election  of  Matthias 
as  successor  of  Judas  ;  in  the  scenes  of  Pentecost  ;  in  the  healing  of 
the  lame  man  ;  in  the  punishment  of  Ananias.  It  was  he,  more  than 
any  other,  who  extended  the  church  by  word  and  work  in  Judea  and 
Samaria,  and  fearlessly  defended  the  cause  of  Christ  before  the  council, 
iu  the  face  of  imprisonment  and  chains.  And,  while  thus  standing  at 
the  head  of  the  Jewish  mission,  he  also  laid  the  foundation  for  the  Gen- 
tile mission,  by  baptizing  the  uncircumcised  Cornelius.  In  short,  down 
to  the  apostolic  council  at  Jerusalem,  A.D.  50  (Acts  15),  Peter  is  un- 

*  As  appears  from  the  lists  of  the  apostles,  in  all  of  which  Peter  is  mentioned  first ; 
and  from  many  other  pas.sages :  Matt.  10  :  2  sqq.  14  :  28.  16  :  16-19.  17  :  4,  24, 
25.  18:21.  19:27.  Mk- 3:  16  sqq.  8:29.  11:21.  Luke  6  :  14  sqq.  12:41. 
22  :  31  sqq.     Jno.  6  :  6S.     21  :  15  sqq.,  etc. 

23 


354  §  89,     POSITION  OF  petek  in  church  histokt.      [i-  book. 

questionably  the  most  important  personage  in  the  church.  He  maintains 
a  superiority  so  clearly  assigned  him  by  his  natural  capacities,  as  well  as 
by  the  prophecy  of  Christ,  and  so  fully  confirmed  by  the  facts  of  the 
apostolic  history,  that  nothing  but  blind  party  spirit  can  explain,  with- 
out, however,  by  any  means  justifying,  the  denial  of  it. 

But  it  is  to  be  observed,  in  the  first  place,  that,  in  the  history  of 
Peter,  we  find  no  trace  of  any  thing  like  spiritual  tyranny  or  hierarchi- 
cal presumption  in  this  superiority.     On  the  contrary,  that  apostle  de- 
scribes himself,  with  the  greatest  modesty,  as  "  also  an  elder,  and  a  wit- 
ness of  the  sufferings  of  Christ,"  and  exhorts  the  elders  to  "feed  the  flock 
of  God,"  not  in  the  spirit  of  covetousness  and  ambition,  as  lords  over 
God's  heritage,  but  by  a  holy  example  (1  Pet.  5  :  1-3).     Then  again, 
this  primacy  never  mterfered  with  the  independence  of  the  other  apostles 
in  their  own  spheres  of  labor  ;  nor  did  it  keep  pace  with  the  spread  of 
the  church,  nor  extend  itself,  at  least  with  equal  force,  to  all  parts  of 
the  same.    After  the  apostolic  council  we  see  no  longer  Peter,  but  James, 
at  the  head  of  the  church  at  Jerusalem  and  of  the  strict  Jewish  Chris- 
tian party.     On  the  field  of  the  missionary  operations  among  the  Gen- 
tiles, and  in  the  first  literature  of  Christianity,  Peter  was  quite  eclipsed 
by  the  later  called  Paul  (comp.  1  Cor.  15  :  10).     The  same  book  of 
Acts,  which  gives  Peter  so  prominent  a  position  in  the  first  part  of  its 
history,  but  loses  sight  of  him  altogether  after  c.  15,  places  Paul  in  a 
relation  to  Peter,  like  that,  so  to  speak,  of  the  rising  sun  to  the  setting 
moon.     At  all  events,  the  relation  was  one  of  perfect  independence,  as  is 
at  once  conclusively  proved  by  the  first  two  chapters  of  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians.     For  Paul  does  not  derive  his  authority  in  any  way  whatever 
from  Peter,  but  directly  from  Jesus  Christ,  and  was  so  far  from  consi- 
dering Peter  his  superior,  that  he  boldly  resisted  him  to  the  face  at 
Antioch  and  charged  him  openly  with  inconsistency.    In  the  last  stadium 
of  its  development,  after  the  death  of  Peter  and  Paul,  John  alone  was 
fitted  to  lead  the  apostolic  church,  and  by  his  genius  to  complete  its 
organization.     But  who  can  for  a  moment  entertain  the  idea,  wdiich  ne- 
cessarily flows  from  the  Roman  doctrine  of  the  jperpetual  jure  divino 
force  of  Peter's  primacy  over  the  church  universal,  that  the  beloved  dis- 
ciple, who  leaned  on  the  bosom  of  the  Godman,  was  subject  to  the  bishop 
of  Rome,  a  Linus  or  a  Clement,  as  the  successor  of  Peter  and  heir  to 
his  authority  ;  or  even  that  Peter  himself  exercised  a  papal  authority 
over  John  ?   The  peculiar  office  assigned  to  Peter,  therefore,  refers  plainly 
to  the  work  of  laying  the  foundation  of  the  apostolic  church  ;    and  it 
can  be  regarded  as  transmissible  and  of  universal  force,  only  in  the  sense 
in  which  the  gifts  of  all  the  other  apostles  may  be  said  to  perpetuate 
themselves  in  the  Christian  world,  and  in  which  the  apostles  themselves 


missions]  §  90,       LATER    LABORS    OF    PETER.  355 

may  be  viewed  as  determining,  by  their  personal  acts,  as  well  as  the 
continued  influence  of  their  word  and  spirit,  every  step  in  the  history  of 
the  church.  * 

§  90    Later  Labors  of  Peter.     His  First  Epistle. 

As  we  have  already  given  an  ample  share  of  attention  to  Peter's 
labors  down  to  his  collision  with  Paul  at  Antioch,'  it  only  remains  to 
speak  of  his  subsequent  activity,  which,  however,  is  involved  in  myste- 
rious darkness.  We  here  have  to  leave  the  authentic  accounts  of  Holy 
Scripture,  and  enter  upon  the  uncertain  ground  of  tradition.  The  Acts, 
after  tlio  apostolic  council  (c.  15),  make  no  further  mention  of  this 
apostle,  and  seem  thus  to  intimate,  that  he  again  left  Jerusalem  in  the 
year  50,  or  soon  after,  and  resigned  this  field  of  labor  to  James,  wlio 
thenceforth  appears  at  the  head  of  the  mother  church  (comp.  Acts  21  : 
18  sqq.).  It  is  altogether  consistent  with  his  position  of  mediation  be- 
tween James,  the  strict  apbstle  of  the  Jews,  and  Paul,  the  liberal  apos- 
tle of  the  Gentiles,  that  he  should  extend  the  sphere  of  his  activity 
beyond  Palestine,  and  even  preach  the  gospel  to  the  Gentiles  ;  though 
he  continued  to  be,  on  the  whole,  the  most  distinguished  leader  of  the 
Jewish  Christian  portion  of  the  church.  Even  after  the  council  at  Jeru- 
salem, Paul  calls  him  pre-eminently  the  Apostle  of  the  circumcision  (Gal. 
2:8);  and  from  the  epistles  to  the  Corinthians  it  appears,  that  the 
Jewish  Christians  appealed  with  special  predilection  to  Cephas. 

Soon  after  the  year  50,  we  find  him  at  Antioch  in  company  with 
Paul  and  Barnabas  (Gal.  2  :  11  sqq.)  ;  but  how  long  he  staid  there,  we 
are  not  told.'*  From  an  incidental  remark  in  the  first  epistle  to  the  Co- 
rinthians, which  was  written  in  the  year  57,  it  would  appear,  that  Peter 
never  settled  permanently  in  any  place,  but,  as  the  very  idea  of  an  apostle 
implies,  made  missionary  journeys,  in  which,  too,  he  took  his  wife  with 
him  ;'  though  of  these  journeys  the  New  Testament  gives  us  no  further 
account.     According  to  Origen  and  Eusebius,^  he  preached  to  the  Jews 

'  Comp.  above,  §  56,  57,  59,  60,  69,  and  70. 

"^  The  tradition  of  Eusebius  and  Jeronne  makes  Peter  the  founder  and  first  bishop  of 
the  church  at  Antioch  ;  but  this  is  irreconcilable  with  the  account  in  Acts  11  :  19  sqq. 
Far  sooner  might  this  be  said  of  Barnabas  and  Paul,  who  had  previously  labored  there. 
The  work  of  founding,  however,  is  not  always  necessarily  limited  to  first  beginnings  ; 
and  that  Peter  had  an  essential  agency  in  the  organization  and  strengthening  of  the 
church  at  Antioch,  is  in  itself  very  probable,  even  though  he  might  have  resided  there 
but  a  short  time. 

^  1  Cor.  9  :  5.  Comp.  Matt.  8  :  14.  Luke  4  :  3S ;  where  Peter's  mother-in-law  is 
mentioned. 

^  Euseb.  :  H.  Eccl.  IK.  1  and  3;  also  Epiphanius  :  Haeres.  XXVII.  p.  ]07,  and  Je- 
rome :    Script,  eccl.  sub    Petro.     Origen   himself  says,  Eus.  III.  1 :    KeKTji^vx^vai,  .  . . 


356  §  90.       LATER   LABOKS    OF   PETER.  [l-  BOOK. 

scattered  in  Pontus,  Galatia,  Cappadocia,  Asia,  and  Bithynia.  There  is 
no  sufficient  reason  for  pronouncing  this  old  tradition  a  false  inference 
from  the  superscription  of  his  first  epistle.  The  epistle  certainly  con- 
tains no  distinct  intimation  that  the  author  had  previously  visited  those 
countries  ;  but  we  must  consider,  that  it  is  a  circular  letter,  and  there- 
fore general  in  its  contents,  like  the  epistle  to  the  Ephesians.  Further- 
more, the  second  epistle  of  Peter,  addressed  to  the  same  churches  as  the 
first  (2  Pet.  3:1),  pre-supposes  a  personal  acquaintance  with  the 
readers  (1  :  IG).  On  the  other  hand,  many  modern  scholars,  taking  the 
literal  interpretation  of  Babylon  (1  Pet.  5  :  13),  have  based  on  it  the 
opinion,  that  Peter  at  one  time  labored  in  the  Parthian  empire  ;  while 
the  ancients  rather  understood  Rome  to  be  here  meant.  The  only  certain 
memorials  of  his  later  activity  are  his  two  epistles  in  our  canon.  With 
these  we  must  now  acquaint  ourselves  more  minutely,  before  proceeding 
to  discuss  the  point  of  his  reputed  residence  in  Rome. 
A.  The  First  Epistle  of  Peter. 

1.  The  readers  of  this  epistle  are  to  be  sought,  according  to  the  salu- 
tation (1  :  1),  in  Asia  iMinor,  in  the  provinces  of  Pontus,  Galatia,  Cap- 
padocia, Proconsular  Asia,  and  Bithynia, — countries,  in  which  Christianity 
was  planted  mainly  by  Paul  and  his  disc'ples.  The  address  :  "  Elect 
strangers  (pilgrims)  of  the  dispersion^'  {IkXek-oI  ■KaqeTri^rjiioL  dLaanogug  JIovtov, 
etc.),  might  seem  to  confine  the  epistle  to  the  Jeicish  Christians,  who 
were  scattered  through  those  provinces.  But  the  contents  of  the  letter 
itself  are  specially  addressed  to  Gentile  Christians  ;  and,  in  fact,  we 
know  from  the  Acts  and  Paul's  epistles,  that  the  churches  in  Asia  Minor 
were  a  mixture  of  both  Jews  and  Gentiles.  The  terms  applied  to  the 
readers  are,  therefore,  to  be  taken  as  figurative  ;  Peter  conceiving  all 
believers  as  pilgrims  to  a  heavenly  home,  an  incorruptible  inheritance," 
and  transferring  the  notion  of  the  Diaspora  to  the  Christians,  as  the  true 
spiritual  Israel,  dispersed  in  the  unbelieving  world  (2:9.  Comp.  Jno. 
11  :  52). 

2.  Scope  and  contents.  The  object  of  this  hortatory  circular  seems 
to  have  been  twofold  :  first,  by  awakening  lively  hope,  and  pointing  to 
the  example  of  Christ,  to  exhort  the  readers  to  a  life  corresponding  to 
their  faith,  especially  to  patience  and  steadfastness  under  existing  or  im- 
pending persecutions  (2  :  11-5  :  11)  ;  and  secondly,  at  the  same  time, 
to  establish  and  confirm  them  in  the  doctrine  and  the  grace,  which  had 
been  communicated  to  them  from  the  first  (5  :  12.  comp.  2  Pet.  3  :  15)  ; 

ioLKEv ,  and  certainly  seems  here  to  express  his  view  as  a  naere  supposition,  founded 
on  1  Pet.  1  :  1. 

'  C.  1  :  14,  18.     2  :  9,  10.     3:6.     4  :  .3. 

"1:4,5,7,8,13,17.     2:11.     Connp.  Heb.  II  :  13,  14,  16. 


MISSIONS.]  HIS    FIRST   EPISTLE.  "  357 

and  tlierefore,  as  Paul  and  his  followers  had  founded  those  churches,  to 
test  fy  Peter's  essential  agreement  in  faith  with  the  Apostle  of  the  Gen- 
tiles. The  occasion  may  have  been  given  by  Judaizing  teachers,  who,  as 
we  see  especially  from  the  epistles  to  the  Galatiaus  and  Corinthians,  took 
all  pains  to  undermine  the  influence  of  Paul,  and  for  this  purpose  made 
a  false  use  particularly  of  the  name  and  authority  of  Peter,  as  the 
oldest  and  most  distinguished  Apostle  of  the  Jews.  Hence  Peter  as- 
sures those  churches,  that  those  who  first  preached  the  gospel  to  them 
were  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost  (1  :  12),  and  that  the  doctrine  deli- 
vered to  them  was  the  eternal,  unchangeable  word  of  the  Lord  (1  :  25). 
Hence,  too,  the  letter  was  sent  by  Silvanus  (5  :  12),  who,  having  been 
a  disciple  and  companion  of  Paul  and  his  co-laborer  in  the  planting  of 
those  churches,  was  eminently  qualified  for  such  a  mission.  In  fact,  the 
letter  itself,  in  its  doctrinal  contents  and  even  its  forms  of  expression, 
bears  a  very  close  affinity  to  the  epistles  of  Paul,  particularly  those  to 
the  Ephesians  and  Colossians,  which  are  addressed  to  people  in  the  same 
regions,  are  aimed,  directly  or  indirectly,  against  similar  errors,  and  thus 
show  the  essential  unanimity  of  the  two  apostles  in  the  fundamental  doc- 
trines of  salvation.'  Perhaps  the  coincidences  of  Peter's  epistle  with 
these,  which  were  written  at  least  two  years  before,  as  well  as  with  that 
of  James,  are  intentional,  to  make  surer  of  the  object  in  view.*  More- 
over, the  letter  is  characterized  by  a  certain  fire  altogether  suiting 
Peter's  temperament,  but  purified  by  experience  ;  a  blooming  freshness  ; 

'  Eph.  2  :  20.     3:5.     4:3  sqq. 

'  This  affinity  is,  with  Schwegler  {Das  nachapost.  Zeitalter,  II.  p.  2  sqq.),  the  main 
argument  against  the  genuineness  of  the  first  epistle  of  Peter.  In  spite  of  ail  external 
evidence,  he  makes  this  letter  a  pro'iuction  of  the  Pauline  school  in  the  time  of  the 
persecution  under  Trajan.  But  such  a  hypothesis  can  commend  itself  only  to  those, 
who  draw  their  knowledge  of  Peter's  way  of  thinking  from  the  pseudo-Clementine 
writings  and  other  apocryphal  and  heretical  productions  of  the  second  century,  instead 
of  taking  it  from  the  hitherto  generally  acknowledged  and  only  reliable  source,  viz., 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  which,  especially  in  the  1.5th  ch.,  place  beyond  doubt  the 
essential  fellowship  of  Peter  and  Paul  in  doctrine,  that  Koivcovia^  of  which  Paul  also 
speaks  in  Gal.  2  :  9.  Then  again,  it  must  be  considered,  that  Peter's  gifts  lay  not  in 
the  line  of  developing  doctrines  and  of  authorship,  but  in  the  practical  sphere  of  the 
planting,  training,  and  governing  of  the  church.  Besides,  the  epistles  of  Peter,  after 
all,  have  also  many  peculiarities  in  perfect  keeping  with  what  we  otherwise  know  of 
that  apostle's  character.  To  the  subjective  taste  of  the  skeptical  De  Wette,  who  looks 
in  vain  for  a  '•  literary  peculiarity"  in  it,  we  may  boldly  oppose  the  opinions  of  equally 
profound  scholars,  who  judge  quite  otherwise.  Erasmus  calls  the  first  epistle  '"  episto- 
1am  profecto  dignam  apostolorum  principe,  plenam  auctoriiatis  et  majestatis  apostolicae, 
verbis  parcam,  sententiis  dissertam."  Grotius  says  :  "'  Habet  haec  ep.  to  a(f>o6o6i\  con- 
veniens ingenio  principis  apostolorum  ;"  and  Bengel :  "  Mirabilis  est  gravitas  et  alacri- 
tas  Petrini  sermonis,  lectorem  suavissime  retinens."  Comp.  Steiger's  Commcntar 
p.  5  sqq. 


358  §  91.       LATER   LABORS    OF   PETER.  [I-  BOOK. 

and  a  meekness  and  mildness  strongly  contrasting  with  the  haughty  arro- 
gance of  so  many  of  the  bishops  of  Rome  ;  c.  5  being  directly  aimed 
against  an  overbearing,  hierarchical  spirit.  It  is  full  of  joyful  hope  and 
precious  consolation,  especially  for  the  suflfer'ng, — a  true  fulfillment  of 
the  Saviour's  injunction  :  "  When  thou  art  converted,  strengthen  thy 
brethren"  (Luke  22  :  32). 

3.  As  to  the  date  of  its  composition  ;  we  have  at  once  a  hint  in  the 
fact  of  its  being  sent  by  Silvanus  (5  :  12).  This  person  is  undoubtedly 
the  same  as  the  Silvanus  mentioned  in  1  Thess.  1:1.  2  Thess.  1:1. 
2  Cor.  1  :  19,  and  by  the  abbreviated  form,  Silas,  in  Acts  15  :  22-40. 
16  :  19 — 1-7  :  10,  14,  15.  18  :  5.  He  sprajg  from  the  church  of 
Jerusalem,  and  had  long  been  acquainted  with  Peter,  but  appears  as  a 
companion  of  Paul  unf.l  the  latter  made  his  fourth  journey  to  Jerusalem, 
A.  D.  54  (Acts  18  :  18-22).  It  was  not  till  after  this,  therefore,  that  he 
could  have  come  into  Peter's  neighborhood.  We  are  j.ointed  to  a  still 
later  date  by  the  probable  relation  of  the  first  epistle  of  Peter  to  the 
epistles  which  Paul  wrote  during  his  imprisonment  at  Rome,  especially 
that  to  the  Ephesians  (written  A.  D.  62)  ;'  and  (if  the  "  Babylon"  at 
the  close  mean,  according  to  the  oldest  interpretation,  Rome),  by  Paul's 
not  mentioning  Peter  in  those  epistles,  even  in  the  second  to  Timothy 
(A.  D.  63).  This  justifies  the  inference,  that  Peter  was  not  then  in 
Rome,  and  consequently  could  not  then  have  written  a  letter  from  there. 
With  this  agrees  the  fact,  that  Mark  was  in  Peter's  vicinity  at  the  time 
this  epistle  was  written  ;  for  he  had  probably  complied  with  Paul's  invi- 
tation to  come  to  Rome  (2  Tim.  4  :  11).  Hence  the  year  63  would  be 
the  earliest,  and  the  year  67,  beyond  which  Peter  certainly  cannot  have 
lived,  the  latest  date  for  the  composition  of  his  first  epistle.  The  most 
probable  time  is  the  year  64,  shortly  before  the  outbreak  of  the  perse- 
cution under  Nero.  Hug,  Keander,  and  others  think,  indeed,  that  such 
passages  as  2  :  12.  3  :  13  sqq.  4  :  4,  already  presuppose  the  exist- 
ence of  this  persecution  :  the  Christians  having  been  previously  perse- 
cuted not  as  Christians,  as  they  now  were  (4  :  14,  16,  where  this  term 
occurs  as  a  nickname,  of  which  the  believers  were  not  to  be  ashamed), 
nor  even  as  "evil-doers"  {KaaonoLoi,  malefici,  3  :  16),  but  simply  as  a 
Jewish  sect.  They  were  first  persecuted  as  Christians  by  order  of 
Nero.  But  we  cannot  regard  this  evidence  as  at  all  conclusive.  For, 
in  the  first  place,  the  name  "  Christians,"  which  was  first  brought  into 
vogue  undoubtedly  by  the  heathens,  existed  long  before  (Acts  11  :  26)  ; 
and  the  passage  of  Tacitus,   which  is  appealed  to,   implies,  that  the 

'  Comp.  I  Pet.  1  :  1  sq.  wi;h  Eph.  1:4-7;  1:3  with  1:3;  2:18  with  6:5;  3  : 
1  with  .5  :  22 ;  5  :  ^  with  5  :  21.  Spc  the  tables  of  comparison  in  the  Introductions  of 
Hug.  Credner,  and  De  Wette. 


MISSIONS.]  HIS   FIRST   EPISTLE.  359 

Christians,  as  such,  were,  even  before  the  year  64,  objects  of  the  most 
bitter  susiiicion  and  hatred,"  otherwise  even  Nero  could  not  well  have 
accused  them  of  setting  the  city  on  fire.     Then  again,  isolated,  tempo- 
rary persecutions  arose  in  various  places  after  the  death  of  Stephen  ;" 
and  that  the  Neronian  persecution  extended  to  the  provinces  of  Asia 
Minor,  is  at  least  not  told  us  by  the  pagan  historians,  though  it  is  cer- 
tainly, in  itself,  very  probable,  that  the  example  of  the  chief  city  opera- 
ted unfavorably  to  the  Christians  in  the  whole  empire.^     The  expression 
"  evil-doers,"  1  Pet.  3:16,  has  a  parallel  in  2  Tim.  2  :  9,  where  Paul 
says  of  himself,  that  he  is  bound  as  a  KCKovpyog.     Furthermore,  the  term 
does  not  necessarily  mean  "  siafe  criminals,"  so  as  to  presuppose  already 
an  imperial  prohibition  of   Christianity  as  a  "religio  illicita"  (such  a 
decree,  by  the  way,  was  never  issued  by  Nero,  but  first  by  Trajan)  ; 
but  is  rather  shown  by  the  context  to  ])e  the  s'mple  antithesis  of  "  well- 
doing," "  a  good  conversation  in  Christ."*     Finally,  the  hypothesis,  that 
Peter  wrote  in  the  midst  of  the  Neronian  persecution,  which  broke  out 
in  July,  A.  D.  64,  cannot  well  be  reconciled  with  the  genuineness  of  the 
second  epistle,  which  was  composed  afterwards,  and  with  the  familiar 
tradition  of  his  being  crucified  in  this  persecution.     If  he  were  in  Eome,. 
he  would  hardly  have  sat  down  to  write  under  such  circumstances,  or  at 
least  he  would  have  painted  the  sufferings  of  the  Christians  in  much 
stronger  colors,  and  would  not  have  failed  to  speak  of  the  danger  to  his 
own  life.     But  if,  as  Hug  and  Neander  suppose,  he  wrote  from  Babylon 
in  Asia,  it  must  have  been  a  long  time,  by  reason  of  the  great  distance 
and  little  communication  between  the  Roman  and  the  Parthian  empires, 
before  he  heard  of  that  persecution  ;  and  it  is  not  very  probable,  that 
he  then  went  immediately  to  Rome,  as  we  should  have  to  assume,  to  die 
as  a  martyr  there  in  the  same  persecut'on.     Thus  much,  however,  is 
certain  from  the  epistle  itself,  that  the  Christians,  at  the  time  of  its 
composition,   were    already  in    a  depressed   condition   throughout   the 
Roman  empire,  and  had  to  expect  the  worst  ;  and  this  points  to  the 
later  years  of  Nero's  reign.     The  heavy  storm  of  persecution,  raised  by 

'  ^nn  XV.  44  :  '  Quos  yier  Jlagitia  invisos,  vu]gus  Chrisfianes  appeWabatP^  Cotnp. 
the  epithet  "  malefica,"  which  Suetonius,  Ner.  16,  applies  to  the  "  superstitio  "  of  the 
Christians. 

*  Connp.  Acts  12  :  1  sqq.  1  Cor.  4  :  9  sqq.  15  :  31  sqq.  Acts  19  :  23  sqq.  2 
Cor.  11  :  23  sqq.  1  Thess.  1  :  6,  7.  2  :  14-16.  2  Thess.  1  :  5.  Phil.  1  :  28-30. 
Heb.  10  :  32  sqq. 

'  It  is  first  mentioned  by  Orosius.  who,  however,  being  a  contemporary  of  Augus- 
tine (1430),  cannot  be  taken  as  authority  on  this  point.  He  says,  Histor  Vlf.  7  : 
"  Nam  primus  Romae  Christianos  suppliciis  et  mortibus  adfecit  (Nero)  ac  per  omnes 
provincias  pari  persecutione  exrruciaii  imperavH^^  etc. 

*  1  Pet.  3  :  12.  17.     4  :  15.     2  :  19.  20. 


360  §  92,       THE   SECOND   EPISTLE   OF   PETEE.      ,  [l.  BOOK. 

this  tyrant,  was  approaching,  and,  from  what  Tacitus  says  of  the  very 
bitter  hatred  on  the  part  of  the  heathens  towards  the  new  sect,  might 
be  regarded  as  nigh  at  hand.  Perhaps,  also,  this  fact  contains  the  rea- 
son of  the  allegorical  designation  of  Rome  as  Babylon  (5  :  13). 

4.  Respecting  the  place  where  this  epistle  was  written,  we  have  no 
other  hint,  than  the  mention  of  Babylon  at  the  close  (5  :  13).  But 
this  is  differently  interpreted,  and  is  closely  connected  with  the  question 
of  Peter's  residence  in  Rome,  of  which  we  shall  speak  at  large  in  a  fol 
lowing  section. 

§  92.    The  Second  Epistle  of  Peter. 

B.  The  Second  Epistle  is  addressed  to  the  same  churches  as  the  first 
(2  Pet.  3:1),  but  was  written  somewhat  later,  shortly  before  the 
death  of  the  apostle,  the  approach  of  which  the  Lord  had  revealed  to 
him  (1  :  14).  It  contains  an  exhortation  to  grow  in  grace  and  in  the 
knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  prepare  for  the  last  advent  of  the 
Lord  ;  a  renewed  assurance  of  the' unity  of  faith  between  the  author 
and  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  the  first  teacher  and  principal  founder 
of  those  churches  ;  but  above  all,  an  earnest  warning  against  dangerous 
errorists,  of  whom  some  are  viewed  as  already  present,  others  as  still  to 
come,  and  who  strongly  resemble  those  attacked  by  Paul  in  the  Pastoral 
Epistles.  While,  thus,  the  first  letter  of  Peter  arms  the  Christians 
chiefly  against  outward  danger  from  the  heathen  persecution,  which 
was  to  proceed  from  Rome,  the  seat  of  the  centralized  despotism  of  the 
world  ;  the  second  letter  has  mainly  in  view  the  dangers  from  within, 
from  pseudo-christian  and  antichristian  errorists  ;  and  in  this  respect  it 
may  be  compared  with  Moses'  farewell  song,  and  Paul's  parting 
address  to  the  elders  of  Ephesus.  It  is  an  earnest  prophecy  of  future 
conflicts,  the  germs  of  which  were  already  beginning  to  unfold  them- 
selves. 

But  while  the  first  epistle  of  Peter  is  attested  as.  genuine,  even  by 
external  evidence  of  the  strongest  kind,'  and  was  universally  regarded 
in  the  ancient  church  as  apostolical  and  canonical  ;  the  second  epistle, 
on  the  contrary,  does  not  distinctly  appear  under  its  proper  name  until 
it  is  mentioned  by  Origen  in  the  third  century,'^  and  is  enumerated  by 
Eusebius  among  the  antilegomena,  as  to  the  genuineness  of  which  the 
church  was  then  as  yet  divided.     Besides  this,  there  are  internal  marks 

'  Even  the  epistle  of  Polycarp  to  the  Phi'ippians  contains  seven  quotations  from  it. 

"  He  says,  in  Euseb.  H.  E.  VI.  25  :   '•  Peter,  on  whom  the  church  of  Christ  is  built, 

has  left  only  one  generally  acknowledi;ed  epistle  ;  perhaps  also  a  second  ;  for 

this  is  disputed  {iaru  6i  koI  Sevrepav  ufi(l>il3dA?.FTai  yap)."  The  old  Syriac  version, 
the  Peshito,  does  not.contain  the  second  epistle  of  Peter. 


MISSIONS.]  §    92.       THE    SECOND    EPISTLE    OF    PLTER,  3G1 

fitted  to  awaken  suspicion  of  its  genuineness  ;  first  of  all  the  men- 
tion of  the  writings  of  the  "beloved  brother  Paul,"  in  which  many 
things  are  hard  to  be  understood,  and  are  wrested  by  false  teachers 
(13  :  15,  16).  But,  strange  as  this  allusion  may  at  first  sight 
appear,  it  is  found,  on  closer  examination,  to  be  well  grounded  and 
deeply  significant,  as  aimed  against  the  old  and  new  Gnostics  and 
free-thinkers,  who  made  Paul's  doctrine  of  liberty  a  cloak  for  licen- 
tiousness and  wickedness  in  theory  and  in  practice.  Then  again,  in  the 
delineation  of  the  heretics  in  the  second  chapter  and  first  part  of  the 
third,  the  author  has  been  thought  to  draw  on  the  epistle  of  Jude,  in  a 
manner  unworthy  of  the  prince  of  the  apostles  ;  while  some  advocates 
of  the  genuineness  of  the  epistle,  as,  most  recently,  Guericke,  see  in  this 
an  intentional  coincidence,  suited  to  Peter's  purpose.  But,  on  nearer 
inspection,  the  dependence  appears  rather  on  the  part  of  Jude  ;  the 
false  teachers  in  2  Peter  being  described  for  the  most  part  propheti- 
cally, as  yet  to  come,  but  in  Jude,  as  already  present.  In  Jude  17,  18, 
for  instance,  there  is  palpable  reference  to  the  apostolic  warning  in  2 
Pet.  3  :  3.'  The  very  fulfillment  of  Peter's  prophecy  in  the  congrega- 
tions, with  which  Jude  came  in  contact,  seems  to  have  been  the  chief 
occasion  of  Jude's  epistle.  The  other  sections  of  the  epistle  in  view,  the 
first  and  third  chapters,  are  confessedly  full  of  spirit  and  fire,  and  every 
way  worthy  of  an  apostle."  Moreover,  Peter,  in  c.  1  :  14,  16  sqq.  3  : 
1,  15,  so  unequivocally  presents  himself  as  the  author,  that  the  epistle, 
at  least  in  substance,  in  its  essential  thoughts,  can  only  have  come 
either  from  him  or  from  a  manifest  impostor.  But  that  the  divine 
providence,  which  so  carefully  watched  the  composition  and  collection 
of  the  apostolic  writings,  has  allowed  the  production  of  a  forger  to 
creep  in  amongst  the  sacred  records  of  Christianity,  may  be  believed  by 
those,  with  whom  what  they  call  science  and  criticism  stands  above 
faith.  We  freely  confess,  that  we  cannot  admit  it  without  reasons, 
which  absolutely  compel  us.  We,  therefore,  hold  the  epistle  in  question 
to  be  an  apostolical  production,  which  rightly  has  its  place  in  the  canon, 
and  contains  exhortations  most  serious  and  important  even  for  our  day. 
The  vacillation  of  tradition  respecting  it  might  perhaps  be  accounted  for 
by  the  fact,  that  it  was  not  designed  for  immediate  general  circulation, 
but  was,  as  it  were,  a  testament  of  Peter,  not  to  be  opened  till  after  his 

^  Comp.  Heydenreich's  Verthcidigung  der  Aechtheit  des  zw.  Briefs  Petri,  p.  97  sqq., 
and  Thiersch's  Versiich  zur  Herstellung  des  histor.  Standpunkts  fiir  die  Kritik  der  N. 
Tlichen  Schriflen  (1845),  p.  239  and  275. 

'  Hence  some  critics  have  taken  a  middle  course,  against  which,  however,  strong 
o^jections  may  be  raised.  Bertholdt.  for  instance,  holds  the  first  and  third  chapters  to 
be  genuine  ;  and  Ullmann  only  the  first. 


862  §  93.     PETEE  m  kome.  [i-  book. 

death  (comp.  2  Pet.  1  :  14,  15),  as,  in  fact,  its  contents  relate  more  to 
the  future,  than  to  the  present,  and  for  this  reason  were  first  received 
into  the  later  collections  of  the  canon. 

§  93.  Peter  in  Rome. 

It  is  the  universal  testimony  of  tradition,  that  Peter  labored  last  in 
Kome,  and  there  suffered  martyrdom  under  Nero.  This  testimony,  in- 
deed, was  soon  loaded  with  all  sorts  of  unhistorical  and  m.  some  cases 
self-coutradictory  additions  ;  has  been  abused  by  the  Roman  hierarchy 
in  support  of  its  extravagant  claims  ;  and  is,  therefore,  sometimes,  either 
from  polemic  zeal  against  the  papacy,'  or  from  historical  skepticism,* 
called  in  question.  But  by  the  great  majority  of  Protestant  historians 
the  main  fact  has  always  been  admitted.^  We  shall  first  hear  the  most 
important  evidence  of  tradition  on  this  point  ;  next,  attempt  to  deter- 
mine the  probable  duration  of  Peter's  residence  in  Rome  ;  and  lastly, 
examine  the  accounts  of  the  mode  of  his  death. 

1.    The  testimony  of  tradition  respecting  Peter\<i  residence  in  Rome. 

{a)  The  earliest  information  is  given  us  by  Peter  himself  in  the  men- 
tion of  his  residence  at  the  close  of  his  first  epistle,  as  most  anciently 
interpreted,  c.  5  :  13  :  "  The  (church,  that  is)  at  Babylon,  elected  toge- 
ther with  (you),  saluteth  you  ;  and  (so  doth)  Marcus  my  son."  The 
meaning  of  Babylon  is,  indeed,  disputed.  Neander,  Steiger,  De  Wette, 
Wieseler,  and  others  (also  the  distinguished  Roman  Catholic  theologian, 
Hug),  understand  by  it  the  famous  Babylon  or  Babel  on  the  Euphrates. 

'  Especially  by  the  Dutch  Theologian,  Frederic  Spanheim,  who,  in  his  famous  Din- 
sertatio  de  ficta  proftctione  Petri  Apostoli  in  urbern  Romam,  deque  non  una  traditionis  ori- 
gine,  1679,  first  subjected  the  matter  to  a  thorough  investigation  and  sought  to  establish 
by  a  critical  examination  of  witnesses  the  doubt,  which  had  already  been  raised  res- 
pecting Peter's  residence  in  Rome  by  the  Waldenses,  and  such  declared  enemies  of  the 
papacy  as  Marsilius  of  Padua,  Michael  of  Caesena,  Matthias  Flacius,  and  Claudius 
Salmasius.     He  attributed  the  story  mainly  to  the  ambition  of  the  Roman  church. 

^  By  the  modern  hypercritics,  Baur  (in  several  articles  in  the  "Tiibinger  theol. 
Zeitschrift,"  and  in  his  Paulus,  p.  212  sqq.)  and  Schwegler  (Nacliapost.  Y^eitalfer,  I. 
p.  301  sqq.).  They  derive  the  tradition  from  the  supposed  jealousy  of  the  Jewish 
Christians  in  Rome  towards  Paul's  Gentile  Christians  ;  from  the  effort  to  set  the  Jew- 
ish apostle,  Peter,  above  Paul.     So  also  De  Wette  :  Einl.  in''s  N.  T.  p.  314. 

'  By  almost  all  the  older  Reformed  theologians,  who  devoted  any  special  diligence 
and  talent  to  the  study  of  church  antiquity,  such  as  Scaliger,  Casaubonus,  Petit,  Usher, 
Pearson,  Cave;  and  then  by  Schrockh,  Mynster,  Berthold,  Gieseler,  Neander  (who, 
however,  in  the  last  edition  of  his  j9post.  Gesch..  seems  to  have  been  staggered  by 
Baur's  arguments,  and  declares  himself  not  so  decidedly,  as  before,  in  favor  of  the 
tradition),  Credner,  Bleek,  Olshausen,  and  Wieseler  (in  the  second  Excursus  of  his 
Chronologic),  and  a  host  of  others  not  to  be  mentioned,  who  have  not  entered  into  any 
minute  investigation  of  the  matter. 


MISSIONS.]  §  93.       PETEK   m   BOME.  363 

Upou  this  vast  city  the  prediction  of  the  Hebrew  prophets'  had,  indeed, 
been  terribly  fulfilled,  and,  in  the  time  of  the  apostles,  as  Strabo,  Pausa- 
nias,  and  Pliny,  unanimously  assure  us,  it  presented  nothing  but  a  scene 
of  ruins  {ovSev  el  /if/  TEcxoc),  a  desolation  (solitudo).^  It  may  certainly  be 
supposed,  however,  that  some  portion  of  it  still  remained  habitable  ;  and, 
since  there  were  many  thousands  of  Jews  in  the  satrapy  of  Babylonia,^ 
it  is  not  in  itself  improbable,  that  Peter  laid  the  field  of  his  labor  in 
those  regions.  But  in  this  case  it  might  reasonably  be  expected,  that 
some  traces  of  his  activity  there  should  be  preserved.  Tradition,  how- 
ever, knows  nothing  at  all  of  any  residence  of  Peter  in  the  Parthian 
empire,  though  it  tells  of  a  sojourn  of  the  apostle  Thomas  there.''  Then 
again,  this  interpretation  makes  it  hard  to  account  for  the  acquaintance, 
which  the  epistle  confessedly  evinces,  with  the  later  epistles  of  Paul  ; 
as  there  was  but  little  communication  between  Babylonia  and  the  Ko- 
nian  empire.  Equally  unaccountable  would  be  Peter's  meeting  with 
Mark  (5  :  13)  ;  for  he  was  in  Rome  in  the  years  61-63  (Col.  4  :  10. 
Philem.  23),  and  soon  after  would  seem  to  have  been  in  Asia,  whence 
he  was  recalled  by  Paul  to  Rome,  not  long  before  that  apostle's  martyr- 
dom (2  Tim.  4  :  11).  If,  as  we  have  good  reason  to  suppose,  he  obeyed 
this  call,  he  could  not  so  soon  have  reached  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates. 
But  the  case  is  perfectly  simple,  if  Peter  himself,  about  that  time  or 
soon  after,  came  to  Rome,  and  there  wrote  his  epistle. 

These  difficulties  compel  us  to  return  to  the  earliest  and,  in  antiquity, 
the  only  current  interpretation  of  Babylon,  which  makes  it  Rome.  This 
is  well  known  to  be  its  sense  in  the  Apocalypse,*^  as  also  Roman  Catholic 
expositors  admit.  It  has  been  objected,  indeed,  that  this  symbolical 
des'gnation  of  the  metropolis  of  Heathendom,  however  suitable  in  a 
poetical  book  of  prophecy,  l!ke  the  Apocalypse,  would  be  very  strange 
in  the  simple  prose  of  an  ej  istle.  But  this  objection  is  far  more  than 
met  by  the  following  positive  arguments  in  favor  of  the  figurative  inter- 
pretation ;  viz.,    (1)  the  unanimous  testimony  of  the  ancient  church,* 

'  Is.  13  :  19  sqq.     14  :  4,  12-     46  :  1  sq. 

"^  See  the  passages  in  Meyerhoff:  Einleit.  in  die  petrin.  Schriften  (1835),  p.  129. 

'  Josephus :  jlntiqii.  XV.  3,  1.  Philo  :  Be  legat.  ad  Caj.  p.  587.  It  is  true,  Jose- 
phus  tells  us  also,  XVIII.  9,  8,  that  under  the  emperor  Caligula  many  Jews  migrated 
from  Babylon  to  Seleucia  for  fear  of  persecution,  and  that,  five  years  afterwards,  a  pes- 
tilence drove  away  the  rest.  But  they  might  very  well  have  returned  before  the 
epistle  of  Peter  was  written,  as  Caligula  died  in  the  year  41. 

*  Origen,  in  Eusebius  :  Hist.  Eccl.  III.  1. 

^  Chap.  14  :  8.  16  :  19.  17  :  5.  18  :  2,  10.  21.  Comp.  the  allusions,  17  :  9,  to  the 
seven  hills,  and,  17  :  18,  to  the  universal  dominirn,  of  Rome.  So  in  a  fragment  of  the 
Sibylline  Books  (V.  143,  159),  supposed  to  belong  to  the  first  century,  Rome  is  styled 
Babylon. 

"  So  Papias  or  Clement  of  Alexandria,  in  Euacb.  II.  15  ;  the  subscription  of  the  epis- 


364  §  93.      PETER    IN    ROME.  [l-    BOOK, 

and  (2)  the  analogy  of  other  terras  in  the  salutation,  which  would  like- 
wise have  to  be  regarded  as  out  of  place.  Neander,  indeed,  would  take 
"the  co-elect"  to  be  the  wife,  and  the  "son  Marcus,"  an  actual  son  of 
Peter.'  But,  although  Peter,  as  we  learn  from  1  Cor.  9  :  5,  took  his 
wife  with  him  on  his  missionary  tours,  yet  his  mentioning  her  in  an  official 
circular,  especially  to  churches,  with  which,  in  Neander's  (erroneous) 
view,  he  was  not  personally  acquainted,  were  most  certainly  unbecoming 
and  unexampled  in  Christian  antiquity.  It  is  impossible,  also,  to  see 
how  avvEKTiEKTri  should  of  itself  express  the  idea  of  a  wife,  or  why,  in  this 
case,  the  phrase  h  BajSvluvi  is  placed  in  this  particular  grammatical  rela- 
tion. These  difficulties  all  vanish,  if  we  supply  UKTujma,  making  it  the 
Christian  congregation,  as  is  done  in  the  Peshito  and  the  Vulgate.  As 
to  Marcus  ;  tradition  knows  nothing  of  a  proper  son  of  Peter  by  that 
name.'^  On  the  contrary,  it  is  altogether  natural  to  understand  here  the 
evangelist,  the  well  known  missionary  assistant  of  Paul  and  Peter,  a 
native  of  Jerusalem,  and  probably  converted  by  Peter  (Acts  12  :  12 
sqq.),  but  at  the  Same  time,  like  the  bearer  of  the  letter,  Silvanus,  a 
connecting  link  between  him  and  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  If,  there- 
fore, in  agreement  with  all  the  older  commentators,  we  must  take  the 
vloc,  according  to  the  familiar  usage  of  the  New  Testament,^  as  a  trope, 
and  refer  awEKleKTi)  to  the  church,  these  are  arguments  in  favor  of  the 
symbolical  interpretation  of  Babylon.  Nay,  in  this  very  juxtaposition 
of  the  two  names  we  find  a  significant  contrast,  especially  under  the 
depressed  circumstances  of  the  Christians,  which  the  epistle  presupposes. 
The  apostle  styles  the  churches,  to  which  he  writes,   "  elect  pilgrims " 

{ealeKTol -maqEmdjJiioL  diaaTTopu^  TiovTov,  Gic.  1    :  1  )   *,    and   SO    also    the  church, 

from  the  midst  of  which  he  writes,  an  "  elect"  of  God  to  eternal  life  in  the 
seat  of  the  deepest  heathen  corruption,  such  as  must  have  made  an  author, 
especially  so  conformed  as  Peter  to  the  thought  and  style  of  the  pro- 
phets, involuntarily  recur  to  the  Old  Testament  representations  of  Baby- 
tie  ;  Jerome  in  his  Catal-  s.  Petr. ;  Oecumenius,  &c.  We  know  not  of  a  single  voice 
from  antiquity  in  favor  of  referring  tiiis  passage  to  Babylon  in  Asia.  For  referring  it 
to  Rome,  though  in  some  cases  from  different  premises,  are  Grotius,  Lardner,  Cave, 
Semler,  Hitzig  {Ueber  Johannes  Marcus,  etc.  p.  186),  Kaur,  Schwegler,  Thiersch  {Ver- 
such  zur  Herstellung,  etc.  p.  110,  and  Die  Kirche  im  apostol.  Zeitalter,  p.  208). 

^  Jpostdgesch.  II.  p.  590.  Note  4.  So  Mill,  Bengel,  Meyerhoff,  1.  c.  p.  126  sq  — 
Steiger,  De  Wette,  and  Wieseler,  on  the  contrary,  though  they  make  the  place  Babylon 
proper,  yet  refer  avveKlEicTTj  to  the  church  (of  Assyrian  Babylon),  and  Mup/cof  to  the 
evangelist. 

*  Clement  of  Alexandria  speaks,  indeed,  in  general  terms,  of  children  of  Peter 
{Strom.  III.  f.  448  :  UtTgog  ftsv  yug  kuI  ^iXnrnoc  iKaiSowoi-^aavro),  and  tradition  men- 
tions a  daughter,  Petronilla  (comp.  jlcta  Sanct.  30th  May),  But  nowhere  is  a  Mark 
named  among  his  children. 

«  Comp.  1  Cor,  4  :  16-18.     Gal.  4  :  19,     1  Tim.  1  :  2,  18.     2  Tim.  1:2.     2:1 


MISSIONS.]  §  93.       PETER   IN   EOME.  365 

Ion.  Add  to  this,  that  the  epistle  was  written  in  the  later  years  of  Nero, 
when  cruelty  and  tyranny  had  full  sway,  and  shortly  before  the  bloody 
scenes  of  the  Neronian  persecution  ;  therefore  at  a  time,  when  the  Chris- 
tians, as  the  letter  itself  and  the  above  quoted  passage  of  Tacitus  prove, 
had  already  become  objects  of  the  foulest  suspicion  and  the  most 
shameful  calumny.  In  view  of  all  this  it  must  be  admitted,  that  the 
symbolical  designation  of  Rome,  which  Sylvanus  could  more  particularly 
explain  to  the  readers,  in  case  they  did  not  at  once  understand  it,  was  in 
perfect  keeping  with  the  whole  contents  and  the  historical  circumstances 
of  the  epistle.  The  proper  name  of  Rome  in  this  connection  would 
evidently  have  been  far  less  significant.  This  city  soon  after  became,  in 
fact,  the  centre  of  persecution,  and  the  same  to  the  Christians,  that  the 
old  Babylon  had  been  to  the  Israelites. 

(b)  We  go  now  to  the  church  fathers.  The  Roman  bishop,  Cle- 
ment, a  disciple  of  Paul,  tells  us,  indeed,  that  Peter,  after  suffering 
many  trials,  died  a  martyr  ;  but  states  neither  the  manner  nor  the  place 
of  his  death  ;  probably  because  he  might  presume  they  were  well 
known.'  For  wherever  the  place  of  Peter's  martyrdom  is  named,  it  is 
always  Rome  ;  and  no  other  church  claimed  this  distinction,  though  it 
was  a  great  point  with  churches  at  that  time  to  have  had  celebrated 
martyrs.  To  say  nothing  of  the  testimony  of  Papias  in  a  somewhat 
obscure  passage  in  Eusebius  (II.  15),  referring  Babylon,  1  Peter  5  :  13, 
to  Rome,  the  letter  of  his  contemporary,  Ignatius,  to  the  Romans  takes 
for  granted,  that  Peter  had  preached  to  them  f  as  does  also  a  fragment 
from  the  praedicatio  Petri,  which  belongs  to  the  beginning  of  the  second 
century.^ — More  distinct  is  the  deposition  of  Dionysius,  bishop  of  Corinth 
(about  170),  who,  in  his  epistle  to  the  Romans,  calls  the  Roman  and 
Corinthian  churches  the  joint  planting  of  Peter   and   Paul,  and  adds  : 

'  In  his  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  which  belongs  to  the  last  half  of  the  first 
century,  c.  5  :  IltTpof  did,  (,rfkov  udiKov  ovx  £va,  oiide  dvo,  aXkd,  nTiSiovag  vnefieivEv 
(according  to  others  viTTJveyKev)  ttovovc  Kal  ovtu  fiaQTvgTJaag  iTrogsv&rj  elg  rbv 
6(jiEiji6/itEvov  TOTTov  Ttjc  ^o^TjQ.  ThcH  foUows  the  more  full  and  distinct  testimony  above 
quoted  respecting  Paul's  end.  The  fiaQTvgy'/aag  is  here  probably  to  be  taken  in  its  pri- 
mary sense  of  witnessing  by  word,  as  in  the  passage  immediately  following,  and  not, 
as  it  is  commonly  taken,  as  denoting  martyrdom.  The  latter,  however,  is  to  be  inferred 
from  the  whole  context,  particularly  from  the  clause  immediately  preceding,  which 
Clement  goes  on  to  illustrate  by  examples  :  Siu  ^/Xov  koI  (p-dovov  ol  /xEyiGToc  nai 
diKatoTaToi  arvloi.  e6  l6  x'^  V  ^  ('■v ,  Kal  ^wf  ■&  av  drov  tjX'&ov. 

*  c.  4  :  Ovx  ^^  Hereof   koI  TLavTiog  diaruaao/xat  v/ilv. 

*  In  Cypriani  opera,  ed.  Rigaltius,  p.  139  :  "Liber,  qui  inscribitur  Pauli  praedicatio 
(which  was  probably  the  last  part  of  the  praediratio  Petri,  comp.  Credner's  Beitrdge 
zur  EM.  I.  360),  in  quo  libro  invenies,  post  tanta  tempora  Petrum  et  Paulum,  post  con- 
lationem  evangelii  in  Hierusalem  et  mutuam  altercationem  et  rerum  agendarum  dispo- 
sitionem,  postremo  in  urbe,  quasi  tunc  primum.  invicem  sibi  esse  cognitos." 


366  §  93.       PETER   IN    ROME.  '  [l-    BOOK. 

"  For  both  taught  alike  in  our  Corinth,  when  they  planted  us,  and  l)oth 
alike  also  in  Italy  in  the  same  place  (ofxoar,  by  which,  in  accord- 
ance with  what  precedes,  we  can  only  understand  Rome),  after  having 
taught  there,  at  the  same  time  suffered  martyrdom.'"  This  making 
Peter  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Corinthian  church  is  certainly  at  all 
events  very  inaccurate,  and  might  possibly  have  arisen  merely  from  a 
misunderstanding  of  what  Paul  says,  1  Cor.  1  :  12,  of  the  party  of 
Cephas,  the  existence  of  which,  however,  in  the  Corinthian  church  does 
not  necessarily  imply  any  personal  or  direct  influence  of  Peter  upon  it. 
We  have  no  right,  however,  for  this  error  to  reject  the  whole  account  ; 
and  it  is  in  fact  very  possible,  that  Peter,  either  before,  or  after  the 
arrest  of  Paul,  perhaps  on  his  way  to  Rome,  also  visited  Corinth,  and 
thus,  though  he  could  not  be  said  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  term  to  have 
founded  that  church,  which  was  already  of  long  standing,  yet  he  might  have 
strengthened  it  and  confirmed  it  in  the  faith,  just  as  Paul  confirmed  the 
church  of  Rome,  and  was  hence  called  one  of  its  founders.  Irenaeus, 
who  was  connected  through  Polycarp  with  the  apostle  John,  says  of 
Peter  and  Paul,  that  they  preached  the  gospel  and  founded  the  church 
at  Rome.'^ — Somewhat  later,  about  the  year  200,  the  Roman  presbyter 
Cains,  in  his  work  against  the  Montanist,  Proclus  of  Asia  Minor,"  says  : 
"  I  can,  however,  show  the  monuments  {rgS-aLa)  of  the  apostles  (Peter 
and  Paul).  For  if  thou  wilt  go  to  the  Vatican  or  out  on  the  Ostian 
Way,  thou  wilt  find  the  monuments  of  the  men  who  founded  this  church."^ 
At  about  the  same  time  Clement  of  Alexandria  affirms  distinctly  that 
Peter  preached  the  gospel  at  Rome  ;  and  so  does  his  distinguished  disci- 
ple Origen.*  Tertullian  congratulates  the  church  at  Rome,  because 
there  Peter  had  been  made  conformable  to  (he  sufferings  of  the  Lord  (i.  e. 
had  been  crucified),  Paul  had  been  crowned  with  the  same  death  as  the 
Baptist  (i.  e.  had  been  beheaded),  and  John,  having  been  plunged  into 
boiling  oil  without  hurt  (a  fabulous  addition,  no  doubt),  had  been 
banished  to  Patmos.* 

These  are  the  oldest  and  most  important  testimonies.  They  are  drawn 
from  the  most  different  parts  of  the  church,  and  cannot  be  reasonably 
accounted  for  except  on  the  ground  of  some  historical  reality.  True, 
the  statements  we  meet  with  in  the  apocryphal  writings  and  the  later 
church  fathers,  as  Eusebius  and  Jerome  and  even  Clement  of  Alexan- 

'  In  Eusebius  :  H.  E.  1.  II.  c.  25. 

"^  Adv.  hae)\  III.  1,  comp.  3,  where  the   Roman  church  is  called  an  "a  gloriosissimis 
duobus  apostolis,  Petro  et  Paulo  fundata  et  constituta  ecclesia." 
^  In  Eusebius  :  H.  E.  II.  25. 

*  In  F.useb.  H.  E.  II.  15.     VI.  14.     II.  25.     III.  1.  ,  ^ 

*  De  praescr.  haer.  c.  36. 


MISSIONS.]  §  93.       PETER    IN    ROME.  367 

dria,'  are  laden  with  fabulous  embellishmeuts,  particularly  respectlno- 
Peter's  meeting  with  Simon  Magus  at  Rome, — a  story,  which  rests 
probably  on  false  inferences  from  the  narrative  in  Acts  8  :  18  sqq.,  and 
on  a  mistake  of  Justin  Martyr  in  supposing  he  had  seen  a  statue  of 
Simon  Magus  in  that  city.  But  such  accretions  gathered  by  an  old  tra- 
dition by  no  means  warrant  us  to  discard  its  primary  substance.  This 
certainly  cannot  be  accounted  for  here  by  the  rivalry  between  the  Jew- 
ish Christians  and  the  Gentile  converts  of  Paul  in  Rome.'*  For  it  would 
then  have  been  early  and  decidedly  contradicted  by  the  latter  ;  whereas 
the  oldest  witnesses  for  it  are  mostly  from  this  very  school  of  Paul  and 
John.  As  little  can  it  be  attributed  to  the  hierarchical  ambition  of  the 
Roman  bishops  ;  though  this,  it  is  true,  soon  laid  hold  of  the  story,  and 
used  it  for  its  own  ends.  The  tradition  itself,  it  may  easily  be  shown,  is 
older  than  the  use  or  abuse  of  it  for  hierarchical  purposes  ;  and  had 
there  been  sufficient  ground,  it  would  certainly  have  been  called  in  question 
in  the  first  centuries  by  the  opponents  of  the  pretensions  of  Rome  in  the 
Greek  and  African  churches.  But  no  such  contradiction  was  raised  in 
any  quarter,  either  by  Catholics  or  by  heretics  and  schismatics.  On  the 
contrary,  Cyprian  of  Africa  and  Firmilian  of  Cappadocia,  in  their  con- 
troversy with  Stephen,  bishop  of  Rome,  on  the  validity  of  heretical 
baptism,  in  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  always  take  for  granted, 
that  the  Roman  bishop  is  the  successor  of  Peter,  and  reproach  him  as 
acting  inconsistently  with  this  very  position,  and  as  leaving  the  founda- 
tion laid  by  Peter,  whom  he  ought  faithfully  to  represent.^     The  gigantic 

*  In  Euseb.  H.  E.  II.  15.  It  is  not  clear,  however,  whether  Eusebius  quotes  the 
authority  of  Clement's  vKorviruaeic  nnerely  for  what  he  says  concerning  the  origin  of 
the  gospel  of  Mark  (comp.  VI.  14),  or  also  concerning  the  meeting  of  Peter  with 
Simon  Magus  in  the  beginning  of  this  and  in  the  14th  chapter. 

^  As  Baur,  Schwegler,  and  De  Wette  vainly  suppose. 

"  Says  the  bishop  Firmilian  in  his  letter  to  Cyprian  :  "Atque  ego  in  hac  parte 
juste  indignor  ad  banc  tam  apertam  et  manifestam  Stephani  stultitiam,  quod,  qui  sic 
de  episcopatus  sui  loco  gloriatur  et  se  successionem  Petri  tenere  contendit,  super  quern 
fundamenta  ecclesiae  collocata  sunt,  multas  alias  petras  inducat  et  ecclesiarum  mul- 
tarum  nova  aedificia  constituat,  dum  esse  illic  baptisma  sua  auctoritate  defendit."  And 
immediately  after:  "  Stephanus,  qui  per  successionem  catbedram  Petri  habere  se  prae- 
dicat,  nullo  adversus  haereticos  zelo  excitatur  "  (as  he  ought  to  be,  being  the  successor 
of  Peter).  See  Cypr.  Epist.  7-5,  cap.  17  (al.  15).  This  controversy,  which  is  mistaken 
and  used  for  the  opposite  purpose  by  many  Protestant  church  historians,  Dr.  Neander 
among  the  rest,  has  been  presented  in  its  true  light  by  Dr.  Rothe  {Anfdnge  der  Christ- 
lichen  Kirche  und  ihrer  Verfassung,  I.  p.  676) :  "  Firmilian  does  not  here  deny  Ste- 
phen's claims  to  the  succession  on  the  cathedra  Petri,  but  recognizes  and  uses  them  to 
place  the  conduct  of  Stephen  in  a  still  more  unfavorable  light.  He  says  :  '•  Stephen, 
as  successor  of  Peter,  is  called  to  be  the  peculiar  organ  for  maintaining  and  promoting 
the  unity  of  the  church ;  it  is  the  harder  to  conceive  how  he  can  have  adopted  a 
course  which  goes  directly  to  obscure,  nay,  to  destroy  this  unity." 


368  §  93.       PETER   IN    KOME.  [l-  BOOK. 

structure  of  the  papacy  could  never  have  arisen  without  any  historical 
foundation,  out  of  a  jiure  lie.  Rather  has  this  very  fact  of  the  presence 
and  martyrdom  of  Peter  and  Paul  in  Rome,  in  connection  with  the 
political  position  of  this  metropolis  of  the  world,  been  the  indispensable 
condition  of  its  growth  and  its  long  influence  over  Christendom. 

2.    The  length  of  Peter^s  residence  in  Rome. 

The  questions,  when  Peter  came  to  Rome,  how  long  and  in  what 
capacity  he  labored  there,  the  oldest  accounts  leave  undecided.  When 
Dionysius  of  Corinth,  Irenaus,  and  Caius  ascribe  to  Peter  and  Paul  the 
joint  founding  of  the  Roman  church,  they  are  not  necessarily  to  be 
understood  as  referring  to  time,  and  meaning  that  these  apostles  had 
brought  the  first  tidings  of  the  gospel  to  that  city.  For  in  this  sense, 
even  Paul  was  not  its  founder,  any  more  than  Peter  was  the  founder  of 
the  Corinthian  church,  as  this  same  Dionysius  nevertheless  afQrms.  In 
fact,  however,  that  expression,  which  in  itself  may  denote  simply  Peter's 
important  agency  in  molding  a  church  of  long  standing,  but  still  imper- 
fectly instructed  and  organized,'  soon  came  to  be  taken  exclusively  in 
the  chronological  sense,  and  thus  gave  rise  to  a  confusion  in  the  tradi- 
tion favored  by  the  silence  of  the  New  Testament  in  regard  to  the  later 
labors  of  Peter.  Eusebius,  in  his  Chronicon,  is  the  first  to  make  our 
apostle  come  to  Rome  under  Claudius,  A.  D.  42,  preside  over  the 
church  there  twenty  years  (according  to  the  Armenian  text,  of  which 
the  Greek  original  is  now  lost),  or  twenty-five  (according  to  Jerome's 
translation),  and  suffer  martyrdom  in  the  last  year  of  Nero,  A.  D.  67  or 
68.  Jerome  also,  on  the  authority  of  Eusebius,  informs  us,  that  Peter 
was  first  (for  seven  years  according  to  a  later  view)  bishop  of  Antioch, 
and  then  for  twenty-five  years  from  the  second  year  of  Claudius,  or 
A.  D.  42,  bishop  of  Rome  -^  and  this  statement  is  followed  by  the  older 
Roman  Catholic  historians.' 

^  So  Barnabas  and  Paul  may  be  styled  with  perfect  correctness  the  proper  founders 
of  the  church  of  Antioch,  though  Christians  from  Jerusalem  and  Hellenists  from 
Cyprus  and  Cyrene  had  already  preceded  them  thither  with  the  seed  of  the  gospel 
(Acts  11  :  19-25).  So,  as  an  example  in  later  time,  Calvin  passes  for  the  founder  of 
the  Genevan  church,  though  the  Reformation  was  introduced  there  several  yeajs 
before  him  by  Farel. 

^  De  script,  eccles.  c.  1.  "  Simon  Petrus — post  episcopatum  Antiochensis  ecclesiaj  et 
praedicationem  dispersionis  eorum,  qui  de  circumcisione  crediderant  in  Ponto  Galatia, 
Cappadocia,  Asia  et  Bithynia.  secundo  Claudii  imperatoris  anno  ad  expugnandum 
Simonem  magum  Romam  pergit  ibique  vi^inti  quinque  annis  cathedram  sacerdotalem 
tenuity  usque  ad  ultimum  annum  Neronis,  id  est  decimum  quartum." 

'  Yet  even  the  most  zealous  friends  of  the  papacy  are  forced  at  least  to  modify  the 
Eusebian  tradition.  Baroniu^;  in  his  Jlnmds  (ail  ann.  39,  No.  25),  makes  Peier,  indeeol, 
for  seven  years  bishop  of  Antioch.  and  then  for  twenty-tive  years  bishop  of  Rome; 
but  at  the  s.ime  time  as.^uines.  that  the  ajjostle  u-as often  absent,  as  when,  for  instance, 


MISSIONS.]  §  93.       PETER    EST   EOME.  369 

But  this  view  contradicts  the  plainest  facts  of  the  New  Testament, 
and  cannot  stand  a  moment  before  the  bar  of  criticism.  The  Acts  of 
the  Apostles,  which  so  fully  describe  the  earlier  labors  of  Peter,  in  no 
case  allow  the  supposition  of  his  departui'e  from  Palestine  before  his 
arrest  by  Agrippa,  Acts  12  :  3-1 1  ;  and  as  this  falls  in  the  year  of  the 
famine  in  Palestine  (comp.  Acts  11  :  28.  12  :  1),  or  A.  D.  6A  (not  42, 
as  Eusebius  wrongly  assumes),  it  at  any  rate  sets  aside  the  seven  years' 
bishopric  in  Antioch,  and  cuts  off  several  years  from  the  twenty-five 
assigned  to  the  episcopate  in  Rome.  Aft-er  his  escape  from  prison  in 
the  fourth  year  of  Claudius,  the  apostle  might  possibly,  indeed,  have 
travelled  to  Rome  ;  as  Luke  remarks  iudefiniteLy  (Acts  12  :  17)  that 
he  departed  "to  another  place"  (etc  eregov  tokov),  and  thenceforth  loses 
sight  of  him  till  the  apostolic  council  in  the  year  50  (c.  15).'  This  is, 
in  itself,  by  no  means  improbable,  as  the  attention  of  the  apostle  must 
have  been  directed  at  an  early  day  to  the  centre  of  the  Roman  empire, 
where  the  Jews  were  very  numerous.  It  would  also  most  easily  explain 
that  ancient  and  universal  tradition,  which  calls  Peter  the  founder  of 
the  Roman  church.  But  on  the  other  hand,  this  possibility  becomes  at 
once,  to  say  the  least,  highly  improbable,  when  we  consider,  that  the 
epistle  to  the  Romans,  written  A.  D.  58,  contains  not  the  sligjitest  hint 
of  Peter's  having  previously  been  in  Rome.  Nay,  the  very  writing  of 
it  seems  to  imply  the  contrary.  For  Paul  repeatedly  declares  it  to  have 
been  his  prmciple,  not  to  build  on  another's  foundation,  nor  to  encroach 

the  facts  of  the  New  Testament  imperatively  demand  it :  and  this  he  refers  to  his 
papal  dignity,  to  his  divine  commission  to  oversee  the  whole  church.  "  Sic  videas," 
says  he,  "  Petrum  his  temporibus  numquam  fere  eodem  loco  consistere,  sed  ul  opus 
esse  videret,  peragrare  provincias,  invisere  ecclesias  ac  denique  omnes  quae  sunt  univer- 
salis praefecturae  functiones,  pastorali  sollicitudine  exequi  ac  consumere."  But  the 
official  duties  of  the  pope  do  not  require  him  now  to  travel  all  over  the  world.  Why 
should  it  have  been  the  case  only  at  the  time  of  Peter,  and  not  at  any  subsequent 
period  ? 

'  This  period  is  accordirgly  fixed  upon  by  the  acute  and  learned  defender  of  the 
Roman  tradition,  Fr.  Windischmann,  in  his  Vindkice  Petrirup,  Ratisb.  1836,  p.  112-116, 
for  the  first  journey  of  Peter  to  Rome.  Rather  too  hastily  the  Protestant  divine, 
Thiersch,  agrees  with  him  in  this,  saying  in  his  work  on  the  N  T.  Can.,  p.  104  sq. : 
*'  It  is  certain,  that  before  the  banishment  of  the  Jews  from  the  city  by  Claudius,  a 
Christian  church,  and  that  mainly,  if  not  wholly,  of  Jewish  converts,  had  been  founded 
there.  And  we  see  not  what  objection  of  any  force  can  be  urged  against  the  tradition, 
that  Peter  was  its  founder.  It  may  well  have  been  established  between  the  years  44 
and  50  or  51.  that  is,  between  Peter's  flight  from  Jerusalem  (Acts  12  :  17)  and  the 
apostolic  council  (c.  15)  ;  so  that  it  may  have  been  this  very  banishment  of  the  Jew.s 
from  Home  which  forced  Peter  also  to  leave  that  city,  and  led  him  to  return  to  Jeru- 
salem, where  we  find  him  at  the  meeting  of  the  council.'"  The  same  view  Thiersch 
defends  in  his  later  work  on  the  Apostolic  Church,  p.  96  sqq. 
24 


370  §  93.     PETEK  m  kome.  [i.  book. 

on  the  sphere  of  another  apostle's  labors  (Rom.  15  :  20,  21.  2  Cor, 
10  :  15,  16).  To  uphold  the  tradition,  therefore,  we  must  assume  two 
churches  at  Rome  ;  one  founded  by  Peter  under  Claudius,  consisting 
exclusively  of  Jewish  Christians,  and  dissolved  by  the  aforesaid  edict  of 
the  emperor  ;  another  entirely  new  one,  gathered  after  the  year  52  from 
the  Gentiles  and  mainly  through  the  influence  of  Paul  and  his  disciples. 
But  this  resort  also  becomes  precarious,  when  we  consider  how  easily 
the  whole  story  of  Peter's  going  to  Rome  under  the  emperor  Claudius 
may  be  explained  from  mistakes  and  false  inferences.  Thus,  Justin 
Martyr  had  reported,'  that  under  Claudius  Simon  Magus  went  to 
Rome,  and  there  won  many  followers  and  even  divine  honors,  as  was 
shown  by  a  statue  erected  to  him  on  an  island  in  the  Tiber.  This 
statue  was  in  fact  found  in  the  year  1574  in  the  place  described  ;  but  it 
turned  out  to  be  a  statue,  not  of  Simo  Sandus,  but  of  the  Sabine- 
Roman  divinity,  Semo  Sancus  or  Sangus,''  of  whom  the  Oriental  Justin 
had  probably  never  heard.'  But  tradition  at  once  laid  hold  of  this 
statement,  and,  in  its  zeal  to  glorify  Peter  as  much  as  possible,  sent  him 
on  the  heels  of  the  supposed  Samaritan  arch-heretic  to  Rome,  to  van- 
quish the  sorcerer  there  as  triumphantly  as  he  had  before  done  in 
Samaria  (Acts  8)."  To  this  was  added  the  report  of  Suetonius  con- 
cerning the  edict  of  Claudius,  which  expelled  the  Jews  and  probably 
also  the  Jewish  Christians  (on  account  of  the  "  impulsore  C/westo," 
comp.  §  80)  from  Rome,  and  thus  presupposes  the  existence  of  a  Chris- 
tian church  there  ;  and  since  Peter  was  regarded  as  the  proper  founder 
of  it,  it  followed  of  course,  that  he  had  already  gone  to  Rome  in  this 
emperor's  reign.  The  more  readily  the  early  date  assigned  by  Eusebius 
and  Jerome  to  Peter's  presence  in  this  city  may  be  accounted  for  in  this 
way,  as  having  arisen  from  erroneous  combinations,  the  less  claim  can  it 
have  to  our  credence. 

It  is  far  more  difficult,  however,  to  show,  that  Peter  was  in  Rome  all 
the  time  or  even  for  any  considerable  period  from  the  reign  of  Claudius 
onward.  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  Paul's  epistles  on  to  the  year 
63  or  64,  that  is,  to  the  salutation  in  Peter's  first  epistle  (5  :  13),  give 
no  hint  of  his  presence  in  this  city,  but  incontrovertible  proof  of  his 

'  Apol.  maj.,  c.  26  and  56. 

'  Comp.  Ovid's  Fast.  VI.  213. 

^  See  Baronius;  Annal.  ad.  ann.  44  ;  Otto's  Notes  on  Just.  Apol.  maj.,  c.  26  (0pp. 
Just.  I.  p.  66-68)  ,  also  Hug's  Einl.  II.  69  sqq.  ;  Gieseler's  Kirch.  Gesch.  I.  1,  p.  64; 
Neander's  Kirch.  Gesch.  II.  p.  783  (2nd  ed.) . 

*  This  conflict  is  noticed  already  in  the  Pseudoclementine  writings,  particularly  the 
Recognitions,  written  in  the  first  quarter  of  the  third  century.  That  Eusebius  was 
guided  in  his  chronology  by  the  above  statement  of  Justin,  to  which  he  himself 
appeals,  is  plain  from  his  Hist.  Eccl.  II.  13-15. 


MISSIONS.]  §  93,     PETEE  m  Ko>rE.  371 

absence  from  it.  For  in  the  year  50  he  was  in  Jerusalem  at  the  aposto- 
lic council  (Acts  15).  He  had  thus  far  labored  mainly,  not  among  the 
Gentiles,  of  whom  the  majority  of  the  Roman  church  consisted,'  but 
among  the  Jews  ;  and  expected  to  do  so  still  for  the  immediate  future, 
according  to  his  agreement  then  made  with  Paul  and  Barnabas  (Gal. 
2  :  7,  9).  Soon  after  this  we  find  him  at  Antioch  (Gal.  2:11  sqq.). 
At  the  writing  of  the  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  A.D.  5Y,  he  was 
yet  without  a  fixed  abode,  travelling  about  as  a  missionary  with  his  wife 
1  Cor.  9:5).  In  58  he  cannot  have  been  in  Rome,  or  Paul  would  cer- 
tainly have  sent  a  salutation  to  him  amongst  the  many  others  (Rom.  16). 
The  whole  epistle  to  the  Romans  knows  nothing  of  Peter's  laboring, 
either  then  or  before,  in  the  great  metropolis,  but  rather,  as  already 
remarked,  supposes  the  contrary.  In  the  spring  of  61  Paul  came  him- 
self as  a  prisoner  to  Rome.  The  Acts  inform  us  of  his  meeting  with  the 
Christians  of  that  place  (28  :  15  sqq.),  but  say  not  a  syllable  of  Peter  ; 
which,  were  he  there,  would  be  utterly  inexplicable.  In  the  years  61-63 
Paul  wrote  from  Rome  his  last  epistles,  in  which  he  introduces  by  name 
his  companions  and  helpers,  presents  salutations  from  them,  and  com- 
plains at  last  of  being  left  alone,''  but  is  perfectly  silent  about  Peter  ; 
and  this  surely  not  from  jealousy  or  enmity,  but  because  that  apostle  was 
not  in  the  neighborhood. 

Peter,  therefore,  must  have  come  to  Rome  after  the  second  epistle  to 
Timothy  was  written,  and  not  long  before  writing  his  own  epistles  ;  that 
is,  in  the  last  half  of  the  year  63  or  in  the  beginning  of  64. '^  And  as 
he  sufiTered  martyrdom  in  the  Neronian  persecution,  we  can  hardly  extend 
his  sojourn  there  beyond  a  year.*     Eusebius,  indeed,  and  Jerome  place 

'   Rom.  1  :  5-7,  13.     11:13,25,28.     14  :  1  sqq.     15:15,16. 

^  Col.  4  :  10,  11.     Philem.  23,  24.     Phil.  4  :  21,  22.     2  Tim.  4  :  9-22.     1  :  1.5-18. 

^  This  is  confirmed  in  substance  by  Lactantius  (f-330),  who  makes  Peter  come  to 
Rome  first  during  Nero's  reigti  (De  mortibus  persec.  c.  2  :  "  Cumque  jam  .Nero 
imperaret,  Petrus  Romam  advenit,"  etc.) ;  and  by  Origen  (1254),  who  brings  him  there 
at  the  dose  of  his  life  {Ini  te'Aei,  in  Euseb.  H.  E.  III.  1). 

*  As  even  an  unprejudiced  Roman  Catholic  writer,  Herbst,  grants  in  an  article  in  the 
Theol.  quarterly  of  Drey,  Herbst,  and  Hirscher,  Tubingen.  1820.  No.  4.  p.  567  sq. 
Other  scholars  of  the  Roman  church  also,  as  Valerius,  Pagi,  BaUiz,  Hug,  Klee,  limit  the 
residence  of  Peter  in  Rome  to  the  later  years  of  Nero's  reign,  or  speak  of  his  being 
there  before  as  at  least  not  demonstrable.  Windischmann  (1.  c. ),  on  the  contrary, 
would  make  Peter,  indeed,  reside  in  Rome  also  during  the  intervals  of  which  we  have 
no  distinct  notice  in  the  New  Testament  as  regards  the  point  in  question  ;  viz.,  during 
the  years  44-49, 52-58.  60-61,  and  64-68.  But  in  this  case  the  apostle  must  have  been 
there  very  furtively ;  he  must  have  purposely  kept  out  of  the  way  of  the  epistle  to  the 
Romans  and  of  Paul's  arrival  there ;  and,  according  to  Paul's  epistles,  left  no  trace  of 
his  residence  there  before  A.D.  63 !  In  zeal  for  the  honor  of  the  prince  of  the  apostles 
we  must  exclaim  to  such  an  advocate  :  Non  tali  auxilio,  nee  defensoribus  istis  ! 


372  §  94.      MARTTKDOM   OF   PETEE.  [l-  BOOK. 

his  death  in  the  year  67.  But  as  they  also  affirm,  with  universal  tradi- 
tion, that  he  died  at  the  same  time  with  Paul  in  the  Neronian  persecu- 
tion, which  according  to  Tacitus  broke  out  in  July,  64  ;  and  as  a  second 
persecution  under  the  same  emperor  cannot  be  proved  ;  the  date  here 
given  is  clearly  wrong,  and  the  error  is  no  doubt  owing  in  part  to  the 
fact,  that  on  this  point  the  fathers^  instead  of  following  the  full  and 
reliable  statement  of  Tacitus,  made  use  of  Suetonius,  who  separates  the 
persecution  from  the  conflagration,  which  occasioned  it,  and  in  general  is 
not  chronological  in  his  narrative.* 

That  Peter,  as  long  as  he  was  in  Rome,  was  associated  with  Paul  at 
the  head  of  the  church  and  exercised  a  leading  influence,  needs  no  proof. 
But  he  was  not  the  first  biskop  of  Rome  in  the  later  sense  of  the  term, 
for  the  apostolic  office  was  not  confined  to  a  particular  diocese,  but 
implies  a  commission  to  the  whole  world  ;  nor  was  he  pope  in  the  Roman 
sense,  for  this  contradicts  the  independent  dignity  of  Paul,  as  we  learn 
it  from  all  his  epistles  as  well  as  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  This 
erroneous  view  meets  us  first  in  the  Ebionistic  Clementine  Homilies,  from 
which,  as  afterwards  wrought  into  the  more  orthodox  Recognitions,  it 
passed  into  the  Catholic  church.  Clement  himself,  the  third  bishop  of 
Rome,  knows  nothing  of  it,  and  from  his  glowing  description  of  Paul  in 
the  fifth  chapter  of  his  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians  it  is  pretty  evident, 
that  he  ascribes  greater  importance  for  the  Roman  church  to  this  apos- 
tle, than  to  Peter,  of  whom  he  has  much  less  to  say.  Irenaeus  and 
Eusebius  rather  name  Linus  (other  fathers,  Clement)  as  first  bishop  of 
Rome  ;  and  even  Epiphanius  plainly  makes  a  distinction  between  the 
apostolic  and  the  episcopal  offices.^ 

§  94.  Martyrdom  of  Peter.      (Note  on  the  Claims  of  the  Papacy.) 

It  is  the  voice  of  all  antiquity,  that  Peter  was  crucified  in  the  perse- 
cution under  Nero.  His  death,  therefore,  as  already  remarked,  cannot 
be  placed  in  the  year  67,  as  it  is  even  by  most  of  the  later  historians  on 
the  authority  of  Eusebius  and  Jerome.  It  must  have  occurred  in  the 
year  64,  in  which,  according  to  the  reliable  testimony  of  Tacitus,  that 
persecution  broke  out,  immediately  after  the  conflagration  in  July,  and  in 
which  also,  though  perhaps  somewhat  earlier  and  by  the  less  ignominious 

*  On  this  defect  in  the  chronology  of  Eusebius  comp.  Wieseler,  1.  c.  p.  544  sqq.  The 
influence  of  Suetonius  is  very  clear  on  Orosius,  Histor.  VII.  7.  Only  Sulpicius  Severus, 
Hist.  Sacr.  II.  29,  seenas  to  have  used  the  statement  of  Tacitus.  Perhaps  the  con- 
demnatory judgment,  which  the  Stoical  historian  pronounces  on  the  Christians  {Annul. 
XV.  44),  was  the  cause  of  his  being  neglected  by  the  church  fathers. 

"  See  Schliemann's  Clemmtinen  (1844).  p.  115;  and  Gieseler's  Kirch.  Gcsch.  I.  I, 
p.  103,  281,  and  362,  note  9. 


MISSIONS.]  I  94.       MARTYRDOM    OF    PETER.  373 

})rocess  of  decapitation,  the  earthly  labors  of  Paul  were  brought  to  an 
end.  The  place  of  his  death,  according  to  the  above  quoted  testimony 
of  Caius,  was  pointed  out  at  the  end  of  the  second  century  as  the  Vati- 
can hill  beyond  the  Tiber,  where  lay  the  Circus  and  Nero's  Gardens,  and 
where  according  to  Tacitus  the  persecution  of  the  Christians  actually 
took  place.  There  also  was  built  to  his  memory  the  church  of  St.  Peter  ; 
as  over  Paul's  grave  on  the  Ostian  way  outside  the  city  was  erected  the 
church  of  St.  Paul.  It  is  very  easy  to  see,  that  the  successful  activity 
of  these  great  apostles  in  Home  must  have  drawn  the  attention  of  the 
heathen  and  excited  their  hatred  against  the  new  sect.  And  the  danger 
to  the  state  religion  from  the  numerous  conversions  the  more  readily 
explains  the  horrible  cruelties  of  the  Neronian  persecution.' 

The  first  testimony  of  the  crucifixion  of  Peter  we  find  in  the  appendix 
to  the  Gospel  of  John,  c.  21  :  18,  19,  where  our  Lord  himself  in  that 
memorable  dialogue  foretells  to  him  that,  when  he  should  be  old,  he 
should  stretch  forth  his  hands  and  another  should  gird  him,  and  carry 
him  whither  he  (naturally)  would  not.  TertuUian  expressly  remarks, 
that  Peter  was  made  like  the  Lord  in  his  passion.^  The  statement,  that 
he  was  crucified  with  his  head  downwards,  first  appears  in  Origen  ;'  and 
this  was  afterwards  taken  as  evidence  of  his  peculiar  humility  in  count- 
ing himself  unworthy  to  die  in  the  same  way  as  the  Saviour.  When  we 
read  in  Tacitus  of  the  unnatural  tortures  inflicted  on  the  Christians  by 
Nero,  the  fact  of  such  a  mode  of  death  is  not  improbable,  though  the 
motive  here  brought  in  to  explain  it  betrays  a  somewhat  morbid  concep- 
tion of  the  nature  of  humility,  belonging  to  a  later  time.  The  apostles 
rather  held  it  their  highest  honor   and  joy  to  be  like   their  Lord  and 

*  Lactantius  also  gives  prominence  to  this  connection  of  things  in  his  work  :  De  mor- 
tibus  persec.  c.  2 :  "  Quumque  jam  Nero  imperaret,  Petrus  Romam  advenit  at,  editis 
quibusdam  miraculis,  quae  virtute  ipsius  Dei  data  sibi  ab  eo  potestate  faciebat,  con- 
vertit  multos  ad  justitiam,  Deoqiie  templum  fidele  ac  stabile  collocavit.  Qua  re  ad 
Neronem  delata,  quum  animadverteret,  non  modo  Rojnae,  sed  ubique  quotidie  magnarn 
multitudinem  deficere  a  cultu  idolorum,  et  ad  religionem  novam  damnata  vetustate 
transire,  ut  erat  execrabilis  ac  nocens  tyrannus,  prosilivit  ad  excidendum  coeleste  tem- 
plum delendamque  justitiam,  et  primus  omnium  persecutus  Dei  servos,  Petrum  cruci 
affixit  et  Paulum  (gladio)  interfecit.'' 

*  De  praescr.  haeret.  c.  36  :  ....  "  Romam ubi    Petrus    passioni    Dominicae 

adaequatur." 

"  In    Euseb.  :    H.  E.   III.  1  :    llerpof of  koi   inl   teTiel    iv   'Pu/nrj    yEvofiEvog 

av  e  a  K  o\o  Tvi  a'd  7]  Kard  KE(pa?\,7ig,  ovruc  avrog  u^iuaag  na'&EZv.  This  is  then 
thus  paraphrased,  in  the  spirit  of  monkish  piety,  by  Rufinus  :  ''  Crucifixus  est  deorsum 
capita  demerso,  quod  ipse  ita  fieri  deprecatus  est,  ne  exaequari  Domino  videreturP  !^o 
Jerome,  who  had  a  special  relish  for  such  traits,  De  vir.  iliustr.  c.  1  :  "A  quo  (Nerone) 
et  affixus  cruci,  martyrio  coronatus  est,  capite  ad  terram  verso  et  in  sublime  pedibus 
elevatis  ;  asserens  se  indignum,  qui  sic  crucifigeretur,  ut  Dominus  suus." 


374  §    94.       NOTE    ON   THE    CLAIMS    OF   THE    PAPACY.  [i.   BOOS. 

Master  in  every  particular.  It  is  related,  first  by  Ambrose,  we  believe, 
that  Peter  shortly  before  his  death,  overpowered  by  his  former  love  of 
life,  made  his  escape  from  prison,  but  was  arrested  and  confounded  in  his 
flight  by  the  appearance  of  the  Saviour  bearing  his  cross.  To  the 
recreant's  question  :  "  Lord,  whither  art  thou  going  ?"  the  Lord  replied  : 
"  I  am  going  to  Rome,  to  be  crucified  again  !"  Peter  hastily  returned 
and  met  his  death  with  joy.  This  tradition  still  lives  in  the  mouth  of 
the  people  of  Rome,  and  is  embodied  in  a  church  edifice  called  Domine 
quo  vadis,  in  front  of  the  Sebastian  gate  on  the  Appian  way.  It  is  one 
of  those  significant  stories,  which  rest  not,  indeed,  on  any  historical  fact, 
yet  on  a  right  apprehension  of  the  character  in  question,  and  to  which 
we  may  apply  the  Italian  proverb,  Se  non  e  vera,  e  ben  trovato.  To 
shrink  from  sufi"ering  was,  it  is  true,  a  characteristic  of  the  natural 
Simon.'  But  at  so  great  an  age  he  had  no  doubt  long  ago  overcome  it, 
and  welcomed  the  hour,  when  he  was  counted  worthy  to  seal  his  love  to  the 
Saviour  with  his  blood,  and  permitted  to  put  ofi"  his  earthly  tabernacle 
(2  Pet.  1  :  14),  and  enter  upon  the  "inheritance  incorruptible,  and 
undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away"  (1  Pet.  1:4),  which  he  knew  to 
be  reserved  for  him  in  heaven. 

Note. — The  vast  importance  of  the  subject  calls  upon  us,  before  taking  leave 
of  Peter,  to  add  a  few  remarks  on  the  claims  of  the  papacy,  which  are  well 
known  to  centre  here.  These  claims,  however,  by  no  means  rest  entirely  on 
the  memorable  words  of  Matt.  16  :  18,  which  are  now  admitted  by  the  best 
Protestant  commentators  to  refer  to  Peter,  and  upon  the  actual  superiority  of 
this  apostle,  as  it  appears  clear  as  the  sun  in  the  gospels  and  the  first  part  of  the 
Acts.  They  are  built  also  upon  two  other  assumptions,  which  cannot  be  proved, 
at  least  directly,  from  the  New  Testament,  and  must,  therefore,  maintain  them- 
selves on  historical  and  dogmatic  ground. 

1.  The  first  assumption  is,  that  this  primacy  of  Peter  is  transferable.  This  is 
based  by  Eoman  Catholic  theologians  partly  on  the  general  ground  of  the  nature 
and  wants  of  the  church,  partly  on  the  special  promise  of  her  iudestructibleness 
immediately  added  by  the  Lord  to  his  words  respecting  Peter,  Matt.  16  :  18 ; 
whereas  the  older  Protestant  controversialists  commonly  regard  the  pre-emi- 
nence in  question  as  simply  affecting  Peter  peysonally,  as  in  the  case  of  the  sur- 
names given  to  other  apostles  and  referring  to  corresponding  personal  gifts  and 
relations, — "  sons  of  thunder,''  for  example,  applied  to  the  sons  of  Zebedee  (Mark 
3  :  17)  ;  "  Zelotes,"  to  Simon  (Luke  6  :  15.  Acts  1  :  13)  ;  "  traitor,"  to  Judas 
Iscariot  (Luke  6  :  16). 

2.  The  second  assumption  is,  that  Peter  did  actually  transfer  his  primacy  ; 
and  that,  not  to  the  bishop  of  Jerusalem,  nor  of  Antioch,  where  he  resided  at 
any  rate  a  considerable  time,  but  to  the  bishop  of  Rome.     The  ti'uth  of  this 

'  Comp-  Matt.  16  :  22,  23  ;  his  denial  of  his  Lord  ;  and  the  Saviour's  language  to 
him,  Jno.  21  :  18. 


MISSIONS.]  I  94.     NOTE   ON   THE   CLAIMS    OF   THE   PAPACY.  375 

turns  primarily  on  historical  inquiry  respecting  Peter's  residence  and  martyrdom 
in  Rome.  These  two  points  we  have  conceded  in  this  section  and  the  preceding, 
with  almost  all  the  leading  Protestant  historians,  as  strongly  attested  and  well 
grounded  facts  ;  admitting,  that  without  such  historical  foundation  the  eighteen 
hundred  years'  history  of  the  papacy  would  be  to  us  absolutely  unaccountable. 
This  concession,  however,  is  not  enough  to  establish  a  continued  primacy  of  the 
Roman  See,  much  less  an  actual  supremacy  of  jurisdiction.  For  Paul  was  like- 
wise in  Rome  and  suffered  martyrdom  there  ;  nor  are  we  any  where  informed,  that 
he  was  at  all  subject  to  the  authority  of  Peter.  Besides,  there  is  no  document 
whatever  to  be  found  respecting  any  actual  transfer  of  the  primacy  to  Linus  or 
Clement ;  and  it  is  not  even  certain  which  of  these  two  was  the  first  bishop  of 
Rome,  as  the  statements  of  the  church  fathers  differ  here. 

For  the  point  in  hand,  therefore,  no  proper  historical  or  diplomatic  evidence 
can  be  brought,  and  the  only  resort  is  the  general  philosophical  argument,  that 
the  successor  in  office  is  in  the  nature  of  the  case  by  regular  ordination  heir  to 
the  prerogatives  of  his  predecessor.  This  is  undoubtedly  perfectly  true  with  the 
limitation  :  so  far  as  these  prerogatives  are  inseparable  from  the  office  itself. 
Thus  we  are  thrown  back  upon  the  first  proposition,  and  all  turns  at  last  on  the 
question,  whether  the  Lord  in  that  prophetic  passage  instituted  a  permanent  or 
only  a  temporary  primacy  for  the  superintendence  of  the  Christian  Church. 

The  ultra-Protestant  view  decidedly  repudiates  the  idea  of  the  permanent 
primacy,  and  denies  the  papacy  the  least  Scriptural  ground  or  divine  right.  It 
accordingly  denounces  this  system  as  the  most  colossal  and  barefaced  lie  known 
to  history,  and  applies  to  it  in  fact  the  predictions  of  the  New  Testament  con- 
cerning Antichrist  and  the  "  Man  of  Sin,"  who  "  opposeth  and  exalteth  himself 
above  all  that  is  called  God  or  that  is  worshiped."  To  this  extreme  view,  how- 
ever, we  cannot  at  all  agree.  It  not  only  turns  all  history  before  the  Reformation 
into  an  inextricable  labyrinth,  but  gives  the  lie  to  the  Lord's  precious  promise 
to  be  and  rule  in  his  church  continually — for  it  is  an  absolute  impossibility  to 
make  out  an  unbroken  perpetuity  of  Christianity  without  the  Catholic  church, — 
nay,  plays  mightily  in  its  results,  without  willing  or  knowing  it,  into  the  hands 
of  skepticism  and  infidelity.  No  !  In  the  face  of  a  history  of  eighteen  hundred 
years,  during  which  the  papacy  has  really  evinced  something  of  a  rock-like 
character  ;  in  the  face  of  the  clear  testimonies  of  almost  all  the  important 
church  fathers,  both  Greek  and  Latin,  in  favor  of  a  peculiar  pre-eminence  of  the 
Roman  See  as  the  continuation  of  the  cathedra  Petri  in  some  form  ;  in  view 
of  the  consistency  and  tenacity  with  which  the  Catholic  church  has  at  all  times 
held  fast  all  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  Christianity,  the  Trinity,  the  true 
divinity  and  humanity  of  Christ,  the  inspiration  and  divine  authority  of  the 
Bible  (all  of  which  antichristianity  denies)  ;  in  view  of  the  great  merits  of  the 
popes  in  maintaining  orthodoxy,  asserting  the  unity,  freedom,  and  independence 
of  the  church  against  the  assaults  of  the  secular  power,  upholding  the  sanctity 
of  marriage,  and  especially  spreading  Christian!*^'  and  civilization  among  all  the 
Romanic,  Germanic,  and  Scandinavian  nations  ; — in  view  of  all  these  facts 
which  are  coming  more  and  niore  to  be  conceded  by  unprejudiced  Protestant 
historians,  we  cannot  possibly  question,  that  the  Roman  church,  however  corrupt 


376  §    9i,       NOTE   ON   THE    CLAIMS    OF   THE    PAPACY.        [}■    BOOK 

in  many  doctrines  and  practices,  belongs  to  the  historical  development  of 
Christianity  itself,  and  that  it  must  accordingly  have  also  some  ground  even  in 
the  Holy  Scriptures.  Nay,  we  believe,  that  even  since  the  Reformation  the 
pope  as  such,  that  is,  in  bis  official  character,  is  not  Antichrist,  but  the  le  ,''ti- 
mate  head  of  the  Roman  church,  which,  however,  is  certainly  not,  as  she  herse  '' 
arrogantly  asserts,  identical  with  t/ie  Catholic  or  universal  church,  but  simply, 
like  Greek  and  Protestant  Christendom,  a  part  of  it. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  in  opposition  to  the  exclusive  Romish  or  papistical 
view  of  history,  we  must  contend  :  (1)  There  is  a  difference  between  a  primacy 
of  honor  and  influence  (primus  inter  pares),  and  a  supremacy  of  jurisdiction. 
The  first,  which  presupposes  equal  rights  in  the  other  apostles,  to  whom  the  same 
authority  and  commission  was  given  as  to  Peter,  directly  by  Christ  (Matt.  18  : 
18.  John  20  .  23),  was  undoubtedly  conceded  to  the  bishop  of  Rome  by  th^ 
ancient  church,  both  of  the  East  and  of  the  West,  also  by  the  ecumenical 
councils  of  Nice  (325),  Constantinople  (381),  and  Chalcedon  (451)  ;  th^  latter 
was  early  claimed  by  the  popes,  but  resisted  in  several  instances,  by  Irenaeus, 
Firmiliauus,  Cyprianus,  by  the  whole  Greek  church,  and  was  fully  established 
only  in  the  Middle  Ages. — (2)  But  there  are  other  differences  equally  important 
as  to  the  nature  of  this  primacy  and  the  mode  of  its  exercise.  From  the  purely 
spiritual  superiority  of  Peter,  a  fisherman  of  Galilee,  who,  even  when  an  apostle, 
had  no  silver  nor  gold  (Acts  3:6),  who  travelled  from  land  to  land  preaching 
the  gospel  without  the  least  ostentation,  accompanied  by  his  wife  (1  Cor.  9:5), 
who  humbly  called  himself  a  "  co-presbyter,"  and  emphatically  warned  his 
brethren  against  all  tyranny  over  conscience  and  love  of  filthy  lucre  (1  Peter  5  : 
1 — 3),  it  is  a  vast  stride  to  the  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual  dominion  which  the 
later  medieval  popes  exercised  over  all  the  churches  and  states  of  western 
Christendom,  distributing  crowns  and  kingdoms,  deposing  princes,  absolving  the 
subjects  from  the  oath  of  allegiance,  persecuting  all  dissenters,  good  and  bad, 
ruling  the  conscience  with  the  iron  rod  of  despotism,  and  even  frequently  per- 
verting their  unlimited  power  to  their  own  selfish  ends. — (3)  If  Peter  himself, 
after  having  received  the  glorious  promise.  Matt.  16,  thought  humanly  and  not 
divinely  ;  if  he  in  carnal  zeal  cut  off  Malchus'  ear  ;  nay,  thrice  denied  his  Lord 
and  Master  from  fear  of  men  ;  and  even  after  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
committed  at  Antioch  a  scandalous  inconsistency  ;  much  less  can  we  expect  of 
his  successors,  who  are  not  endowed,  as  he  was,  Avith  the  same  supernatural  gifts, 
that  they  should  have  always  lived  and  acted  consistently  with  their  high  calling, 
any  more  than  the  kings  and  high-priests  of  the  Jewish  theocracy.  Just  in  pro- 
portion, however,  as  the  popes  have  abused  their  power,  followed  tlieir  own 
thoughts  and  plans  instead  of  the  word  of  God,  and  degraded  the  pastoral  office 
by  a  wicked  life,  as  in  the  disgraceful  tenth  century,  again  at  the  time  of  the 
reformatory  councils  of  Pisa,  Constance,  and  Basel,  and  at  the  end  of  the 
fifteenth  century  and  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  (for  an  example  we  have  but  to 
remember  that  moral  monster,  Alexander  VI.),  in  that  degree  is  an  earnest  prd- 
test  not  only  allowed,  but  even  authorized  and  demanded.  It  is  sanctioned  by 
the  example  of  the  Old  Testament  prophets,  who  came  out  in  condemnation  of 
the  ungodly  priests  and  kings  of  Israel ;  by  the  example  of  Christ,  who  called 


MISSIONS.]  I  14.     NOTE    ON    TIIK    CLAIMS    OF    THE    PAPACY.  377 

Peter,  for  his  horror  of  suffering,  an  offense  and  an  adversary  (Matt.  16  :  23. 
John  18  :  11),  rebuked  his  carnal  zeal  with  the  exclamation  :  "  Put  up  again 
thy  sword  into  his  place  ;  for  all  they  that  take  the  s\\ord  shall  perit^h  with  the 
sword"  (Matt.  26  :  52),  warned  him  of  his  presumptuousness  and  self-confidence 
(Mark  14  :  30,  37),  and  deeply  humbled  him  for  his  denial,  though  he  afterwards 
restored  him  (John  21  :  15 — 18)  ;  and  finally  by  the  example  of  Paul,  who 
sharply  reproved  his  senior  colleague,  nay,  even  in  presence  of  the  congregation 
of  Antioch  charged  him  with  hypocrisy  (Gal.  2  :  11,  sqq.).  If  the  church  of 
Rome  has  inherited  the  prerogatives  and  gifts  of  Peter,  she  has  also  frequently, 
and  on  a  larger  scale,  repeated  his  weaknesses  and  unfaithfulness. — (4)  Finally, 
we  must  take  account  of  what  has  already  been  remarked  at  the  close  of  g  90, 
that  the  independence  of  Paul  on  the  field  of  the  Gentile  missions  in  the  second 
stadium  of  the  apostolic  period  is,  according  to  the  distinct  testimony  of  Luke 
in  Acts  and  of  Paul  in  his  epistles,  a  fact  as  incontrovertible  as  the  primacy  of 
Peter  in  the  province  of  the  Jewish  mission  and  through  the  whole  first  stadium 
of  this  period  down  to  the  council  at  Jerusalem  ;  and  further,  that  the  first  cen- 
tury shows  no  trace  of  any  dependence  of  John  or  the  church  of  Asia  Minor  on 
Rome  and  its  bishops.  If,  therefore,  the  primacy  of  Peter  perpetuates  itself  in 
any  sense  in  the  history  of  the  church,  we  may  as  reasonably  expect,  that  the 
independent  position  of  the  other  two  leading  apostles  also,  so  far  as  it  is  com- 
patible with  the  essential  unity  of  the  church,  has  a  typical  significancy  for  after 
times  ;  and  if  the  Roman  church  has  chosen  to  found  itself  on  Peter,  and  has 
thus  far  withstood  every  storm,  we  claim  Paul,  the  free  apostle  of  the  Gentiles, 
as  the  forerunner  and  representative  of  evangelical  Protestantism  ;  while  in 
John,  the  beloved  disciple,  who  lay  on  Jesus'  bosom,  enjoyed  the  profoundest 
view  of  the  central  mystery  of  the  incarnation,  and  outlived  all  the  other 
apostles,  the  disciple  who  "tarries  till  the  Lord  comes"  (John  21  :  22),  we  see 
the  type  and  the  pledge  of  the  ideal  church  of  the  future,  the  higher  unity  of 
the  Jewish  Christianity  of  Peter  in  the  Catholic  church,  and  the  Gentile  Christi- 
anity of  Paul  in  the  Protestant. 

We  have  thus  suggested  a  middle  course  between  the  two  extreme  Roman 
and  Protestant  views  of  history.  In  this  way  alone,  we  are  convinced,  can  all 
church  history,  whether  before  or  after  the  Reformation,  be  properly  understood 
and  duly  appreciated  as  a  continuous  proof  of  the  uninterrupted  presence  and 
manifold  working  of  Christ  in  the  church,  against  which  even  the  gates  of  hell 
shall  never  prevail. 

§  95.  James  the  Just — Church  of  Jerusalem. 
Next  to  Peter,  James  held  the  most  prominent  position  among  the 
Jewish  Christians,  and  from  the  time  of  the  apostolic  council,  A.  D.  50, 
or  in  fact  from  the  flight  of  Peter,  A.  D.  44  (Acts  12  :  17),  he  appears 
as  the  head  of  the  church  of  Jerusalem.  This  cannot  have  been  the 
dder  James,  the  brother  of  John  and  one  of  the  three  favorite  disciples 
of  Jesus  ;  for  he  had  already  been  beheaded  in  the  year  44,  at  the 
order  of  Herod  Agrippa  (Acts  12  :  2).     We   must,   therefore,  under- 


378  §  95.       JAMES   THE   JTST.  [l-  BOOK. 

stand  here  either,  as  Jerome  is  first  to  do,  the  younger  apostle  of  this 
name,  son  of  Alpheus  and  Mary  (Mark  IG  :  1),  who,  according  to  the 
usnal  interpretation  of  John  19  :  25,  was  a  cousin  of  Jesus,'  and  might 
in  this  case  be  called  also,  after  the  Hebrew  usage,  the  "  brother  of 
Jesus  ;"  or  a  third  James,  a  literal  brother  of  the  Lord  according  to  the 
flesh. ^  The  latter  view,  again,  admits  of  two  hypotheses.  These 
so-called  "  brothers  of  Jesus,"  our  James  among  the  rest,  may  have 
been  either  younger  sons  of  Joseph  and  Mary  (comp.  Matt.  1  :  25),  as 
several  Protestant  scholars  suppose,  or  sons  of  Joseph  by  a  previous 
marriage,  and  thus  only  half-brothers  of  the  Lord,  as  most  of  the  Greek 
fathers  on  the  authority  of  old  traditions  maintain.  In  the  last  two 
cases  this  James  would  have  been,  not  indeed  one  of  the  twelve  dis- 
ciples, but  still  a  man  of  apostolic  standing,  like  Barnabas.^  In  the 
second  part  of  the  Acts,  he  is  styled  simply  James  without  any  epithet, 
c.  12  :  m.  15  :  13.  21  :  18.  So  several  times  by  Paul,  Gal.  2  :  9, 
12  sq.  1  Cor.  15  :  7.  On  the  contrary,  Paul  once  names  James  along 
with  Peter,  adding,  "the  brother  of  the  Lord,"  Gal.  1  :  19.*     The  same 

'  Comp.  Matt.  27  :  56.     Mk.  15  :  40.     16  :  1. 

''  Comp.  Matt.  13  :  55.  Mk.  6  :  3.  Matt.  12  :  46  sqq.  Mk.  3  :  31  sqq.  Lu.  8  : 
19  sqq.     Jno.  2  :  12.     7:5.     Acts  1:14.     1  Cor.  9  :  5. 

*  On  this  very  complicated  question,  as  well  as  on  the  whole  subject  of  this  section, 
I  refer,  to  save  space,  to  my  work :  Das  Verhaltniss  des  Jakobus,  Bruders  dcs  Herrn, 
zu  Jakobus  Mphdi,  aufh  Neue  exegetisch  und  historisch  untersucht.  Berlin,  1S42  ;  where 
the  exegetical  and  patristic  testimonies  for  and  against  the  identity  of  these  iwo  per- 
sons are  collected  and  tested  at  length.  Subsequent  examination,  however,  has  led  me 
to  find  two  faults  with  this  treatise  :  (1)  Rather  too  little  is  made  (p.  29)  of  the  dog- 
matical argument  iigainst  supposing  Mary  to  have  had  other  children ;  viz.,  the  as- 
sumption of  the  perpetual  virginity  of  the  bride  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  mother  of  the 
Saviour  of  the  world.  This  primitive  church  view,  which  by  no  means  necessarily 
conflicts  with  the  ■nguroTOKog^  Matt.  1  :  25,  must  have  had  a  true  religious  feeling  at 
the  bottom  of  it,  or  it  would  not  have  been  so  generally  prevalent  so  early  even  as  th« 
second  and  third  century.  It  was  still  held  fast  also  by  the  Reformers  :  comp.  Artie. 
Smalcald.  Pars  I.  Art.  IV.  (p.  303,  ed.  Hase :  "'Ex  Maria  pura,  sancta,  semper  vir- 
^iwe") ;  Form.  Concord,  p.  767  ("Unde  et  vere  ■^eoTOKog,  Dei  genetrix  est,  et  tamen 
virgo  mansit") ;  and  Zwingli's  Commentary  on  Matt.  1  :  18  and  25;  comp.  also  01s- 
hausen  on  Matt.  1  :  25. —  (2)  That  the  view  which  makes  the  brothers  of  Jesus  sons 
of  Joseph  by  a  former  marriage,  therefore  only  half-brothers  of  the  Lord,  receives  too 
little  stress.  For  this  view  seems  to  be  the  oldest,  and  is  found  not  only  in  apocry- 
phal writings,  and  the  Apostolical  Constitutions,  but  in  the  most  distinguished  Greek 
and  Latin  church  fathers,  as  Origen,  Gregory  of  Nyssa,  Cyriil  of  Alexandria,  Epipha- 
nius,  Hilary,  and  Ambrose.  See  the  passages  in  the  work  above  quoted,  p.  80  sqq 
Eusebius  also  should  probably  be  enumerated  here,  as  he  calls  James,  H.  E.  II.  1,  a 
"son  of  Joseph,"  but  nowhere  a  son  of  Mary.  For  the  identity  of  this  James  w,th 
the  younger  apostle  of  the  same  name,  on  the  contrary,  there  is  no  older  authority 
than  Jerome- 

*  With  this  must  be  compared  the  passages  just  cited  from  the  Gospels,  which  men- 
tion a  James  among  the  "  brothers  of  the  Lord." 


MISSIONS.]  THE   CHURCH   OF   JERUSALEM.  379 

surname  is  applied  to  the  president  of  the  church  at  Jerusalem  by  the 
old  ecclesiastical  writers.  Besides  this,  he  is  also  called  by  them 
"  James  the  Just,"  and  "  bishop  of  Jerusalem."' 

According  to  Hegesippus,  a  Jewish  Christian  historian,  probably  a 
native  of  Palestme,  who  wrote  about  the  middle  of  the  second  century, 
this  James  led  from  his  youth  a  life  of  strict,  Nazarite  asceticism,  and 
represented  the  ideal  of  a  Jewish  saint.  "  In  common  with  the  apos- 
tles," says  this  writer,'  "James,  the  brother  of  the  Lord,  who  froru  the 
days  of  the  Lord  down  to  our  own  time  has  been  universally  called  t}i& 
Just,  undertook  the  direction  of  the  community.  For  there  were  many 
who  were  called  James.  But  this  one  was  holy  from  his  mother's  womb. 
No  razor  came  upon  his  head,  he  anointed  himself  not  with  oil,  and  took 
no  bath.  He  alone — (among  the  Christians) — was  allowed  to  enter  the 
sanctuary  (the  holy  of  holies)."  For  he  also  wore  no  woollen,  but  linen 
garments.'*  But  he  went  also  into  the  temple,  and  he  was  so  often  found 
there  upon  his  knees,  praying  for  the  forgiveness  of  the  people,  that  his 
knees  became  callous  like  a  camel's,  because  he  always  knelt  down  when 
he  prayed  to  God  and  implored  forgiveness  for  the  people.  On  account 
of  his  extraordinary  righteousness  he  was  called  the  Just,  and  Oblias 
(which  should  doubtless  more  properly  be  read  Obliam,  from  icj)  and  las), 
— i.  e.,  being  interpreted,  the  bulwark  of  the  people  and  righteousness 

(o  tOTtv  ''E'k'krivLOTl  negLOXV  tov  Tiaov  /cat  SiKaioavvri)  J' 

We  have  no  sufficient  reason  at  all  for  questioning  the  substance  of 
this  description,  and  pronouncing  it  a  legendary  exaggeration,  after  the 
style  of  the  heretical  Ebionism  ;  as  is  done  by  those,  to  whose  own  taste 
the  Jewish  elements  in  the  ancient  church  are  so  offensive.  On  the  con- 
trary, from  all  we  otherwise  know  of  James,  thus  much  at  any  rate  is 
incontrovertible,  that  he  was  by  far  the  most  conservative  of  all  the  more 

'  By  Hegesippus,  Clemens  Alex.,  the  Apostolical  Constitutions,  Eusebius,  &c.  See 
the  passages  given  in  full  in  Rothe  :  Die  ^nfdnge  der  Christl.  Kirche  und  ihrer  Verfas- 
$ung,  vol.  I.  p.  264  sqq. 

"^  In  Eusebius:  Hist.  Eccl.  II.  23.     Comp.  my  tract  above  mentioned,  p.  61  sqq. 

"  Et'f  Tu  liyia,  which  sometimes  stands  for  tu  uyia  tuv  dyiuv,  Num.  4  :  19.  1  Ki. 
8:6.  2  Chron.  4  :  22.  5:7.  Epiphanius,  Haer.  XXIX.  4,  and  LXXVIIl.  13  sq., 
relates  of  James,  that  once  a  year  he  could  enter  the  most  holy  place  like  the  high- 
priest  (Sm  TO  l>iai^(.jgalov  avrov  elvai,  and  that  he  wore  the  diadem  of  the  high-priest 
{to  7reTaAov=2n^n  y"^2)  the  golden  plate  on  the  forehead  with  the  inscription  :  Holi- 
ness to  the  Lord).  Tradition,  however,  ascribes  the  latter  also  to  St.  John,  as  Polycrates 
says  in  Euseb.  H.  E.  V.  24  :  'Eyev??!??/  tepei)f  to  nETalov  TretpoQTjKuc.  But  perhaps  this 
is  merely  a  symbolical  description  of  John's  oversight  of  the  church  of  Asia  Minor; 
for,  literally  understood,  this  act  would  surely  be  altogether  unhistorical,  and  far  more 
incomprehensible  than  in  James. 

*  The  clothing  of  the  priests  when  engaged  in  the  temple  service.  Out  of  the  tem- 
ple they  wore  common  woollen  garments  (Lev.  16  :  4.  Ez.  44  :  17).  Hegesippus 
evidently  seeks  to  depict  James  as  the  perfect  ideal  of  a  Jewish  priest. 


380  §  95.       JAMES    THE    JUST.  [l-  BOOK. 

prominent  apostles,  and  the  least  removed  from  legal  Judaism.  His 
piety  lived  altogether  in  the  hallowed  forms  of  the  old  covenant,  and  in 
all  probability  to  the  day  of  his  death  he  kept  not  only  the  Sabbath,  but 
the  whole  ceremonial  law.  Hence  he  was  the  head  and  supreme  autho- 
rity of  the  stricter  party  among  the  Jewish  Christians  ;  while  Peter 
after  the  conversion  of  Cornelius  held  middle  ground  between  him  and 
Paul.  In  Gal.  2  :  9,  according  to  the  true  reading,  Paul  names  him  at 
the  head  of  the  Jewish  apostles,  who  were  distinguished  as  "  pillars." 
In  the  apostolic  council  it  was  James,  who  spoke  the  decisive  word, 
when,  in  common  with  Peter  and  Paul,  and  against  the  pharisaically  dis- 
posed and  heretical  Jewish  Christians,  who  made  circumcision  necessary 
to  salvation,  he  sided  with  the  Gentile  Christians,  and  declared  them  to 
be  even  without  circumcision  citizens  of  the  Messiah's  kingdom,  and  yet 
at  the  same  time  laid  upon  them  certain  restrictions,  and  as  for  the  rest 
wished  to  have  nothing  changed  in  the  piety  of  the  Jewish  Christians. 
His  disciples  [ol  tov 'laK6i3ov) ,  who  induced  even  Peter  and  Barnabas  at 
Antioch  to  withdraw  for  a  while  from  intercourse  with  the  uncircumcised 
brethren  (Gal.  2  :  12,  13),  no  doubt,  indeed,  pushed  his  principles  too 
far  (comp.  Acts  15  :  13  sqq.  Gal.  2  :  9),  as  the  Pauline  party  in 
Corinth  went  beyond  Paul,  and  the  Petrine  beyond  Peter.  But  still 
their  conduct  shows,  that  the  strict  Judaizers,  the  antagonists  of  Paul, 
would  fain  appeal  to  the  authority  of  James,  and  even  place  him  above 
Peter.'  At  the  last  visit  of  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  to  Jerusalem 
James  rejoiced  with  his  elders  in  the  great  success  of  that  Apostle's 
preaching  among  the  heathen,  and  praised  the  Lord  for  it.  But  for  the 
sake  of  the  Jewish  Christian  zealots,  who  regarded  Paul  with  suspicion, 
he  advised  him  to  accommodate  himself  to  their  ascetic  piety,  and  to 
engage  in  the  exercises  connected  with  the  Kazarite  vow  (Acts  21  :  20 
sqq.).  In  short,  James  stood  as  mediator  between  Jews  and  Christians, 
in  almost  equal  esteem  with  both,  and  for  this  reason  eminently  fitted  to 
maintain  peace  between  the  two  economies  so  far  as  the  principles  of 
Christianity  at  all  allowed.  It  is  in  perfect  keeping  with  his  character 
and  calling,  that  we  find  him  not  itinerating  like  the  other  apostles,  but 
more  like  the  later  bishops,  continuing  till  his  death  in  Jerusalem,  the 
centre  of  the  theocracy. 

Had  not  the  influence  of  James  been  modified  and  completed  by  that 

'  In  the  Pseudoclementine  Homilies  and  especially  in  the  Epistles,  which  precede 
them,  this  James  figures  as  the  supreme  bishop  of  all  Christendom,  to  whom  eveu 
the  apostle  Peter  and  the  Roman  bishop  are  subject.  The  historical  writings  of  the 
Ebionites  in  general  are  full  of  glorifications  of  James.  According  to  Epiphanius, 
(Haer.  XXX.  Ebion.  §  16),  there  were  among  them  also  uva(ia-&[iol  'laKujSoVj  descrip- 
tions of  his  pretended  ascension  to  heaven. 


MISSIONS.]  THE   CHURCH    OF   JERUSALEM.  381 

of  a  Peter  and  especially  a  Paul,  Christianity  would  perhaps  never  have 
cast  off  entirely  the  envelope  of  Judaism  and  risen  to  independence. 
Yet  the  influence  of  James,  too,  was  altogether  necessary.  He,  if  any, 
could  gain  the  ancient  chosen  nation  in  a  body.  God  placed  such  a 
representative  of  the  purest  form  of  Old  Testament  piety  in  the  midst  of 
the  Jews,  to  make  their  transition  to  the  faith  of  the  Messiah  as  easy  as 
possible,  even  at  the  eleventh  hour.  But  when  they  refused  to  hear  this 
last  messenger  of  peace,  the  divine  forbearance  was  exhausted,  and  the 
fearful,  long  threatened  judgment  broke  upon  them.  And  with  this  the 
mission  of  James  was  fulfilled.  He  was  not  to  outlive  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem  and  the  temple.  Shortly  before  it,  according  to  Hegesip- 
pus,  in  the  year  69,  after  having  borne  powerful  testimony  to  the  Mes- 
siahship  of  Jesus  and  pointed  to  his  second  coming  in  the  clouds  of  hea- 
ven, he  was  thrown  down  from  the  pinnacle  of  the  temple  and  stoned  by 
the  Pharisees.  His  last  words  were  :  "  I  beg  of  thee.  Lord,  God, 
Father,  forgive  them  !  for  they  know  not  what  they  do."  He  was 
buried  by  the  temple,  and  his  tombstone  was  still  pointed  out  there  in  the 
time  of  Hegesippus.  "  He  was" — as  this  writer  concludes  his  account — 
"  a  true  witness  to  Jews  and  Greeks,  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ.  Soon 
afterwards  {ev-&vc)  Vespasian  besieged  them."'  Eusebius  adds,  that 
James  stood  so  high  and  was  so  celebrated  on  all  hands  for  his  righteous- 
ness, that  even  the  more  intelligent  of  the  Jews  considered  his  martyr- 
dom the  cause  of  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  which  soon  followed  ;  and  in 
agreement  with  this  Josephus  expressly  says  :  "This  fell  upon  the  Jews 
in  punishment  for  what  they  had  done  to  James  the  Just,  a  brother  of 
Jesus,  who  was  called  Christ.  For  him  had  the  Jews  slain,  though  he 
was  the  most  upright  of  men."^ 

*  In  Eusebius  :  H.  E.  II.  23. 

'  No  such  passage,  however,  in  this  form  is  to  be  found  anywhere  in  Josephus,  but 
simply  the  statement,  Archaeol.  XX.  9,  1,  that  the  violent  high- priest  Ananias,  in  the 
interval  between  the  death  of  the  Roman  governor,  Festus,  and  the  arrival  of  Albinus, 
therefore  in  the  year  62,  accused  "  the  brother  of  Jesus,  called  Christ,  James  by  name, 
and  some  others,"  before  the  Sanhedrim  as  transgressors  of  the  law  (cif  Tiagavojj.r]adv- 
Tuv),  and  sentenced  them  to  be  stoned  ;  with  which  procedure,  however,  the  better 
[lart  of  the  Jews  themselves  were  dissatified.  The  words  relative  to  James :  rbv 
u6E7i(t>bv  'Irjaov,  tov  T^eyofihov  Xgiarov,  'Ia«;w/3of  ovo/ua  avru,  koI — and  the  trepovg  after 
Tivuc,  have  been  suspected  by  Clericus  and  Lardner,  and  latterly  by  Credner  {Eirdeitung 
in's  N.  T.,  I.  p.  581),  and  Rothe  {Anfdnge  der  chr.  Kirche,  I.  p.  275),  as  an  interpolation 
(like  the  well  known  "  testimonium  de  Christo  "  in  the  Arch.  XVJII.  3,  3,  on  which 
comp.  Gieseler :  Kirchengesch.  I.  1,  §  24,  p.  81  sqq.) ;  so  that  this  passage  would  say 
nothing  at  all  of  a  persecution  of  the  Christians.  But  even  admitting  the  words  to  be 
genuine,  we  still  cannot  give  the  statement  of  Josephus  so  unqualified  a  preference  over 
that  of  Hegesippus,  as  Neander  does,  I.  p.  5S0  sqq.  For  in  the  first  place  as  to  the 
discrepancy  respecting  the  fact ;  Jose;  bus,  being  a  Jew.  might  have  good  reason  to 


382  §  96.       THE   EPISTLE  OF   JAMES.  [l-  BOOK. 

When  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  tlie  Jewish  system  of  reli- 
gion, as  well  as  the  Christian,  was  in  a  measure  re-organized  in  Pales- 
tine, the  surviving  apostles  and  kinsmen  of  the  Lord,  according  to  a 
tradition  preserved  by  Eusebius,  at  a  meeting  in  Jerusalem  appointed 
Symeon,  a  cousin  of  Jesus  (a  son  of  Clopas,  who  according  to  Hegesip- 
pus  was  a  brother  of  Joseph),  successor  to  James.  This  Symeon  pre- 
sided over  the  church  of  Jerusalem  as  bishop  till  the  time  of  the  emperor 
Trajan,  and  at  the  age  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  suffered  martyr- 
dom.' He  had  thirteen  successors,  all  of  Hebrew  descent,  who  ruled, 
however,  but  a  short  time,  and  are  known  to  us  only  by  name.*  Through- 
out this  period  the  church  of  Jerusalem  maintained  its  strictly  Israelitish 
character,  but  united  with  it  "  the  genuine  knowledge  of  Christ,"^  and 
stood  in  communion  with  the  Catholic  church.  Kay,  even  in  the  fourth 
century,  in  the  sect  of  the  Nazarenes  (not  to  be  confounded  with  the 
heretical  Ebionites,  who  denied  the  divinity  of  Christ),  we  find  the  same 
combination  of  Judaism  and  Christianity  as  in  James.  The  mass  of  the 
Jewish  Christians,  however,  towards  the  close  of  Hadrian's  reign,  after 
the  second  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  extinction  of  the  line  of  the 
fifteen  circumcised  bishops,  gradually  merged  in  the  Greek  church. 

§  96.    The  Efistle  of  James. 

From  James  the  Just  we  have  preserved  in  the  canon  an  epistle, 
which  is,  indeed,  one  of  the  doubted  books  (the  antilegomena  of  Euse- 
bius), but  has  strong  external  and  still  stronger  internal  evidence  in  its 
favor,  and  was  perhaps  written  before  or  soon  after  the  apostolic  coun- 
cil.*    It  was  written  no  doubt  from  Jerusalem,  the  theocratic  metropolis 

pass  over  in  silence  the  cruel  scenes  which  accompanied  the  execution  of  James,  and, 
being  a  Pharisee,  might  feel  inclined  to  put  the  blame  of  the  murder  on  the  Saiiducee, 
Ananias.  Then  as  to  the  chronology;  the  date  given  by  Hegesippus  is  supported  from 
other  quarters.  According  to  the  Epist.  Clementis  Rom.  ad  Jacobum,  c.  1  {Patres  jipost. 
ed.  Cotelier,  tom.  I.  p.  611),  and  the  Clementina  Epitome  de  gestis  S.  Petri,  c.  147  (ib. 
p.  798),  and  according  to  the  whole  Pseudoclementine  literature,  James  survived  the 
apostle  Peter,  who  did  not  die  before  the  year  64  at  the  earliest.  So  the  Chronicon 
paschale,  vol.  I.  p.  460  (ed.  Bonnens.),  places  the  martyrdom  of  James  in  the  first  year 
of  Vespasian's  reign.  Eusebius  varies.  In  his  H.  E.  (II.  23.  III.  11),  following 
Hegesippus,  he  gives  the  year  69  ;  while  in  his  Chronicon  (p.  205,  ed.  Scalig.),  he  puts 
the  martyrdom  of  James  in  the  year  63,  no  doubt  on  the  authority  of  the  above  pas 
sage  from  Josephus. 

'  Euseb.  H.  E.  III.  11,  32. 

^  Justus,  Zacchaeus,  Tobias,  Benjamin,  John,  Matthias,  Philip,  Seneca,  Justus,  Levi, 
Ephres,  Joseph,  and  Juda  ;  comp.  Euseb.  IV.  5. 

'  Eus.,  I.  c.  Sulpicius  Severus,  Hist.  Sacra,  II.  31,  says  of  these  Jewish  Christians  •. 
''  They  believed  in  Christ  as  God,  while  yet  observing  the  law." 

*  On  this,  see  the  modern  investigations  of  Schneckenburger,  Neander,  Credner  of 


MISSIONS.]  §    96.       THE   EPISTLE   OF   JAMES.    '  383 

and  James'  permanent  field  of  labor.  Its  readers  were  the  "  twelve 
tribes  which  are  scattered  abroad"  (1:1);  that  is,  the  Jews,  who 
lived  in  and  out  of  Palestine,  dispersed  among  the  Gentiles  ;  or  rather 
Jewish  Christians  ;  for  to  these,  as  the  true  spiritual  Israel,  he  applies 
the  Old  Testament  designation,'  yet  without  drawing  the  line  between 
the  two  economies,  between  the  disciples  of  Moses  and  the  disciples  of 
Christ,  so  clearly  as  is  done  in  the  system  of  Paul,  and  as  it  was  after- 
wards drawn  in  fact  by  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  The  communities 
styled  themselves  yet,  not  churches,  but  synagogues  (2  :  2),  consisted 
mostly  of  poor  people,  and  were  oppressed  and  persecuted  by  the  rich 
and  powerful  Jews.*  Of  Gentile  Christians  among  them  we  have 
no  trace.  If  there  were  any  so  early  in  Palestine  and  the  surrounding 
regions,  they  had  not  yet  become  incorporated  with  the  Jewish  converts, 
and  were  not  regarded  by  James  as  belonging  to  his  charge. 

The  design  of  the  letter  is  not  doctrinal,  but  ethical  and  altogether 
practical.  It  aims  to  inculcate  a  living,  active  piety,  and  to  combat  a 
dead  Jewish  orthodoxy,  an  unproductive  intellectual  belief,  which  con- 
tents itself  with  theoretical  knowledge  and  the  mere  reception  of  the 
Mosaic  and  Christian  doctrine  as  true,  instead  of  acting  it  out  in  the 
life  (2  :  14  sqq.).  Paul  has  a  similar  tendency  in  view  in  Rom.  2  :  H 
-24  (comp.  also  Jno.  5  :  39),^  while  he  elsewhere  commonly  contends 
against  the  opposite  error  of  a  righteousness  of  works  without  faith. 
Besides  this  there  prevailed  in  the  churches,  to  which  the  epistle  is 
addressed,  other  evils,  all  more  or  less  connected  with  a  carnal  Jewish 
way  of  thinking  ; — want  of  charity,  censoriousness,  pride  and  arro- 
gance in  the  rich,  quarrelsomeness,  worldly-mindeduess,  &c.  While 
James  rebukes  all  these  sins,  and  threatens  them  with  the  impending 
judgment,  he  comforts  and  cheers  the  poor,  who  are  oppressed  by  the 
hard-hearted  rich,  and  the  brethren,  who  are  persecuted  by  their  un- 
believing kinsmen. 

This  of  itself  indicates  the  contents  of  the  letter,  which  perfectly 
correspond  with  all  we  otherwise  know  of  the  legal  character  and  con- 
servative position  of  its  author.  There  is  confessedly  no  other  book  in 
the  New  Testament,  which  leaves  the  peculiarly  Christian  element,  the 

Kern  in  his  Commentary  (where  he  has  retracted  his  former  doubts  of  its  genuine- 
ness), and  of  Thiersch  {Die  Kirche  im  apost.  Zeitalter,  p.  106  sqq.).  Comp.  also  my 
tract  on  James,  above  quoted,  p.  83  sq. 

'  Comp.  Matt.  19  :  28.     Rom.  2  :  28  sq.     Gal.  6:16.     1  Pet.  1  :  1. 

"  Jas.  2  :  6,  7.     5:1  sqq.     Comp.  Heb.  10  :  34. 

'  As  late  as  the  second  century  Justin  (Dial.  c.  Tryph,  Jud.  p-  370,  ed.  Col.)  speaks 
of  Jews,  who  imagined,  that  in  consideration  of  their  monotheism  God  would  not  lay 
their  sins  to  their  charge. 


384:  §  96.       THE    EPISTLE    TO   JAMES.  b-  BOOK. 

person  and  work  of  the  Redeemer,  so  much  in  the  background  as  this 
epistle.  And  so  far  does  it  differ  from  Paul's  type  of  doctrine,  that 
even  a  Luther  in  one-sided  zeal  for  his  doctrine  of  justification  con- 
sidered the  two  as  irreconcilably  opposed,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  call 
James'  a  "  chaflfy  epistle  ;"'  while  others  suppose,  that  James  (c.  2  :  14 
sqq.)  intends  to  combat,  not,  indeed,  Paul's  doctrine  of  justification 
itself  as  rightly  understood,  yet  at  least  the  practical  abuse  of  it  (comp. 
2  Peter  3  :  16).  But  this  is  a  wrong  opinion.  James  has  his  eye,  not 
upon  Gnostic  and  Antinomian  tendencies, — for  these  did  not  develope 
themselves  till  after  his  time, — but  upon  the  dead  intellectual  orthodoxy 
of  Judaism,  a  self-righteous,  stiffened  Pharisaism  ;  and  he  meets  it  with 
the  same  weapons  used  by  Christ  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  The 
epistle  of  James,  therefore,  holds  as  important  and  necessary  a  place 
among  the  canonical  epistles  of  the  apostles,  as  that  Sermon  among  the 
discourses  of  Christ.  For,  closely  as  it  conforms,  not  only  in  thought 
but  in  its  figurative,  sententious  style,  to  the  prophetical  and  proverbial 
books  of  the  Old  Testament,  yet  the  earnest,  impressive  moral  admo- 
nitions, of  which  it  consists,' — its  exhortations  to  patience  under  suffer- 
ing, to  prayer,  to  humility,  to  true  wisdom,  to  meekness,  to  peace,  to 
the  observance  of  the  royal  law  of  love,  to  a  life  corresponding  to  the 
confession  of  the  mouth  ;  its  warnings  against  vain  self-reliance,  against 
sins  of  the  tongue,  against  fickleness,  envy,  hatred,  and  uncharitable- 
ness  in  general, — all  are  thoroughly  pervaded  by  the  spirit  of  Christian 
morality,  especially  as  presented  in  the  Saviour's  Sermon  on  the  Mount. 
The  name  of  Christ,  indeed,  appears  only,  as  it  were,  in  the  distance, 
but  is  always  mentioned  with  a  holy  reserve,  which  leaves  us  with  the 
impression,  that  far  more  is  thought  than  is  said,  and  that  the  cause 
of  this  comparative  silence  is  perhaps  the  wish  to  gain  the  more  readily 

'  In  the  preface  to  his  edition  of  the  New  Testament  of  1524,  p.  105  :  ''  Therefore 
the  epistle  of  St.  James  is  a  real  chaffy  epistle  compared  with  them  (the  writings  of 
John,  Paul,  and  Peter) ;  for  it  has  no  evangelical  cast  at  all."  He  expresses  himself 
more  fully  in  his  remarkable  preface  to  the  epistles  of  St.  James  and  St.  Jude,  1522 
{Werke,  ed.  Walch.  XIV.  p.  148  sq.),  at  the  close  of  which  he  thus  sums  up  his 
opinion  :  "  In  a  word,  he  (James)  has  aimed  to  refute  those  who  relied  on  faith  with- 
out works,  and  is  too  weak  for  his  task  in  mind,  understanding,  and  words,  mutilates 
the  Scriptures,  and  thus  contradicts  Paul  and  all  Scripture,  seeking  to  accomplish  by 
enforcing  the  law,  what  the  apostles  successfully  effect  by  love.  Therefore  I  will  not 
place  his  epistle  in  my  Bible  among  the  proper  leading  books ;  but  will  leave  it  to 
very  one  to  receive  or  reject  it  as  he  likes ;  for  there  are  many  good  sentences  in  it." 
That  Luther  afterwards  retracted  this  unfavorable  judgment,  which  reveals  itself  also 
in  his  version  of  the  Bible  in  the  removal  of  the  epistle  of  James  from  its  original 
place  at  the  beginning  of  the  Catholic  epistles  to  their  end,  where  it  still  stands  in  all 
the  German  Protestant  editions,  is  not  at  all  demonstrable,  though  it  is  often  asserted 
(even  by  Guericke  :  Einl.  in's  N.  T.  p.  499,  without  any  proof) . 


MISSIONS.]  §  97.    TKADITIONS  KESPECTING  THE  OTHER  APOSTLES.  385 

some  of  the  Jewish  readers  to  the  faith.  James  calls  Christ  "  the 
Lord  of  glory"  (2  :  1),  and  humbly  styles  himself  "  a  servant  of  God 
and  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ"  (1:1);  and  he  addresses  his  readers  as 
born  again  and  the  first  fruits  of  a  new  creation  (1  :  18),  thus  placing 
Christianity  far  above  Judaism,  and  representing  it  as  the  creative 
beginning  of  a  new  life.  It  is  the  law  undeniably,  but  the  law  spiritual- 
ized and  glorified  by  the  gospel,  the  "perfect  law  of  liberty"  (1  ;  25), 
which  every  where  meets  us  in  this  letter.  The  genial  Herder  has 
characterized  the  epistle  in  these  striking  words  :'  "  What  a  noble  man 
speaks  in  this  epistle  !  Deep,  unbroken  patience  in  suffering  !  Great- 
ness in  poverty  !  Joy  in  sorrow  !  Simplicity,  sincerity,  firm,  direct 
confidence  in  prayer  !  To  nothing  is  he  more  opposed,  than  to  unbelief, 
to  pusillanimous,  destructive  subtlety,  to  double-mindedness.  But  what 
a  way  he  has  of  drawing  nigh  to  God  !  He  speaks  of  power,  the 
miraculous  power  of  prayer,  as  of  the  most  certain,  unfailing  things 
heartily,  from  experience,  with  particular  instances  and  proofs — verily  a 
man  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  a  praying  man,  a  disciple  of  Jesus  ! — How 
well  he  knows  wisdom,  and  the  origin  of  true  and  false  wisdom  in  the 
minds  of  men  !  He  puts  restraint  on  the  tongue,  even  in  its  most 
specious  workings,  the  tongue,  which  murders  by  lusts  and  passions — 
silent  saint!  Nazarite  1  Disciple  of  heavenly  wisdom!  How  he 
wants  action  !  Action  !  Not  words,  not  (dead  intellectual)  faith,  but 
free  action,  perfect,  noble  action  according  to  the  royal  law  of  the 
Spirit,  the  free — the  purified  Pharisee,  or  Essene — the  Christian  !" 

§  91.    Traditions  respecting  the  other  Apostles. 

Peter,  Paul,  and  John  were  plainly  the  most  influential  and  eflQclent 
of  the  apostles.  Of  their  labors  accordingly  we  have  the  most  full  and 
reliable  accounts,  though  their  end  is  veiled  in  mysterious  darkness 
Besides  these  none  appear  in  Acts,  but  James  the  Elder,  who  soon 
passed  off  the  stage  (A.  D.  44)  as  the  first  apostolic  martyr,  and  that 
other  James,  who  from  the  year  50,  or  perhaps  even  44,  to  his  death 
labored  as  head  of  the  church  in  Jerusalem.  Of  the  activity  of  the 
other  apostles,  on  the  contrary,  the  New  Testament  itself  contains  no 
trace  ;  and  the  many  reports  respecting  them  in  the  wrttings  of  the 
church  fathers,  and  in  the  pseudo-apostolic  acts,  are  in  some  cases  so 
strange  and  so  full  of  contradictions,  that  they  can  lay  very  little  claim 
to  credit,  and  that  even  the  acutest  criticism  would  be  unable  thoroughly 
to  sejarate  the  truth  from  the  error. 

This  silence  of  Holy  Writ  and  of  authentic  history  respecting  the 
life    and   work  of  the   majority    of  the    aj.'ostles  is    an    enigma,  which 

'  Brrf  zu-ccner  Bruder  Jesu  in  unsercm  Kanon.     Lemgo.  1775. 

25 


386  §  97.     TKADITIONS  RESPECTmO  THE  OTHEK  APOSTLES.     [l-  BOOK. 

historians  have  made  various  attempts  to  solve.  It  may  be  accounted 
for  first,  by  tlie  humility  of  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  whose  object  was  not 
to  build  for  themselves  monuments  of  their  fame,  but  only  to  labor  as 
instruments  of  their  Master,  in  whatever  way  and  place  he  might 
appoint.  Then  again,  by  the  fact,  that  they  appeared  not  with  the 
creative  originality  and  imposing  personal  character  of  James,  Peter, 
Paul,  and  John,  who  fully  represent  the  four  ground  forms  of  life  and 
doctrine  in  the  primitive  church  ;  but  more  as  simple  helpers,  quite  as 
necessary,  however,  and  as  useful  in  their  sphere  as  the  leaders,  whose 
banner  they  followed.  Finally,  by  the  consideration,  that  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem  and  the  persecutions  of  the  Christian  church  from  the 
time  of  Nero  onward  seriously  impeded  the  recording  of  their  acts  and 
fortunes,  or  destroyed  many  documents  already  written.  That  these 
apostles  actually  labored,  however,  with  great  effect,  is  certain  from  the 
early  propagation  of  Christianity  in  all  parts  of  the  Roman  empire, 
even  where  we  have  no  sure  and  special  information  respecting  the  mode 
of  its  introduction  ;  as  in  Egypt,  North  Africa,  Spain,  Gaul,  and  Italy 
out  of  Rome.  Eternity  will  assuredly  disclose  many  hidden  flowers  and 
fruits  of  Christian  life  and  labor,  which  are  either  not  at  all,  or  at  best 
very  imperfectly,  recorded  in  books  of  history.' 

Down  to  the  apostolic  council  (A.  D.  50)  the  twelve  disciples  seem 
still  to  have  looked  on  Jerusalem  as  the  centre  of  their  activity,  and, 
with  the  exception  of  Paul,  not  to  have  gone  far  beyond  Palestine. 
Thenceforth  we  find  none  but  James  in  the  Jewish  capital  (Acts  21  : 
18),  the  rest  having  scattered  to  different  lands.  The  story  (first  found 
in  Rufinus)  runs,  that  they  distributed  the  countries  among  themselves 
by  lot,  and  before  they  separated  composed  the  Apostles'  Creed.  But 
this  literally  understood  is  a  manifest  error.  More  plausible  is  the 
tradition,  that  they  all  except  John  suffered  martyrdom,'  most  of  them 
before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  ;  while  the  beloved  disciple  lived 
down  to  the  threshold  of  the  second  century.  Most  of  them  seem  to 
have   labored  in  the  different  countries  of  the  East,  and  more  in  the 

*  We  cannot  agree,  therefore,  with  Dr.  Thiersch  ( Vorlesungen  uber  Katholic  und 
Protest.  1.  p.  203,  note,  2nd  ecl.\  in  explaining  the  silence  of  history  respecting  the  ma- 
jority of  the  apostles  from  the  small  results  of  their  labors,  especially  outside  the  Roman 
empire.  This  would  be  derogatory  to  the  wisdom  and  discernment  of  the  Lord  in  the 
choice  of  his  instruments. 

*  Yet  according  to  Heracleon,  in  Clemens  Alex.  (Strom.  IV.  p.  502),  the  apostles 
Matthew,  Philip,  Thomas,  and  Levi  (Thaddeus)  died  a  natural  death.  The  whole 
story  above  is  not  found  earlier  than  the  fourth  century,  and  may  have  arisen  too  from 
the  exaggerated  notions  of  the  worth  of  martyrdom  and  from  the  ambiguity  of  the 
•word  fiuQTvg,  which  denotes  primarily  any  confessor  of  the  Christian  faith,  but  com- 
monly in  later  usage  a  witness  by  blood. 


MISSIOXS.]     g  97.     TRADITIONS  KESPECTING  THE  OTHER  APOSTLES.         387 

spirit  of  James  and  Peter,  than  on  the  pnnciples  of  the  Apostle  of  the 
Gent:ies.  For  the  Christian  churches  in  Syria,  Persia,  and  India,  in 
Egypt  and  Ethiopia,  exhibit  in  early  antiquity,  and  even  to  this  day,  so 
remarkable  a  mixture  of  Jewish  practices  with  Christian  orthodoxy 
(which,  however,  in  those  countries  has  now  become  almost  a  perfect 
petrifaction),  that  we  may  infer  from  it  with  tolerable  certainty  their 
Jewish-Christian  origin. 

Respecting  these  apostles  individually  we  collect  the  following  state- 
ments : 

1.  Andrew,  the  brother  of  Simon  Peter,*  preached  (according  to 
Origen  in  Eusebius)  in  Scythia  ;  according  to  later  accounts,  also  in  Asia 
Minor,  Thrace,  and  Achaia.  After  working  many  miracles  he  is  sui> 
posed  to  have  suffered  martyrdom  at  Patrae  (Patras)  in  Achaia,  at  the 
order  of  the  Roman  proconsul,  Aegeas,  whose  wife  and  brother  he  had 
converted  ;  and  to  have  been  crucified  on  a  cm,x  decussata  (  (xj),  which 
thence  came  to  be  called  "  Andrew's  Cross." 

2.  Philip  of  Bethsaida,"  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  deacon  and 
evangelist  of  the  same  name,'  according  to  a  pretty  unanimous  tradition 
performed  his  last  labor  in  Asia  Minor  in  the  province  of  Phrygia,  and 
died,  some  say  a  natural  death,  others  a  violent  one,  at  Hierapolis 
(between  Colosse  and  Laodicea)  in  a  good  old  age.  He  survived,  it 
would  seem,  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  and  according  to  ancient  cred- 
ible tradition  was  married  and  the  father  of  several  pious  daughters.* 

3.  Thomas,  called  Didymus  (Twin),  probably  also  from  Galilee  (corap. 
Jno.  21  :  2),  is  presented  to  us  in  the  Gospel  of  John'  as  a  man  of 
a  melancholy,  skeptical,  and  willful  turn,  who  would  believe  only  on  the 
palpable  testimony  of  the  understanding  and  of  experience,  but  held  fast 
what  he  had  once  come  to  believe  with  great  decision  and  fidelity. 
"  My  Lord  and  my  God  !"  cried  he  in  joyful  adoration,  the  moment  he 
put  his  finger  into  the  wounds  of  the  risen  Saviour.  He  might  be  taken 
as  the  representative  of  the  better  class  of  Rationalists, — those,  who  are 
honestly  seeking  truth,  and  who,  therefore,  ultimately  find  it.  The  old- 
est tradition  (Origen  in  Euseb.)  says,  he  preached  the  gospel  in  the  Par- 
thian empire,  and  was  buried  in  Edessa  ;  but  later  accounts  (Gregory 
of  Nazianzen,  Ambrose,  Jerome,  and  others)  place  the  scene  of  his 
labors  and  martyrdom  in  East  India,'  and  the  Syrian  Christians,  who 

'  Matt.  4  :  18.     10  :  2.     13  :  3.     Jno.  1  :  35  sqq.     6:8.     12  :  22. 

*  Matt.  10  :  3  and  parall.     Jno.  1  :  44  sqq.     6  :  5  sqq.     12  :  21  sqq.     14  :  8  sq. 
^  Acts  6:5.     8:5  sqq.     21  :  8. 

^  Eusebius:  H.  E.  III.  31.     V.  24. 

*  C.  11  :  16.     14  :  5-     20  :  24-29. 

•*  But  perhaps  there  is  confusion  here.    At  any  rate  Theodoret  (Haer.  fab.  I.  26) 


388  §  97.       TRADITIONS  RESPECTING  THE  OTHER  APOSTLES.     [l-  BOOK. 

liave  been  found  there  from  time  immemorial,  regard  liim  as  the  founder 
of  their  church  and  hence  are  called  Thomas-Christians. 

4.  Bartholomew,  or  "  sou  of  Ptolemaeus,"-  is  unquestionably  the 
same,  who  appears  in  the  fourth  Gospel  under  his  proper  name,  Nathan- 
AEL  (Gift  of  God,  Jno.  1  :  45  sqq.  21  :  2)  ;  the  first  name  being  a  sur- 
name taken  from  his  father,  like  Simon's  surname,  Barjona.  He  sprang 
from  Cana  in  Galilee  (Jno.  21  :  2),  and  was  introduced  to  the  Saviour 
by  Philip.  As  soon  as  the  Lord  saw  him.  He  said  of  him  :  "  Behold  an 
Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  is  no  guile."^-     He  is  said  to  have  preached 

represents  the  Thomas,  who  was  sent  to  the  Indians,  as  a  disciple  of  Manes,  and  the 
Acta  Thomae  published  by  Thilo  betray  a  Manichean  origin. 

'  Matt.  10  :  3.     Mk.  3  :  18.     Luke  6  :  14.     Acts  1  :  13. 

'"'  Jno.  1  :  47.  This  expression  of  Christ  is  commonly  taken  as  a  general  description 
of  the  moral  and  religious  character  of  Nathanael,  and  explained  thus :  "  Thou  art  in 
truth  one  of  the  people  of  God  ;  an  Israelite,  who  answers  the  idea;  such  as  all  should 
be,  all  uprightness  and  ingenuousness."  This  interpretation,  however,  we  cannot 
adopt;  (1)  because  it  is  altogethei- contrary  to  the  Saviour's  custom  thus  to  praise  a 
man  to  his  face.  (2)  Because  in  that  case  Nathanael's  modesty  must  have  compelled 
him  to  decline  the  compliment ;  whereas,  on  the  contrary,  he  accepts  it  without  hesita- 
tion by  asking:  "Whence  knowest  thou  me  ?"  v.  48.  (.3)  Because  ingenuousness  and 
uprightness  were  rlever  particularly  prominent  traits  in  the  character  of  the  Jews  as  a 
nation,  or  at  any  rate  of  Jacob,  in  whom  at  least  in  early  life  the  subtlety  of  the  ser- 
pent predominated,  as  his  conduct  with  Esau  and  Laban  sufficiently  shows.  '•  German 
fidelity"'  is  proverbial,  but  not  "  Jewish  honesty."  The  prophets  very  often  rebuke 
this  people  for  their  treachery  and  hypocrisy,  (Is.  29  :  13,  15.  Zeph.  1:11.  Ps.  50  : 
19,  &c.) .  (4)  Because  this  explanation  does  not  suit  the  connection  at  all.  especially 
the  immediately  following  words  of  the  Lord,  v.  48,  which  are  evidently  to  be  taken 
as  more  particularly  defining  the  former.  The  sense  of  this  passage,  as  well  as  of  the 
whole  paragraph  Jno.  1  :  45-51,  can  be  fully  explained  only  from  the  history  of  Jacob, 
to  which  Jesus  here  makes  aa  exceedingly  significant  allusion.  That  y.  51  refers  to 
the  heavenly  ladder  (Gen.  28  :  12),  is  conceded  by  all  commentators.  The  living  inter- 
course of  divine  and  human  powers,  which  appeared  to  the  patriarch  under  this  figure 
in  his  dream  at  Bethel,  was  perfectly  realized  in  the  manifestation  of  the  incarnate  Son 
of  God,  the  Mediator  between  heaven  and  earth.  Why  should  not  the  uhi^ur  'lagarj- 
?.iTTjc,  V.  47,  refer  likewise  to  a  scene  in  Jacob's  life,  to  his  victorious  icrcstting  with  his 
covenant  God,  when  he  received  the  honorary  title  of  Israel,  Wrestler  with  God  (Gen. 
32  :  28.  Comp.  Hos-  12  :  4),  in  place  of  his  former  name,  and  in  token  of  his  having 
put  off  the  old  man?  We  conceive  the  matter  thus  :  Nathanael,  a  disciple  of  John, 
and  by  him  directed  to  the  Messiah,  was  engaged  under  the  shade  of  a  fig-tree,  perhaps 
in  the  place  which  tradition  assigns  for  Jacob's  wrestling,  in  the  study  of  the  law  and 
the  prophets,  and  absorbed  in  fervent  prayer  for  the  coming  of  the  long-promised 
Saviour,  when  Philip  approached  him  with  the  joyful  tidings  of  the  Messiah,  whom  he 
had  found.  The  Lord  had  looked  into  his  heart ;  had  read  there  his  hopes  and  prayers 
for  the  Messiah  (v.  48);  and  this  surprising  insight  into  the  secrets  of  his  soul,  in  con- 
nection with  what  preceded,  led  Nathanael  to  faith-  The  sense  of  the  words  in  ques- 
tion will,  therefore,  be  simply  :  ''  Behold  a  man,  who  has  just  wrestled  with  God  with 
unfeigned  earnestness  in  prayer  for  the  manifestation  of  the  Messiah,  and  has  prevail- 
ed ;" — or  to  keep  closer  to  the  Old  Testament  passage  here  in  mind.   Gen.  32  :  28 ; 


MISSIONS.]    §  97.       TRADITIONS  RESPECTING  THE  OTHER  APOSTLES.         389 

Christianity  in  India  (probably  Yemen),  where,  according  to  Eusebius, 
he  left  the  Gospel  of  Matthew  in  Hebrew  ;  to  have  labored  also  in  Lyca- 
onia  and  Armenia  Major  ;  and  to  have  been  beheaded,  or  according  to 
another  tradition  crucified  with  his  head  downwards. 

(5)  Matthew,  no  doubt  the  same  with  Levi,'  formerly  a  tax-gatherer 
in  Galilee  (Matt.  9  :  9  sq.),  author  of  the  first  Gospel,  is  said  to  have 
extended  the  kingdom  of  God  into  Ethiopia  (Meroe),  and  according  to 
some  accounts  into  the  countries  of  Asia.  Respecting  the  manner  and 
place  of  his  death  the  reports  vary. 

(6)  SiMOJsT  Zelotes  appears  in  the  New  Testament  only  in  the  lists  of 
the  apostles  (Matt.  10  :  4,  and  paralL),  and  there  are  different  stories 
about  his  labors.  Some  church  fathers  identify  him  with  Simeon,  son  of 
Clopas,  who  according  to  Eusebius  succeeded  James  as  bishop  of  Jeru- 
salem, and  was  crucified  under  Trajan  in  the  hundred  and  twentieth  year 
of  his  age.  According  to  Nicephorus,  on  the  contrary,  Simon  preached 
in  Egypt,  Cyrene,  Mauritania,  Lybia,  and  at  last  in  the  British  isles, 
where  he  was  crucified.  Finally,  Abdias  tells  us,  that  he  with  Judas 
Thaddeus  was  taken  to  Persia  and  Babylon,  and  murdered  at  Sunir. 

(7)  Judas,  also  called  Lebbaeus  and  Thaddaeus  (Matt.  10  :  3,  &c.), 
preached,  as  the  western  tradition  has  it,  in  Persia,  and  there  through 
the  instigation  of  the  magicians  met  a  cruel  death.  Nicephorus,  on  the 
contrary,  makes  him  preach  in  Palestine,  Syria,  and  Arabia,  and  die  a 
natural  death  at  Edessa. 

(8)  Matthias,  one  of  the  seventy  disciples  (according  to  Eusebius), 
who  on  the  motion  of  Peter  was  chosen  by  lot  to  fill  the  place  of  Judas 
Iscariot  (Acts  1  :  15-26),  is  said  to  have  labored  and  suffered  martyr- 
dom in  Ethiopia  ;  while  other  accounts  say,  he  was  stoned  by  the  Jews 
in  Judea. 

(9)  James  the  less,  or  James  the  snn  of  Alphaeus,''  labored,  according 
to  the  tradition  of  the  Greek  church,  which  distinguishes  him  from 
James  the  brother  of  the  Lord,  the  bishop  of  Jerusalem  and  author  of 
the  catholic  epistle  (comp.  §  95),  first  in  the  south-western  part  of 
Palestine,  afterwards  in  Egypt,  and  was  crucified  at  Ostracine  in  lower 
Egypt.^ 

"Thou  art  no  deceiver  (Jacob),  but  an  honest  wrestler  with  God  (Israel)  ;  for  thou 
hast  wrestled  with  God,  that  he  would  send  the  Saviour  of  the  world  and  show^  him  to 
thee  ;  and  thy  prayer  is  heard.  The  Messiah  stands  before  thee."  That  all  the  ensu- 
ing circumstances,  the  question  of  the  astonished  Nathanael,  the  Lord's  reply,  the  con- 
fession of  faith,  and  the  reference  to  the  new  ladder  from  heaven,  of  which  Jacob's  was 
but  a  faint  type— that  all  these  come  along  very  naturally  in  this  view,  is  plaiu 
enough. 

'  Mk.  2  :  14-     Luke  5  :  27.     Matt.  10:3,  &c. 

''  Mark  15  :  40.     Matt.  10  :  3.     27  :  56.     Acts.  1  :  13. 
Nicephor.  IL  40. 


390  §  98.      DESTKUCTION   OF   JERUSALEM.  [l-  BOOK 

§  98.     Destruction  of  Jerusalem.     A.  D.  70. 

The  forbearance  of  God  with  his  covenant  people,  who  had  crucified 
their  own  Saviour,  at  last  reached  its  limit.  As  many  as  could  be  saved 
in  the  usual  way,  were  rescued.  The  mass  of  the  people  had  obstinately 
set  themselves  against  all  improvement.  James  the  Just,  the  man  who 
was  fitted,  if  any  could  be,  to  reconcile  the  Jews  to  the  Christian 
religion,  had  been  stoned  by  his  hardened  brethren,  for  whom  he  daily 
interceded  in  the  temple  ;  and  with  him  the  Christian  community  in 
Jerusalem  had  lost  its  importance  for  that  city.  The  hour  of  fearful 
judgment  drew  near.  The  prophecy  of  the  Lord'  approached  its  literal 
fulfillment. 

Not  long  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Jewish  war,  seven  years  before 
the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Jesus  came  to  the  city 
at  the  feast  of  tabernacles,  and  in  a  fit  of  absent-mindedness  constantly 
cried  among  the  people  :  "  Woe  to  the  city  !  Woe  to  the  temple  I  A 
voice  from  the  morning,  a  voice  from  the  evening  1  A  voice  from  the 
four  winds  !  A  voice  against  Jerusalem  and  the  temple  !  A  voice 
against  bridegroom  and  bride  1  A  voice  against  the  whole  people  !" 
Some  magistrates,  terrified  by  this,  had  the  man  taken  up  and  scourged. 
He  offered  no  resistance,  and  continued  to  cry  his  "  Woe."  Being 
brought  before  the  procurator,  Albinus,  he  was  scourged  till  his  bones 
could  be  seen,  but  interposed  not  a  word  for  himself ;  uttered  no  curse 
on  his  enemies  ;  simply  exclaimed  at  ev^ry  blow  in  a  mournful  tone  : 
"  Woe,  woe  to  Jerusalem  1"  To  the  governor's  question,  who  and 
whence  he  was,  he  answered  nothing.  Finally  they  let  him  go,  as  a 
madman.  But  he  continued  till  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  especially  at 
the  three  great  feasts,  to  proclaim  the  approaching  fall  of  Jerusalem. 
During  the  siege  he  was  singing  his  dirge  for  the  last  time  from  the  wall. 
Suddenly  he  added  :  "  Woe,  woe  also  to  me  !" — and  a  missile  put  an  end 
to  his  prophetic  lamentation. 

Under  the  last  governors,  Felix,  Pestus,  Albinus  and  Floras,  moral 
corruption  and  the  dissolution  of  all  social  ties,  but  at  the  same  time  the 
oppressiveness  of  the  Roman  yoke,  increased  every  year.  After  the 
accession  of  Felix,  assassins,  the  "  Sicariaus"  (from  sica,  a  dagger) 
armed  with  daggers  and  purchasable  for  any  crime,  endangering  safety 
in  city  and  country,  roamed  over  Palestine.  Besides  this,  the  party 
spirit  amongst  the  Jews  themselves  and  their  hatred  of  their  heathen 
oppressors  rose  to  the  most  insolent  political  and  religious  fanaticism,  and 
was  continually  inflamed  by  false  prophets  and  Messiahs,  one  of  whom, 
for  example,  according  to  Josephus,  drew  after  him  thirty  thousand  men 
'  Matt.  24  :  1,  2.    Luke  19  :  43,  44. 


MISSIONS.]  §  98.      DESTRUCTION   OF   JERUSALEM.  391 

(comp.  Acts  21  :  38).  At  last  in  the  year  66,  under  the  last  procura- 
tor, Gessius  Florus  (from  65  onward),  a  wicked  and  cruel  tyrant,  who, 
as  Josephus  says,  was  placed  as  a  hangman  over  evil-doers,  there  began 
an  organized  rebellion  against  the  Romans,  but  at  the  same  time  a  terri- 
ble civil  war  also  between  the  zealots  and  the  conservatives,  as  well  as 
between  dififerent  parties  of  the  revolters  themselves.  The  Christians, 
remembering  the  Lord's  admonition  (Matt.  24  :  15  sqq.),  forsook  Jei'u- 
salem  and  fled  to  the  town  of  Pella  beyond  the  Jordan,  in  the  north  of 
Perea,  where  king  Herod  Agrippa  II.  before  whom  Paul  once  stood, 
opened  to  them  a  safe  asylum.  An  old  tradition'  says,  that  a  divine 
voice  reminded  their  most  prominent  members  once  more  of  the  flight. 
The  emperor  Nero,  informed  of  this  rebellion,  sent  the  famous  general, 
Vespasian,  with  a  large  force  to  Palestine.  Yespasian  opened  the 
campaign  in  the  year  6*1  from  the  Syrian  port-town,  Ptolemais  (Acco), 
and  against  a  stout  resistance  overran  Galilee  with  an  army  of  sixty 
thousand  men.  But  events  in  Rome  hindered  him  from  completing  the 
tragedy,  and  required  him  to  return  thither.  Nero  had  killed  himself. 
The  emperors,  Galba,  Otho,  and  Vitellius  followed  one  another  in  rapid 
succession.  The  latter  was  taken  out  of  a  dog's  kennel  in  Rome  drunk, 
dragged  through  the  streets,  and  shamefully  put  to  death,  and  Vespasian, 
in  the  year  69,  was  universally  proclaimed  emperor. 

His  son,  Titus,  who  himself  ten  years  after  became  emperor,  and  high- 
ly distinguished  himself  by  his  mildness  and  philanthropy,  then  undertook 
the  prosecution  of  the  Jewish  war,  and  became  the  instrument  in  the 
hand  of  God  of  destroying  the  holy  city  and  the  temple.  In  April,  A. 
D.  to,  immediately  after  Easter,  when  Jerusalem  was  filled  with  stran- 
gers, the  siege  began.  The  zealots  rejected  with  sneering  defiance  the 
repeated  proposals  of  Titus  and  the  prayers  of  Josephus,  who  accompa- 
nied him  as  interpreter  and  mediator  ;  and  they  struck  down  every  one 
who  spoke  of  surrender.  Even  the  famine,  which  now  began  to  rage 
and  sweep  away  thousands  daily,  the  cries  of  mothers  and  babes,  the 
most  pitiable  and  continually  increasing  misery  around  them,  could  not 
move  the  crazy  fanatics.  History  records  no  other  instance  of  such 
obstinate  resistance,  such  desperate  bravery  and  contempt  of  death. 
For  the  Jews  fought,  not  only  for  civil  liberty,  life,  and  their  native  land, 
but  for  that  which  constituted  their  national  pride  and  glory,  and  gave 
their  whole  history  its  significance, — for  their  religion,  which  even  in  this 
state  of  horrible  degeneracy  infused  into  them  an  almost  superhuman 
power  of  endurance  and  a  fearful  inspiration.  At  last  in  July  the  castle 
of  Antonia  was  surprised  and  taken  by  night.  The  Roman  general  pro- 
posed to  keep  that  magnificent  work  of  art,  the  temple,  to  grace  his 
'  In  Eusebius  :  H.  E.  III.  5. 


392  §  98.      DESTRUCTION   OF  JERUSALEM.  [l-   BOOK. 

triumph  ;  but  he  was  again  insultingly  repulsed.  The  famine  was  so 
severe,  that  many  swallowed  their  jewels  ;  a  mother  even  roasted  her 
own  child  ;  but  the  wretches  would  hear  nothing  of  mercy.  When 
Titus  finally  ordered  the  temple  halls  to  be  set  on  fire,  he  still  wished  to 
save  the  venerable  sanctuary.  But  its  destruction  was  determined  by  a 
higher  decree.  In  a  fresh  assault,  a  soldier  unbidden  hurled  a  firebrand 
through  the  golden  door.  When  the  flame  arose,  the  Jews  raised  a 
hideous  yell  and  tried  to  put  out  the  fire  ;  while  others,  clinging  with  a 
last,  convulsive  grasp  to  their  Messianic  hopes,  rested  in  the  declaration 
of  a  false  prophet,  that  God  in  the  midst  of  the  conflagration  of  the 
temple  would  give  the  signal  for  the  deliverance  of  his  people.  Titus 
•himself  gave  repeated  orders  to  have  the  fire  extinguished.  But  in  vain. 
His  legions  vied  with  each  other  in  feeding  the  flame,  and  made  the  un- 
happpy  people  feel  the  whole  weight  of  their  unchained  rage.  At  first 
the  vast  stream  of  blood  from  the  bodies  heaped  up  before  the  altar  of 
burnt-offering  restrained  the  fire  ;  but  soon  the  whole  prodigious  struc- 
ture was  in  flames.  It  was  burnt  on  the  tenth  of  August,  A.  D.  10,  the 
same  day  of  the  year  on  which  according  to  tradition  the  first  temple 
was  destroyed  by  Nebuchadnezzar.  "  No  one,"  says  Josephus,  "  can 
conceive  of  a  louder,  more  terrible  shriek,  than  arose  from  all  sides  dur- 
ing the  burning  of  the  temple.  The  shout  of  victory  and  the  jubilee  of 
the  legions  sounded  through  the  wailings  of  the  people  upon  the  moun- 
tain and  throughout  the  city.  The  echo  from  all  the  mountains  around, 
even  to  Perea,  increased  the  deafening  roar.  Yet  the  sight  was  equally 
terrible.  The  mountain  seemed  as  if  enveloped  to  its  base  in  one  sheet 
of  flame.  On  the  top  the  earth  was  nowhere  visible.  All  was  covered 
with  corpses  ;  over  these  heaps  the  soldiers  pursued  the  fugitives."  The 
same  author  gives  the  number  of  Jews  slain  at  the  siege  of  Jerusalem  as 
one  million  one  hundred  thousand  ;  and  the  number  sold  into  slavery 
during  the  war,  ninety  thousand  ! 

Even  the  heathen  Titus  publicly  exclaimed,  that  God  aided  the 
Romans  and  drove  the  Jews  from  their  impregnable  strongholds.  The 
Jew,  Josephus,  a  learned  priest  and  Pharisee,  who  has  described  the 
whole  Jewish  war  at  length  in  seven  books,  and  who  went  through  it 
himself  from  beginning  to  end,  at  first  as  governor  of  Galilee,  then  as  a 
prisoner  of  Vespasian,  finally  as  a  companion  of  Titus  and  mediator 
between  the  Romans  and  Jews,  recognized  in  this  tragical  event  a 
divine  judgment  and  admitted  of  his  degenerate  countrymen,  to  whom 
he  was  otherwise  attached  in  sincere  love  :  "I  will  not  hesitate  to  say 
what  gives  me  pain  :  I  believe,  that,  had  the  Romans  delayed  their 
punishment  of  that  ungodly  people,  the  city  would  have  been  swallowed 
up  by  the  earth,  or  overwhelmed  with  a  flood,  or,  like  Sodom,  consumed 


MISSIONS.]  §  98.       DESTRUCTION    OF   JERUSALEM.  393 

with  fire  from  heaven.  For  the  generation  which  was  in  it,  was  far 
more  ungodly  than  the  men  on  whom  those  punishments  had  in  former 
times  fallen.  By  their  madness,  the  whole  nation  is  ruined."  Thus, 
therefore,  must  one  of  the  best  Roman  emperors  execute  the  long- 
threatened  judgment  of  God,  and  the  most  learned  Jew  of  his  time  de- 
scribe it,  and  thereby,  without  willing  or  knowing  it,  bear  testimony  to 
the  truth  of  the  word,  and  the  divinity  of  the  mission,  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  rejection  of  whom  brought  all  this  and  the  subsequent  misfortune 
upon  the  apostate  "royal  priesthood." 

This  awful  catastrophe,  which  prefigured  in  miniature  the  final  judg- 
ment, must  have  given  the  Christian  churches  a  shock,  of  which  we  now, 
especially  in  the  absence  of  all  particular  information  respecting  it,  can 
hardly  form  a  true  conception.  This  actual  refutation  of  stiff-necked 
Judaism,  this  divine  ratification  and  sealing  of  Christianity,  the  confessors 
of  which  were  all  rescued  from  the  ruin,  not  only  gave  a  mighty  impulse 
to  faith,  but  at  the  same  time  formed  a  proper  epoch  in  the  history 
of  the  relation  between  the  two  religious  bodies.  It  separated  them 
forever.  It  is  true,  the  apostle  Paul  had  before  now  inwardly  com- 
pleted this  separation  by  the  Christian  universality  of  his  whole  system 
of  doctrine  ;  but  outwardly  he  had  in  various  ways  accommodated  him- 
self to  Judaism,  and  had  more  than  once  religiously  visited  the  temple. 
He  wished  not  to  appear  as  a  revolutionist,  nor  to  anticipate  the  natural 
course  of  history,  the  ways  of  Providence  (1  Cor.  *I  :  18  sqq.).  But 
now  the  rupture  was  also  outwardly  consummated  by  the  thunderbolt 
of  divine  omnipotence.  God  himself  destroyed  the  house,  in  which  he 
had  thus  far  dwelt  ;  rejected  his  peculiar  people  for  their  obstinate 
rejection  of  the  Messiah  ;  demolished  the  whole  fabric  of  the  Mosaic 
theocracy,  whose  system  of  worship  was,  in  its  very  nature,  associated 
exclusively  with  the  tabernacle  at  first  and  afterwards  with  the  temple  ; 
but  in  so  doing  cut  the  cords  which  had  hitherto  bound,  and  according 
to  the  law  of  organic  development  necessarily  bound,  the  infant  church, 
especially  the  Jewish  portion  of  it,  to  the  outward  economy  of  the  old 
covenant,  and  to  Jerusalem  as  its  centre.  Henceforth  the  heathen 
could  no  longer  look  upon  Christianity  as  a  mere  sect  of  Judaism,  but 
must  regard  and  treat  it  as  a  new,  peculiar  religion.  The  destruction 
of  Jerusalem,  therefore,  marks  that  momentous  crisis,  at  which  the 
Christian  church  as  a  whole  burst  forth  forever  from  the  chrysalis  of 
legalism,  awoke  to  a  sense  of  its  maturity,  and  in  government  and  wor- 
ship at  once  took  its  independent  stand  before  the  world.'     This  break- 

*  Comp.  the  excellent  remarks  of  Dr.  Richard  Rothe  {Die  Anfdnge  der  Christl.  Kir- 
chc  und  ihrer  Verfassung,  Vol.  I.  p.  341  sqq.),  which  Schwegler  (Nachapost.  Zeitalter, 
II.  p.  1 90),  endeavors  in  vain  to  refute. 


394  §  98.      DESTRUCTION   OF   JERUSALEM.  [l-  BOOK. 

ing  away  from  hardened  Judaism  and  its  religious  forms,  however, 
involved  no  departure  from  the  spirit  of  the  Old  Testament  revelation. 
The  church,  on  the  contrary,  entered  into  the  inheritance  of  Israel. 
The  Christians  appeared  as  genuine  Jews,  who,  following  the  inward 
current  of  the  Mosaic  religion,  had  found  Him,  who  was  the  fulfillment 
of  the  law  and  the  prophets  ;  the  perfect  fruit  of  the  old  covenant  and 
the  living  germ  of  the  new  ;  the  beginning  and  the  all-sufficient  prin- 
ciple of  a  new  moral  creation. 

It  now  only  remained  to  complete  the  organization  of  the  church  in 
this  altered  state  of  things  ;  to  combine  the  premises  in  their  results  ; 
to  take  up  the  conservative  tendency  of  Peter,  and  the  progressive  ten- 
dency of  Paul,  as  embodied  respectively  in  the  Jewish-Christian  and  the 
Gentile-Christian  churches,  and  fuse  them  into  a  third  and  higher  ten- 
dency in  a  permanent  organism  ;  to  set  forth  alike  the  unity  of  the  two 
Testaments  in  diversity,  and  their  diversity  in  unity  ;  and  in  this  way  to 
wind  up  the  history  of  the  apostolic  church.  This  was  the  work  of 
John,  the  apostle  of  completion. 


MISSIONS,]         I  99.      PAitENTAGE   AND   EDUCATION   OF   JOHN.  395 


CHAPTER   V. 

LIFE  AND   WORK  OF  JOHN. 

§  99.  Parentage  and  Education  of  John. 

The  close  of  the  apostolic  age  and  the  transition  to  the  succeeding 
period  is  formed  by  the  activity  of  the  beloved  disciple  and  bosom 
friend  of  Jesus.  Him  the  Lord  had  appointed  to  give  the  finishing 
stroke  to  the  internal  and  external  organization  of  His  church. 

The  apostle  and  evangelist,  JOHN/  was  the  son  of  Zebedee,  a  Gali- 
"lean  fisherman,  and  Salome,  and  a  brother  of  the  elder  James  His 
birth-place  was  probably  that  of  Peter,  Andrew,  and  Philip,  the  fishing 
town  of  Bethsaida.''  His  parents  seem  to  have  been  not  altogether 
without  means.  His  father  kept  hired  servants  (Mk.  1  :  20).  His 
mother  was  one  of  the  women  who  supported  Jesus  with  their  property' 
and  purchased  spices  to  embalm  him."  John  himself  owned  a  house  in 
Jerusalem,  into  which  he  received  the  mother  of  the  Lord  after  the 
crucifixion  (Jno.  19  :  27).  The  seeds  of  piety  were  no  doubt  planted 
in  his  youthful  heart  by  his  pious  mother.  Salome  shared,  indeed,  at 
that  time  still  in  the  carnal  Messianic  hopes  of  the  Jews  and  had  some^- 
what  of  vanity  withal  ;  as  appears  from  her  asking  of  the  Lord  in  be- 
half of  her  two  sons  the  highest  places  in  his  kingdom  (Matt.  20  :  20 
sqq.).  Yet  she  was  a  faithful  follower  of  Jesus,  not  forsaking  him  even 
when  he  hung  on  the  cross  (Mk.  15  :  40).°     Like  all  the  other  apostles, 

'  From  the  Heb.  ninii   i-  ^-  Grace  of  Jehovah  (Gotthold). 

"  Matt.  4  :  21.     Iq\  2.     Mk.  1  :  19.     3  :  17.     10  :  35.     Lu.  5  :  10.     Acts  12  :  2. 

«  Matt.  27  :  56.     Mk.  15  :  40  sq.     Lu.  8:3. 

«  Mk.  16  :  1.     Lu.  23  :  55,  56. 

'  According  to  the  new  interpretation  of  Jno.  19  :  25,  presented  with  acuteness  and 
learning  by  Wieseler  in  the  "  Studien  und  Kritiken,"  1840,  No.  3,  p.  648  sqq.,  Salome 
would  be  the  sister  of  the  mother  of  Jesus,  and  thus  John  a  cousin  of  the  Lord.  By 
"  his  mother's  sitter"  Wieseler  understands,  not,  as  the  common  interpretation  makes  it, 
Mary  the  wife  of  Cleophas  (since  it  is  altogether  improbablcj  that  two  sisters  would 


396  §  99.      PARENTAGE   AND   EDUCATION    OF   JOHN.  [l.  BOOK. 

except  Paul,  John  grew  up  without  a  learned  or  scientific  education 
(comp.  Acts  4  :  13).  All  this  deficiency  was  destined  to  be  amply  sup- 
plied by  a  three  years'  personal  intercourse  with  the  Master  of  all 
masters  and  by  the  supernatural  illumination  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  But 
he  was  no  doubt  early  made  familiar  with  the  Holy  Scriptures  of  the 
Old  Testament,  which  gave  his  natural  turn  for  profound  reflection  and 
his  fine,  tender  feeling  far  more  wholesome  exercise,  than  the  learning 
of  the  Pharisaic  schools,  corrupted  as  it  was  with  all  sorts  of  dangerous 
maxims. 

In  his  youth  he  became  a  disciple  of  John  the  Baptist.  For  he  is 
undoubtedly  the  one  not  named  of  the  two  disciples  of  John,  of  whom 
he  himself  speaks  in  his  Gospel,  1  :  35  sqq.  His  susceptible  soul,  long- 
ing for  the  Hope  of  Israel,  must  soon  have  discerned  a  messenger  of 
God  in  the  earnest  preacher  of  repentance,  who  preceded  Christ  like  the 
dawn  before  the  sun.  By  this  herald,  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan  in 
Perea,  he  together  with  Andrew  was  directed  to  Jesus  as  the  Lamb 
of  God,  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world.  From  his  first  inter- 
view with  the  Saviour,  he  received  so  deep  an  impression,  that  he  remem- 
bered even  in  his  old  age  that  hour  of  meeting  (Jno.  1  :  39).  After  one 
day's  intercourse  with  the  Son  of  God  he  returned  with  Peter  and 
Andrew  to  his  home  and  trade.  There  the  good  seed,  which  had  fallen 
into  his  heart,  had  opportunity  to  germinate  and  unfold  itself  freely.  It 
was  part  of  the  Lord's  great  wisdom  as  a  teacher  to  do  no  violence  to 
the  course  of  nature  in  drawing  his  disciples  to  him.  Soon  after  this 
John,  with  James,  Peter,  and  Andrew,  was  called  away  from  his  occu- 
pation by  Jesus  to  be  one  of  his  constant  followers  and  apostles.'  Thus 
John  is  the  representative  of  those  disciples,  who  are  gradually  drawn 
into  fellowship  with  the  Redeemer  without  any  violent  inward  struggles 
or  unusual  outward  changes  ;  while  the  apostle  Paul  furnishes  the  most 
striking  example  of  a  sudden  conversion.  The  first  mode  of  conversion 
is  especially  suited  to  mild,  contemplative,  modest  characters,  such  as 
Thomas  a  Kempis,  Melancthon,  Spener,  Bengel,  Zinzendorf  ;  the  other, 
to  such  strong,  impetuous,  resolute,  independent  natures,  as  Tertullian, 
Augustine,  Luther,  Farel,  and  Calvin. 

have  the  same  name),  but  John's  own  mother,  who  is  known  from  the  parallel  pas- 
sages, Matt.  27  :  56.  Mk.  15  :  40,  to  have  been  present  in  fact  at  the  crucifixion,  and 
could  hardly  have  been  passed  over  by  her  son ;  and  who  is  here  thus  designated  in  a 
way  exactly  corresponding  to  John's  manner  of  indicating  himself  (''  the  disciple 
whom  Jesus  loved").  There  are  considerable  difficulties,  however,  in  the  way  of  this 
explanation.  Comp.  Neander's  Aposldgesch.,  II.  609;  my  tract  on  James,  p.  22  sq. ; 
and  the  article  on  John  by  W.  Grimm  in  Ench  and  Gruherh  Encyklop.,  Sect.  II.  Part 
22,  p.  1  sqq. 

'  Matt.  4  :  18  sqq.     Mk.  1  :  16  sqq.     Lu.  4:1-11. 


MISSIONS.]         §  99.      PARENTAGE   AND   EDUCATION   OP  JOHN.  397 

John,  whose  soul  was  formed  for  deep  friendship  and  ardent  love,  was 
one  of  the  most  confidential  disciples  of  the  Lord.  He,  his  brother 
James,  and  Simon  Peter,  were  the  chosen  from  among  the  chosen  ;  the 
holy  triad,  upon  whom  the  Saviour  bestowed  special  favor.  They  alone 
were  admitted  to  witness  the  raising  of  Jairus'  daughter  (Mk.  5  :  37), 
the  transfiguration  of  Christ  on  Mount  Tabor  (Matt.  H  :  1),  and  his 
agony  in  Gethsemane  (Matt.  26  :  37.  Mk.  14  :  33).  The  ground  of 
this  preference  must  be  looked  for,  partly  in  the  Lord's  sovereign  choice, 
partly  in  the  peculiar  character  of  the  three  disciples.  Of  James  we 
know  very  little.  He  seems  to  have  been  of  a  quiet,  earnest,  meditative 
turn,  and  in  the  year  44,  as  before  noticed,  he  headed  the  band  of  apos- 
tolic martyrs.  His  place  was  filled  in  a  measure,  as  regards  prominence 
and  influence,  by  the  apostle  Paul.  Peter  we  have  already  seen  to  be 
an  ardent,  impetuous  man,  of  great  energy,  made  for  the  practical 
superintendence  of  the  church.  John  makes  not  so  much  outward  show  ; 
but  the  flame  of  love  burned  the  brighter  and  warmer  within.  His 
deep,  affectionate  nature,  which  gave  him  his  peculiar  religious  genius, 
placed  him  above  the  two  others,  and  made  him  the  dearest  of  the 
Saviour's  three  chosea  friends.  His  was  the  great  privilege  of  leaning 
on  Jesus'  bosom,*  and  listening  to  the  heart-beatings  of  eternal  mercy 
(Jno.  18  :  23).  In  his  Gospel,  therefore,  in  modest  self-concealment, 
and  at  the  same  time  under  a  sense  of  the  deepest  gratitude,  he  desig- 
nates himself  as  "the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved."''  This  is  probably  a 
significant  paraphrase  and  interpretation  of  his  proper  name,  in  which 
he  saw  a  prophecy  of  this  perfect  friendship,  of  his  enjoyment  of  the 
special  favor  of  Christ,  the  incarnate  Jehovah.^ 

John  showed  his  fidelity  to  the  Lord  in  the  hour  of  his  suffering, 
following  him  with  Peter  into  the  palace  of  the  high-priest  (Jno.  18  : 
19).  He  was  the  only  one  of  all  the  disciples,  who  attended  the  cru- 
cifixion ;  and  to  him,  as  best  fitted  to  take  the  place  of  her  child, 
Jesus  committed  His  mother  (19  :  26).  He  took  Mary  to  his  house 
(v.  27),  and  according  to  tradition  kept  her  till  her  death,  which  is  said 
by  Nicephorus  to  have  taken  place  at  Jerusalem  (according  to  other 
accounts  at  Ephesus)  in  the  year  48,     On  the  morning  of  the  resur- 

'  Hence  he  is  styled  by  the  Greek  church  fathers,  6  eKiaTTJ^ioc,  the  leaner  on  the 
bosom,  or  as  we  would  say  the  bosom  friend,  of  Jesus.  Very  beautifully  says  Augus- 
tine of  the  evangelist,  John  :  "  He  only  poured  forth  the  water  of  life,  which  he  had 
drunk.  For  not  without  reason  is  it  related  of  him  in  his  own  Gospel,  that  he  lay  on 
the  bosom  of  the  Lord  at  the  supper  also.  From  this  bosom  he  quietly  drank ;  and 
what  he  thus  enjoyed  in  secret,  he  has  given  to  the  world  to  partake  of"  {Tract.  36,  in 
Jocmn.). 

'  13  :  23.     19  :  26.     20  :  2.     21  :  7,  20. 

*  Comp.  Jno.  12  :  41  with  Is.  6  :  1. 


398  §  100.      HIS    APOSTOLIC    LABORS.  U-   BOOK. 

rection,  accompanied  again  by  Peter,  he  hastened  to  the  sepulchre  and 
found  it  empty  (20  :  3  sqq.).  The  last  time  he  meets  us  in  the  Gospels 
he  is  on  the  sea  of  Gennesaret  with  six  other  disciples  engaged  in  fish- 
ing the  whole  night  ;  Imt  their  labor  was  all  in  vain,  when  their  risen 
Master  appeared  to  them  and  hel|;ed  them  out  of  their  strait  by  a 
miracle  ;  thus  hinting  to  them,  that,  in  the  apostolic  career  before  them, 
in  the  great  work  of  catching  men,  nothing  could  be  accomplished  by 
mere  human  power,  but  all  depended  on  the  word  of  their  Lord.  The 
difference  between  John  and  Peter  in  their  conduct  on  this  occasion  is 
remarkable.  The  former  at  once  recognizes  the  Lord  with  the  keen 
glance  of  love,  but  remains  quietly  in  the  ship,  certain  of  his  possession 
and  all-absorbed  in  thinking  of  it  ;  while  the  impulsive  Peter,  now  par- 
ticularly restless  under  the  consciousness  of  his  denial  and  his  anxiety 
for  explicit  pardon,  plunges  into  the  waves  and  swims  to  the  feet  of 
Jesus  on  the  shore,  to  reach  him  first  (Jno.  21  :  2  sqq.).  So  the  con- 
templative Mary  in  calm  hope  waited  for  the  Lord  at  home,  while  her 
busy  sister,  Martha,  ran  to  meet  him  and  tell  him  her  grief  (11  :  20). 

§  100.  His  Apostolic  Labors. 

In  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  John  appears,  next  to  Peter,  as  the  most 
important  personage  in  the  first  or  Jewish-Christian  stage  of  the  apos- 
tolic church.  By  reason  of  his  peculiar  temperament,  however,  he  does 
not  come  out  so  prominently  as  Peter  either  by  speech  or  action,  but 
keeps  by  the  side  of  the  senior  apostle  in  silent  contemplation.  With 
Peter  he  heals  the  cripple  (Acts  3  :  1  sqq.)  ;  is  sent  with  him  to  Sama- 
ria, to  confirm  by  the  impartation  of  the  Holy  Ghost  the  Christians 
there  baptized  by  the  deacon,  Philip  (8  :  14  sqq.)  ;  and  thence  returns 
to  Jerusalem.  Here,  in  the  year  50,  he  meets  Paul,  who  had  come  to 
consult  with  the  elder  apostles  on  the  authority  of  the  law  of  Moses. 
Paul  speaks  of  him  and  James  and  Peter  as  apostles  of  the  circumcision, 
and  as  pillars  of  the  church  (Gal.  2  :  1-9).  Thus  far,  then,  John 
seems  to  have  confined  his  labors  to  the  Jews  and  to  Palestine.  Yet  he 
undoubtedly  already  had  in  him  the  germs  of  a  reconciliation  of  Jewish 
and  Gentile  Christianity.  For  we  never  find  the  Judaizers  appealing  to 
him,  as  the  Cephas  party  to  Peter  (1  Cor.  1  :  12),  or  the  still  stricter 
Jewish  Christians  to  James  (Gal.  2  :  12)  ;  nor  have  we  any  hint  of  a 
proper  Johannean  party.  He  stood  above  strife  and  division.  When 
Paul  made  his  last  visit  to  Jerusalem  in  58,  the  favorite  disciple  was  no 
longer  there,  or  Luke  would  certainly  have  mentioned  him  (Acts  21  : 
18)  ;  and  for  his  subsequent  history  we  are  left  to  his  own  writings  and 
the  tradition  of  the  church. 

John  afterwards  fixed  the  permanent  seat  of  his  labor  in  the  renowned 


MISSIONS.]  §  100.      ms   APOSTOLIC   LABORS.  399 

commercial  city  of  Ephesus,  thus  in  one  of  the  most  important  of  Paul's 
congregations.  This  fact  is  placed  beyond  question  by  the  unanimous 
testimony  of  Christian  antiquity  ;'  and  from  the  epistles  of  the  Reve- 
lation (1:11.  c.  2  &  3)  it.  wbuld  appear,  that  he  had  supervision  of 
the  churches  of  Asia  Minor  in  general.  The  time  of  his  removal  to 
Grecian  soil  cannot  be  precisely  determined.  The  most  we  can  say  is, 
that  it  was  not  till  after,  or  at  all  events  not  long  before,  the  death  of 
Paul.  For  in  Paul's  valedictory  to  the  officers  of  the  Ephesian 
churches  at  Miletus  there  is  not  a  syllable  about  John,  nor  in  his 
epistles  to  the  Ephesians  and  Colossians  and  the  second  to  Timothy, 
written  during  his  confinement  in  Rome.  In  all  these  Paul  evidently 
regards  himself  still  as  superintendent  of  the  whole  church  of  Asia 
Minor.  It  was  probably  the  martyrdom  of  the  Apostle  of  the  Gen- 
tiles in  64,  and  the  attendant  dangers  and  distractions  long  anticipated 
by  himself  (Acts  20  :  29,  30),  that  led  John  to  take  this  important 
post,  and  build  his  own  structure  on  the  foundation  laid  by  Paul. 
Where  he  spent  the  interval  between  the  years  50  and  64,  cannot  be 
ascertained.^ 

The  vigorous  life  of  the  second  century,  which  bears  the  impress  of 
John's  influence,  clearly  shows  that  Asia  Minor  was  destined  to  be  the 
main  theatre  of  iixe  church's  action  in  the  next  stadium  of  her  history. 
There  were  collected  all  the  forces  necessary  to  bring  about  a  thorough 
purification, — the  germs  of  the  two  grand  fundamental  heresies,  which 
the  church  was  to  overcome.  On  the  one  hand  the  spirit  of  Pharisaical 
Judaism  threatened  a  new  bondage  to  the  law,  particularly  in  the  Gala- 
tian  churches.  On  the  other  there  arose  from  a  combination  of  heathen 
and  Jewish  elements  a  false  Gnosis,  a  tendency  to  licentious  speculation, 
which  had  been  already  opposed  in  the  epistles  to  Timothy  and  the 
Colossians,  as  also  in  the  second  epistle  of  Peter  and  in  Jude,  and  which 
afterwards  took  a  more  definite  and  tangible  form  in  the  hands  of  Cerin- 
thus,  a  younger  contemporary  of  John.  But  not  only  from  heretics  was 
the  church  in  danger.     The  Jewish  and  Gentile  believers  had  not  yet 

'  Irenceus  (the  disciple  of  Polycarp,  who  was  personally  acquainted  with  John), 
^dv.  Haer.  III.  1,  3,  etc.,  and  his  letter  to  Florinus  in  Eusebius,  H.  E.  V.  20 ;  also 
Clemens  Alex.,  in  his  homily :  quis  dives  salvetur,  c.  42  ;  Apollonius  and  Polycrates 
of  Ephesus  at  the  close  of  the  second  century  (in  Euseb.  V.  18, 24,  and  III.  31) ;  Origen, 
Eusebius,  &c.  Nothing  but  the  crazy  skepticism  of  the  deist,  Liitzelberger,  could  in 
the  face  of  all  this  testimony  pronounce  John'd  residence  at  Ephesus  a  fiction. 

^  The  later  report  of  his  having  carried  the  gospel  to  the  Parthians  must  have  arisen 
from  the  inscription  :  ''  Ad  Parthos,"  on  some  Latin  manuscripts  of  the  first  epistle  of 
John ;  and  this  again  from  a  misunderstanding  of  the  epithet  naq-^evo^  anciently  given 
to  this  apostle  on  account  of  his  celibacy-  Comp.  Liicke :  Comment,  z.  d.  Br.  Joh., 
2nd  ed.  p.  28  sqq. 


400  §  101.     rEKSECimoN  under  DoivmrAN.  L^-  book. 

rightly  grown  together  in  firm,  organic  unity.  The  Jewish  converts  had 
not  yet  ceased  to  look  with  a  certain  suspicion  on  the  liberal  stand  of 
Paul  and  his  disciples  towards  the  law  ;  so  that  Peter  found  it  necessary 
in  his  epistles  to  the  churches  of  that  region  to  assert  his  essential  agree- 
ment in  faith  with  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  (comp.  §  91).  In  this 
critical  state  of  things  John  was  the  very  person  to  check  the  progress 
of  the  dangerous  errors,  and  fundamentally  to  refute  them,  not  in  a 
simply  negative  way,  but  positively  also,  by  meeting  with  truth  the  real 
wants  from  which  they  sprang.  As  a  native  of  Palestine  and  formerly 
one  of  the  apostles  of  the  Jews,  he  had  the  confidence  of  the  Jewish 
Christians  ;  and  his  intellectual  susceptibility  and  plasticity  enabled  him 
readily  to  appropriate  the  Hellenistic  element  and  adapt  himself  to 
Paul's  position.  And  by  thus  reconciling  in  himself  these  two  ground- 
forms  of  apostolical  Christianity,  so  far  as  they  were  but  different 
aspects  of  one  and  the  same  truth,  he  secured  to  the  whole  church  of 
Asia  Minor  that  compact  and  well-fortified  unity  so  needful  to  maintain 
her  against  the  enemies  within,  as  well  as  against  bloody  persecutions 
from  without. 

§  101.  Persecution  lender  Domitian.     Banishment  of  John  to  Patnws. 

In  this  benign  labor,  the  monuments  of  which  stand  before  us  in  his 
Gospel  and  Epistles,  John  was  interrupted  by  the  persecution  under 
Domitian,  to  work  for  the  kingdom  of  God  in  another  way  by  unveiling 
the  mysteries  of  the  future. 

Domitian  succeeded  his  brother  Titus  and  reigned  from  A.  D.  81  to 
his  assassination  in  96.  He  was  totally  unlike  his  predecessor.  He 
made  a  happy  beginning,  but  soon  showed  himself  a  consummate  tyrant, 
not  a  whit  behind  Nero  in  cruelty,  while  he  surpassed  him  in  hypocrisy. 
Just  when  he  seemed  most  friendly  and  condescending,  was  he  most  to 
be  feared  for  his  thirst  for  blood.  He  killed  or  banished  the  most  up- 
right and  distinguished  men,  even  senators  and  consuls,  upon  the  idlest 
pretexts,  when  they  fell  under  his  dark  suspicion,  or  stood  in  the  way  of 
his  insatiable  ambition.  Self-deification  he  carried  to  the  summit  of  blas- 
phemy. He  was  the  first  Roman  emperor  after  Caligula  to  arrogate  the 
name  of  God.  He  began  his  letters  with  the  words  :  "  Our  Lord  and 
God  commands,"  and  required  his  subjects  to  address  him  so.'  ^ay,  he 
put  himself  above  the  gods,  and  ordered  gold  and  silver  statues  of  him- 
self to  be  placed  in  the  holiest  part  of  the  temple,  and  whole  herds  of 
victims  to  be  sacrificed  to  him."     Such  a  man  could  not  but  look  upon 

'  Suetonius  :  Domit.  c.  13  :  "'  Dominus  et  Deus  noster  hoc  fieri  jubet'     Unde  insti- 
tulum  posthac,  ut  ne  scripto  quidem  ac  sermone  cujusquam  appellaretur  aliter." 
2  Pliny :  Pamgyr.  c.  52,  cf.  33. 


f 

MISSIONS.]  BANISHMENT   OF   JOHN   TO   PAlMOS.  401 

the  confessing  of  Christ  as  a  treasonable  offense.  Under  his  reign  many 
Christians  suffered  martyrdom,  among  whom  was  his  own  cousin,  the 
consul  Flavius  Clemens.'  His  jealousy  led  him  also  to  destroy  the  sur- 
viving descendants  of  David,  and  to  bring  two  kinsmen  of  Jesus  from 
Palestine  to  Rome  ;  fearing  their  aspirations,  till  he  convinced  himself, 
that  they  were  poor,  innocent  persons,  from  whom  he  had  uothhig  to 
apprehend.' 

Under  this  emperor  John,  according  to  tradition,  was  banished  to  the 
solitary,  barren,  rocky  island  of  Patraos  (now  Patmo  or  Palmosa)  iu 
the  JEgean  sea,  near  the  coast  of  Asia,  south-west  of  Ephesus.  There 
he  received  the  Revelation  of  the  struggles  and  victories  of  the  church.'" 
That  he  had  the  vision  while  an  exile  on  this  island,  he  himself  informs 
us,  Rev.  1  :  9  :  "I  John,  who  also  am  your  brother,  and  companion  in 
tribulation,  and  in  the  kingdom  and  patience  of  Jesus  Christ,  was  in  the 
isle  that  is  called  Patmos,  for  the  word  of  God,  and  for  the  testimony  of 
Jesus  Christ."  And  that  it  was  in  the  reign  of  Domitian  is  the  almost 
unanimous  testimony  of  Christian  antiquity  ;   with  which  also  the  con- 

'  The  pagan  historian,  Dio  Cassius  (in  the  abridgment  by  Xiphilinus,  67,  14),  says  : 
"  In  the  same  year  Domitian  put  to  death,  besides  many  others,  Flavius  Clemens,  of 
consular  dignity,  though  he  was  his  cousin  and  married  to  Domitilla,  wJio  was  likewise 
related  to  him.  Both  were  charged  with  atheism.  On  this  ground  many  others,  who 
had  strayed  away  to  the  customs  of  the  Jews  (i.  e.  converts  to  Christianity),  were 
condemned.  Some  had  to  die ;  others  were  deprived  of  their  property.  Domitilla 
was  only  banished  to  the  island  of  Pandateria"  (in  the  bay  of  Puteoli,  near  JNuples). 
By  atheism  here  is  no  doubt  to  be  understood  the  denial  of  the  heathen  deities,  the 
Christian  faith.  Comp.  the  passages  in  Gieseler's  Kirchengesch.  I.  1,  p.  135.  Chris- 
tian tradition  places  the  martyrdom  of  Andrew,  Mark,  Onesimus,  and  Dionysius  the 
Areopagite  also  in  the  time  of  Domitian's  persecution. 

'^  Hegesippus,  in  Euseb.  H.  E.  III.  19,  20.  According  to  Tertullian  {De  pracser. 
luier.  c.  36),  John  was  brought  to  Rome  (he  does  not  say  by  what  emperor),  plunged 
into  a  caldron  of  boiling  oil,  and,  unhurt  by  this,  was  banished  to  the  island  of  Patmos 
("ubi — i.  e.  at  Rome — apost.  Joh.,  posteaquam  in  oleum  igneum  demersus  nihil  passus 
est,  in  insulam  relegatur)."  His  being  tortured  in  this  way  is,  indeed,  in  itself  by  no 
means  improbable,  considering  the  unnatural  cruelties  said  by  Tacitus  and  Juvenal  to 
iiave  been  inflicted  on  the  Christians  in  the  Neronian  persecution.  But  as  Tertullian  is 
not  very  discriminating  in  historical  matters,  and  as  the  statement  in  question -is  made 
by  no  one  else  save  Jerome,  and  by  him  on  the  authority  of  Tertullian,  we  cannot 
place  any  reliance  upon  it,  and  are  disposed,  with  many,  to  class  it  at  least  among  exag- 
gerated stories. 

*  At  the  harbor  de  la  Scala  the  grotto  is  still  pointed  out,  where  the  beloved  disciple 
beheld  in  ecstatic  vision  '"on  the  Lord's  day  "  the  future  of  the  church.  Tisrhendorf 
thus  describes  the  island  [Rcisc  inh  Morgenland^  II.  p.  257  sq.  :  "  Silent  lay  the  little 
island  before  me  in  the  morning  twilight.  Here  and  there  an  olive  tree  breaks  the 
monotony  of  the  rocky  waste.     The  sea  was  still  as  the  grave  ;  Patmos  reposed  in  it 

like  a  dead  saint John — that  is  the  thought  of  the  island.     The  island  belongs  to 

him ;  it  is  his  sanctuajy.     Its  stones  preach  of  him,  and  in  every  heart  he  lives." 

26 


402  §  101.       PEKSECUTION    UNDER   DOMITIAN.  [l-  BOOK. 

tents  of  the  book  itself,  riglitly  understood,  are  by  no  means  inconsistent. 
The  oldest  witness  is  Irenaeus,  who  merits  special  regard  as  a  pupil  of 
Polycarp,  who  was  a  personal  friend  of  John.  He  says  explicitly  and 
with  great  confidence,  that  the  revela-tion  was  received  not  long  before, 
in  fact  almost  within  the  limits  of  his  generation  ;  that  is,  towards  the 
end  of  Domitian's  reign.'  With  him  agrees  Eusebius,  who,  in  several 
passages  of  his  Church  History,  on  the  authority  of  ancient  tradition, 
assigns  the  banishment  of  John  to  the  reign  of  this  emperor,  in  his 
Chronicle  to  the  fourteenth  year  of  it  (i,  e.  A.D.  95)  ;  and  places  the 
apostle's  return  to  Ephesus  in  the  reign  of  Nerva.^  So  Jerome"  and 
others.  Two  earlier  witnesses,  Clement  of  Alexandria  and  Origen,  who 
would  come  immediately  after  Irenaeus  in  time,  do  not,  it  is  true,  give 
the  name  of  the  emperor,  who  banished  the  apostle,  but  designate  him, 
the  former  as  a  "  tyrant,'"  the  latter  still  more  indefinitely,  as  "  king  of 
the  Romans.'"  Both  phrases,  however,  suit  Domitian  as  well  as  Nero  ; 
the  expression  "  tyrant"  better,  since  of  all  the  Roman  emperors  Domi- 
tian was  the  most  arrant  despot.  Tacitus  says  of  him,  that  he  "  labored 
not  only  at  intervals,  by  paroxysms,  but  systematically,  to  demolish  the 
commonwealth  as  at  one  blow.'"'  To  him  Eusebius  also  referred  the 
passage  of  Clement.     The  uncritical  and  credulous  Epiphanius  is  the  first 

'  Adv.  haer.  V.  30  :  Oide  yap  irpb  ■Kol'kov  XQovov  iupd'&Tj  (?}  dnoKu2.vipi.g),  dXXd 
aX^^ov  eni  ttjq  tuxete^ if  yevedg,  n pbg  tu  Tt'kei  rriq  Aofieriavov  upxvC- 
Guericke's  hypothesis,  which  contrary  to  all  rules  of  grammar  would  make  AoficTiavov 
an  adjective,  and  refer  it  to  Domitius  Nero  (EM.  ill's  N.  T.  p.  285),  to  reconcile  the 
passage  with  his  present  opinion  respecting  the  date  of  the  Apocalypse  (for  ibrmerly 
in  his  '•  Beitragen  zur  Einl."  p.  55  and  his  "  Fortgesetzten  Beitrtigen,"'  p.  30,  he  had 
advocated  the  true  view),  is  utterly  untenable  in  view  even  of  the  immediately  pre- 
ceding context,  which  does  not  at  all  suit  the  time  of  Nero,  who  lived  a  full  century 
before  Irenaeus  wrote  his  work  against  the  Gnostics.  The  absence  of  the  article  is 
not  in  the  least  agamst  the  word  being  a  substantive;  since  Eusebius,  where  he  con- 
fessedly uses  it  for  Domitian,  likewise  leaves  out  the  article,  H.  E.  HI.  23  :  Mera  r?)v 
Ao/ieriavov  Te2.evT7}v.     So  Philostratus  :    Vita  Apoll.  VII.  4  :   T?7f  Ao/ueriavoi)  (popug 

^  H.  E.  III.  18  :  "  Under  him  (Domitian),  according  to  tradition,  the  then  surviving 
apostle  and  evangelist,  John,  on  account  of  his  testimony  for  the  word  of  God,  was 
condemned  to  dwell  on  the  island  of  Patmos."  Also  III.  20,  23,  and  Chrun.  ad  ann. 
14  Domitiani. 

'^  De  viris  illustr.  c.  9  :  "  Johannes  quarto  decimo  anno  secundam  post  Neronem  per- 
secutionem  movente  Domitiano  in  Patmos  insulam  relegatus  scripsit  Apocalypsin." 

*  Quis  dives  satv.  c.  4'2,  and  in  Euseb.  H.  E.  III.  23  :  'E7re«(5;)  yu^  rov  tv^juvvov 
TE'kevTTiaa.vToq  utto  UuTfiov  t7/c  vrjaov  //eri/MeoJ  «'f  rf/v  "Ecpeaov. 

^  Orig.  ad  Matt.  20  :  22,  23.  0pp.  ed.  de  la  Rue,  III.  720.  Respecting  this  testi- 
mony comp.  the  observations  of  Hengstenberg,  Commentar  uber  die  Offenbarung  den 
hcil.  Joh.  I.  p.  4  sq.,  who  against  the  modern  criticism  ably  defends  the  old  view,  that 
the  book  was  composed  in  the  time  of  Domitian. 

*  Agric.  c.  44.     Comp.  Pliny's  portrait  of  this  "inmanissima  bellua,"  Faneg.  c.  48. 


MISSIONS.]  BANISHMENT    OF   JOHN   TO    FATMOS.  403 

to  deviate  from  this  view.  He  puts  the  banishment  of  John  in  the  reign 
of  Claudius.  But  he  has  no  support  from  any  quarter,  and  has  accord- 
ingly never  been  followed.' 

On  the  other  hand,  the  authority  of  Ewald,  Liicke,  and  Xeander  iu 
modern  times  has  given  considerable  popularity  to  the  view,  that  the 
Apocalypse  (which,  however,  is  not  regarded  by  these  scholars  as  the 
work  of  the  apostle  John)  was  written  in  the  reign  of  Galba,  A.D.  68 
or  69,  soon  after  the  death  of  Nero."  The  only  witness  for  this,  of  any 
account,  is  the  Syriac  translator  of  this  book,^  who  does  not,  however, 
appeal  to  tradition  at  all,  and  probably  founds  his  statement  merely  on 
his  own  view  of  the  contents.  In  either  case  his  authority  bears  no 
comparison  with  that  of  the  much  older  Irenaeus.  And  in  fact  the 
modern  interpreters  determine  the  date  from  evidence  altogether  i?ifer?ia/. 
They  seem  to  find  in  the  Apocalypse  itself  plain  indications,  that  it  must 
have  been  written  before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  (c.  11),  in  lively 
remembrance  of  the  persecution  under  Nero  and  the  burning  of  Rome, 
and  during  the  reign  of  the  sixth  Roman  emperor  (Galba),  before  the 
supposed  return  of  Nero  (to  whom  several  moderns  altogether  erroue- 

^  We  cannot,  therefore,  justify  Dr.  Liicke  and  Dr.  Davidson  in  speaking  of  a  "  vacil- 
lation of  the  church  tradition  concerning  the  date  of  the  exile  and  Apocalypse  "  (  Ver- 
such  einer  vollstdndigen  Einleitung  in  die  Ojfenbar.  Joli.  p.  409).  On  this  point  tradition, 
so  far  as  it  has  any  historical  weight,  is  unanimous.  The  only  deviations  are  individual 
opinions,  which  even  contradict  one  another. 

'  This  was  the  opinion  already  of  Herder  {Maranatka,  p.  207),  who  held  the  Apo- 
calypse to  be  genuine,  but  erroneously  referred  its  contents  to  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem. Of  English  theologians  I  see  that  Dr.  Davidson,  in  his  learned  article  on 
'■^  Revelation  ^^  in  Kitto^s  CyclopcEdia  of  Biblical  Literature,  vol.  II.  p.  621  sq.  (Amer.  ed.), 
adopts  the  false  view  that  the  book  was  written  during  the  reign  of  Nero,  and  is  much 
too  hasty,  when  he  says  :  "  The  tradition  of  the  early  church  in  regard  to  the  banish- 
ment of  John  is  neither  consistent  nor  valuable ;  it  will  not  stand  the  test  of  modern 
criticism.  Hence  the  view  of  those  who  think  that  it  was  manufactured  solely  from 
eh.  1  :  9,  is  exceedingly  probable." 

'  In  the  title  :  "  Revelatio,  quam  Dcus  Joanni  Evangelistae  in  Patmo  insula  dedit,  in 
quam  a  Nernne  Caesare  relegatus  fuerat."  The  Syriac  translation  of  the  Apocalypse, 
however,  iii  wanting  in  the  original  Peshito  and  belongs  to  the  Philoxeniana,  or  rather 
to  its  recension  by  Thomas.  It  therefore  dates  only  from  the  seventh  century, 
according  to  a  Florentine  MS.  from  the  year  622  (comp.  Hug's  Einleit.  m's  N.  T.  I. 
p.  353  sqq.,  and  De  Wette's  Einl.  inh  N.  T".  ^  11.  a.) ;  and  its  isolated  statement  res- 
pecting the  date  of  the  Apocalypse  has,  therefore,  in  reality  no  critical  value  at  all. 
Still  less  regard  is  due  in  this  matter  to  Theophylact  of  the  twelfth  century.  He  evi- 
dently confounds  two  things  entirely  different.  In  his  Commentary  on  John's  Gospel, 
he  takes  the  Gospel  of  John  (not  the  Apocalypse)  to  have  been  composed  in  the  island 
of  Patmos  thirty-two  years  after  the  ascension  of  Christ,  therefore  under  Nero,  whom, 
however,  he  does  not  name  ; — an  opinion  universally  rejected.  How  Guericke  then,  in 
this  connection  (Einl.  p.  285),  can  speak  of  Theophylact  as  a  "discriminating  critic," 
I  cannot  conceive. 


404  §  101.       PERSECUTION    UNDER   DOMITIAN.  [l-  BOOK. 

ously  apply  the  number  666)  in  the  character  of  Antichrist  (c.  1*1). 
But  this  internal  evidence  is  here  the  less  decisive,  liecause  the  inter- 
pretation of  this  mysterious  book  as  a  whole,  and  of  this  section  in  par- 
ticular, is  yet  in  dispute.'  With  fully  as  much,  yea  with  more  right  we 
might  infer  from  the  state  of  the  churches  in  Asia  Minor,  as  described 
in  the  seven  epistles,  and  especially  from  the  existence  of  the  Gnostic 
sect  of  the  Nicolaitans,  that  the  revelation  could  not  have  been  written 
long  before  the  close  of  the  first  century.  Besides,  Nero's  persecution 
falls  not  in  the  year  67,  as  is  so  frequently  assumed  from  the  false  reck- 
oning of  Eusebius,  but  according  to  the  clear  testimony  of  Tacitus  in 
the  year  G4  (comp.  §  88);  was  of  short  duration  ;  and  on  account  of  its 
local  occasion — the  setting  fire  to  the  city  falsely  charged  upon  the 
Christians — was  perhaps  confined  to  Rome.  At  least  there  is  not  the 
slightest  historical  proof,  that  it  extended  to  the  provinces  and  in  parti- 
cular to  Asia  Minor,  until  we  come  to  Orosius  in  the  beginning  of  the 
fifth  century  ;  and  his  testimony  is  of  no  account,  since  he  in  other  mat- 
ters merely  copies  Suetonius.  Finally,  we  know  nothing  of  Nero's  hav- 
ing punished  the  Christians  with  banishment  ;  while  Dio  Cassius  says 
expressly,  that  Domitian  banished  to  Paudateria  his  relative,  Flavia 
Domitilla,  the  wife  of  the  above  named  Clemens  (Eusebius  says  his 
niecG — unless  we  suppose  two  women  of  this  name),  on  account  of  athe- 
ism (u'&Eonic),  that  is,  the  Christian  faith.'' 

In  this  state  of  the  case  we  adhere  to  the  oldest  and  most  prevalent 
view  of  the  date  of  John's  banishment,  and  of  the  date  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse therewith  connected.  Irenaeus  had  the  best  opportunity  to  collect 
authentic  accounts  of  this  fact  from  one,  who,  like  Polycarp,  was  a  per- 
sonal friend  and  pupil  of  the  apostle.  Criticism  of  internal  evidence 
only  wrongs  itself  by  thus  sUghting  the  clear  testimony  of  history  ; 
especially  in  the  interpretation  of  a  book,  the  obscurity  of  which  gives 
double  occasion  for  modesty  and  caution. 

§  102.     John's  Return  to  Epkesus,  and  the  Close  of  his  Life. 

With  the  death  of  the  tyrant,  A.  D.  96,  the  apostle,  after  perhaps  a 
year  or  more  of  exile,  recovered  his  freedom.  The  successor  of  Domi- 
tian, the  just  and  humane  Nerva,  the  first  of  a  series  of  good  emperors, 
recalled  the  exiles,  according  to  Dio  Cassius,  and  put  an  end  to  the  m^ean 

*  Against  this  comp.  Dr.  J.  Chr.  K.  Hofmann's  Weissagung  und  ErfMung  (1841), 
II.  p.  301  sqq..  and,  for  a  detailed  discussion,  the  Commentary  of  Hengstenberg  and 
the  introduction  to  it,  I.  p.  27  sqq. 

-  Dio,  B.  67,  14.  comp.  6S,  1,  and  Euseb.  :  H.  E.  III.  18.  Banishment  was  with 
Domitian  a  favorite  punishnrient.  Tacitus  congratulates  Agricola,  that  he  did  not  live 
to  see  under  this  emperor  "  tot  coiisularium  caedes,  tot  nobilissimarum  feminarum  exilia 
et  fugas'^  {Vit.  j3gr.  c.  44). 


MissioNa.]  §  102.     John's  return  to  ephesus.  '405 

business  of  informers  and  sycophants.  John  now  returned  to  Ephesus, 
into  his  former  field  of  labor,  and  presided  over  the  church  in  Asia  till 
his  death.'  To  these  closing  years  of  his  life  belong  two  characteristic 
anecdotes,  which  bear  the  full  impress  of  truth.'* 

One  is  given  by  Clement  of  Alexandria,  who  wrote  at  the  end  of  the 
second  century.  It  is  an  affecting  testimony  to  the  tender,  devoted 
faithfulness  of  the  aged  pastor.  Having  returned  from  Patmos  to  Eph- 
esus, as  Clement  relates,''  John  visited  the  surrounding  region  to  appoint 
bishops  and  organize  churches.  In  a  town  not  far  from  Ephesus  he  met 
with  a  youth,  whose  beauty  and  ardor  at  once  so  engaged  his  interest, 
that  he  handed  him  over  to  the  bishop  as  an  object  of  very  special  care. 
The  bishop  instructed  him  in  the  gospel,  and  connected  him  with  the 
church  by  holy  baptism.  But  the  pastor  now  relaxing  his  vigilance,  the 
youth,  too  soon  deprived  of  parental  care,  fell  into  bad  company,  and 
even  became  leader  of  a  band  of  robbers,  surpassing  all  his  associates  in 
bloodthirsty  violence.  Some  time  afterwards  John  came  again  to  that 
town,  and  anxiously  inquired  after  the  young  man.  "  Come,"  said  he  to 
the  bishop,  "  give  us  back  the  pledge,  which  I  and  the  Saviour  entrusted 
to  thee  before  the  congregation."  With  a  sigh  the  bishop  answered  : 
"  The  youth  has  apostatized  and  become  a  robber.  Instead  of  being  in 
the  church,  he  now  dwells  with  his  companions  in  a  mountain."  With  a 
loud  cry  the  apostle  rent  his  clothes,  smote  on  his  head,  and  exclaimed  : 
"  O  what  a  guardian  I  placed  over  the  soul  of  my  brother  !"  Taking  a 
horse  and  a  guide,  he  hurried  to  the  retreat  of  the  robbers.  Seized  by 
the  guard  he  made  no  attempt  to  escape,  but  begged  to  be  brought  to 
the  leader,  who,  on  recognizing  John,  fled  for  shame.  The  apostle,  for- 
getting his  age,  pursued  him  with  might  and  main,  crying  :  "  Why  fleest 
thou  from  me,  0  child  !  from  me,  thy  father,  an  unarmed  old  man  ? 
Pity  me,  0  child  !  Be  not  afraid  !  Thou  still  hast  hope  of  life.  I 
will  account  to  Christ  for  thee.  I  will  gladly,  if  need  be,  die  for  thee, 
as  Christ  has  died  for  us.     Stop  1    Believe  that  Christ  has  sent  me." 

'  Clemens  Alex.  1.  c,  and  Euseb.  III.  20,  23.  To  his  superintendence  of  the  church 
of  Asia  Minor  may  no  doubt  refer  the  strange  remark  of  Polycrates  in  Eusebius  (v. 
24),  that  John  wore  the  petalon,  the  diadem  of  the  Jewish  high  priest.  Perhaps  he 
was  regarded  as  the  Christian  high  priest,  because  in  the  Apocalypse  he  entered  farther 
than  any  other  into  the  mysteries  of  the  heavenly  sanctuary. 

''  Other  stories,  on  the  contrary,  must  be  referred  to  the  provinre  of  fable  ;  as,  for  in- 
stance, that  John  destroyed  the  famous  temple  of  Diana  (Nicephoruc  T.  E  U.  42) ;  and 
that  shortly  before  his  death  he  drank  a  bowl  of  poison  without  harm  "^rst  in  Augus- 
tine's Solitoquiis).  This  last  act  is  ascribed  by  Papias  (in  Eus.  III.  39)  also  to  Joses 
Barnabas :  and  this  account  may  rest  on  Mk.  16  :  18,  and  Matt.  20  :  23. 

'  Qids  dives  salv.  c.  42,  and  in  Eus.  III.  23-  This  beautitul  legend  has  been  thrown 
into  a  poem  by  Herder,  with  the  title  :  Der  gerettete  Jangling. 


406  §  102.    John's  kettjen  to  ephesus  [i-  book. 

These  words  were  like  swords  to  the  soul  of  the  unhappy  man.  He 
stopped,  threw  down  his  instruments  of  murder,  and  began  to  tremble 
and  weep  bitterly.  When  the  aged  apostle  came  up,  the  youth  clasped 
his  knees,  prayed  with  strong  lamentation  for  pardon,  and  with  his  tears 
of  repentance,  as  it  were,  baptized  himself  a  second  time.  The  apostle 
assured  him,  that  he  had  obtained  forgiveness  for  him  from  the  Saviour, 
fell  upon  his  knees,  and  kissed  his  hand.  He  then  led  him  back  to  the 
congregation,  and  there  prayed  earnestly  with  him  and  labored  with  him 
in  fastuig,  and  exhorted  him,  till  he  was  able  to  return  him  to  the  church 
as  an  example  of  thorough  conversion. 

Another  incident,  equally  touching,  is  related  by  Jerome  in  the  course 
of  his  exposition  of  Galatians.  In  his  extreme  old  age  John  was  too 
weak  to  go  into  the  assembly,  and  had  to  be  carried.  Unable  to  deliver 
long  discourses,  he  simply  said  :  "  Little  children,  love  one  another." 
When  asked  why  he  continually  repeated  this  oue  exhortation,  he 
replied,  "  Because  this  is  the  command  of  the  Lord,  and  enough  is  done 
if  this  one  command  be  obeyed." — Assuredly  so.  For  as  God  himself  is 
love,  love  to  Him  and  to  the  brethren  is  the  essence  and  sum  of  religion 
and  morality,  the  fulfilling  of  the  law  and  the  prophets,  the  bond  of  'per- 
fectness. 

All  the  old  accounts  agree  in  the  statement,  that  John  lived  down  into 
the  reign  of  the  emperor  Trajan,  who  ascended  the  throne  A.  D.  98  ; 
and  that  he  died  a  natural  death  in  Ephesus  at  the  advanced  age  of 
ninety  years  or  upwards.'  While  most  of  his  colleagues  were  baptized 
with  the  bloody  baptism  of  martyrdom,  this  aged  youth  passed  along  in 
heavenly  peace  through  the  tribulations  of  the  primitive  church  and 
softly  fell  asleep  on  the  bosom  of  love.'  A  misunderstanding  of  the 
enigmatical  language  of  Jesus,  Jno.  21  :  22  :  "  If  I  will  that  he  tarry 
till  I  come,  what  is  that  to  thee  ?"  gave  rise  to  the  rumor,  that  John 
was  not  really  dead,  but  only  asleep,  moving  the  mound  over  his  grave 
with  his  breathing,  awaiting  the  final  advent  of  the  Lord.'     His  writings 

^  So  Irenaeus,  Eiisebius,  Jerome,  and  others.  The  latter  {De  vir.  ill.  c.  9)  says  of 
John  :  ''  Sub  Nerva  principe  redit  Ephesum,  ibique  usque  ad  Trajanunn  principem  per- 
severans  totas  Asiae  fundavit  rexitque  ecclesias,  et  confectus  senio  anno  sexagesimo  octa- 
vo post  passioneni  Domini  (i.  e.  A.  D.  100,  as  this  father  places  Christ's  death  in  32) 
mortuus  juxta  eandem  urbem  sepultus  est." 

"  When  the  Ephesian  bishop,  Polycrates.  in  Euseb.  H.  E.  III.  31.  V.  24,  calls  John 
a  "  martyr,"  he  must  refer  either  to  his  preaching  of  the  gospel  or  (as  <5f(5aff/caAof  im- 
mediately follows)  to  his  banishment  to  Patmos.  To  reconcile  the  above  tradition 
with  the  Lord's  prediction  respecting  the  fate  of  the  sons  of  Zebedee,  Matt.  20  :  23, 
Jerome,  on  this  passage,  calls  to  his  aid  Tertullian's  story  of  John's  harmless  immer- 
sion in  boiling  oil,  in  which  the  apostle  showed  the  disposition  of  a  martyr,  and  drank 
the  calix  confessionis. 

Augusime  mentions  this  story,  but  contradicts  it  in  Tract.  224  in  Evang.  Joann. 


MISSIONS.]  AND   THE   CLOSE    OF   HIS   LIFE.  407 

certainly  perpetuate  his  life  and  influence  eternally,  and  the  perfect 
understanding  of  them  seems  to  have  a  special  connection  with  the 
future  completion  of  the  church  and  her  preparation  to  receive  her  heav- 
enly bridegroom  ;  as  they  close,  in  fact,  with  the  significant  assurance 
and  prayer  (Rev.  22  :  20)  ;  "  Surely  I  come  quickly  ;  Amen.  Even  so 
come,  Lord  Jesus." 

§  103.  Character  of  John. 
Let  us  now  endeavor  to  form,  from  the  testimonies  of  history,  and 
above  all  from  the  writings  of  John,  a  picture  of  his  genius  and  religious 
character.  The  theoretical  and  practical  talents,  which  the  Creator 
gives  man  as  his  dowry,  are  not  destroyed  by  the  action  of  regenerating 
grace,  but  only  purged  of  all  admixture  of  sin,  consecrated  to  the  ser- 
vice of  God,  and  thus  first  brought  to  full  maturity.  John  is  unques- 
tionably one  of  the  highly-gifted  natures,  endowed  with  a  delicate,  con- 
templative mind,  lively  feeling,  glowing  imagination,  and  a  tender,  lovely 
heart.  Every  talent  and  trait  of  character,  however,  is  accompanied  by 
its  corresponding  sinful  tendency,  and  exposed  to  a  particular  abuse. 
The  apostle's  contemplative  turn,  in  a  bad  school,  might  easily  have  led 
him  off  into  the  cloudy  regions  of  a  false  mysticism,  or  a  visionary,  pan- 
theistic speculation,  which  would  confound  God  and  the  world.  But, 
anointed  by  faith,  which  fixed  his  intuition  on  the  Eternal  Word  incar- 
nate, this  gift  became  a  holy  wisdom,  opening  to  our  view  the  depths  of 
God's  heart,  and  his  purposes  of  love  towards  mankind.  In  his  inter- 
course with  the  personal  Truth,  John  became  the  corypheus  of  Christian 
philosophers,  a  representative  of  divinely-inspired  knowledge  ;  pre-emi- 
nently the  "Theologos."  He  knew  how  to  communicate  in  the  most 
simple,  childlike  dress  the  profouudest  truths,  which  furnish  the  maturest 
thinkers  inexhaustible  material  for  study.  The  symbol,  by  which  the 
church  has  represented  him,  is  the  eagle,  boldly  and  joyfully  soaring  into 
the  highest  regions  ;  and  hence  the  genial  Raphael  has  represented  him 
as  resting  on  eagle's  wings  and  looking  with  intrepid  gaze  into  the 
heights  of  heaven.  By  this  significant  emblem  would  the  church  set 
forth  the  keen  discernment,  the  far-reaching  prophetic  power,  the  bold 
flight,  and  the  noble,  imposing  strength  of  the  mind  of  John.' 

According  to  another  legend  (in  Photius,  Myriobibl.  cod.  229,  and  in  Pseudo-Hippoly- 
tus  :  De  consunimatione  mundi,  comp.  Lampe's  Comment,  in  Evang.  Jo.  t.  I.  p.  98)  John 
(lied,  indeed,  but  was  immediately  raised  again  from  the  grave,  translated  like  Enoch 
and  Elias,  and  with  these  saints  of  the  old  Testament  will  appear  as  the  herald  of  the 
visible  return  of  Christ  and  the  antai^onist  of  Antichrist,  as  John  the  Baptist  prepared 
the  way  for  the  first  coming  of  the  Lord. 

*  Jerome  {Comment   ad  Matth.  Promm.)  observes:  "  Quarta  aquilae  (facies,  comp. 
Ezek.  1  :  10),  Joannem  (sigrificat),  quia  sumtis  pennis  aquilae  et  ad  altiora  festinans  do 


408  §  103.     CHAKACTEE   OF   JOHN.  [l-  BOOK. 

In  his  moral  character  John,  like  his  colleagues,  in   spite  of  all  his 
noble  virtues,  was  of  course  not  sinless.     Such  delicately-formed,  loving 
souls  are  commonly  inclined  to  sensitiveness,  envy,  refined  self-love,  and 
vanity.      A  certain  jealousy  reveals    itself  in  his  conduct  recorded  in 
Luke  9  :  49,  50,  and  Mk.  9  :  38-40  ;  and  his  prayer  to  the  Lord  for 
the  highest  ])lace,  a  minister's  post  as  it  were,  in  the  Messianic  kingdom 
(Mk.  10  :  35),  betrays  the  workings  of  ambition.     Particularly  impor- 
tant is  the  incident  related  by  Luke,  c.  9  :  51-56.     When  the  inhabi- 
tants of  a  Samaritan  village  refused  to  receive  Jesus,  the  brothers,  John 
and  James,  broke  forth  in  the  angry  words  :  "  Lord,  wilt  thou  that  we  com- 
mand fire  to  come  down  from  heaven,  and  consume  them,  even  as  Elias 
did  ?"     Here  is  plainly  a  precipitate,  carnal  zeal,  an  impure  spirit  of 
revenge,  which  confounded  the  New  Testament  position  with  the  Old, 
and  forgot  that  the  Son  of  Man  had  come,  not  to  destroy  men's  lives, 
but  to  save  them.     From  this,  however,  we  see,  that  John  by  no  means 
had,  as  is  often  represented,  a  weak,  sentimental  nature.     His  love  was 
always  deep  and  strong,  and  might,  therefore,  easily  turn  into  equally 
violent  hatred  ;  for   hatred  is   inverted   love.     Probably  the   surname 
"sons  of  thunder,"  which  Jesus  gave  the  sons  of  Zebedee  (Mk.  3  :  17), 
has  reference  to  this  trait  of  character,  and  denotes  that  intensity  of 
feeling,  that  vehemence  of  affection,  which  might  easily  vent  itself  in 
bursts  of  anger  like  that  just  noticed.     An  ardent  nature  passionately 
grasps  the  object  of  its  love,  but  repels  with  equal  violence  whatever  is 
hostile  to  it.     So  long  as  this  temper  was  not  purified  and  softened  by 
the  divine  Spirit,  it  might,  like  the  heavy,  crashing  thunder,  work  de- 
struction.    Jesus,  therefore,  in  giving  John  that  surname,  rebuked  his 
inconsiderate  zeal  and  carnal  passion,  and  gave  him  a  significant  hint  to 
curb  his  natural  disposition,  and  purge  his  ardor  of  all  sinful  admixtures. 
But  subjected  to   the  discipline  and  direction  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  this 
temper  might,  like  every  sanctified  natural  talent,  accomplish  great  and 
glorious  things  in  the  kingdom  of  God.     In  this  view  the  title,  "  sons 
of  thunder,"  implies  something  honorable.     The  same  thunder,  which  at 
one  time  destroys,  at  another  purifies  the  air,  and  with  its  accompanying 
showers  fructifies  the  earth.'     All  that  was  true  and  good,  therefore,  in 

verbo  Dei  disputat." — An  old  epigram  says  of  John  :  "  More  volans  aquilae  verbo  petit 
astra  Joannes  ;"  and  a  medieval  hymn  sings  of  him  : 
"  Volat  avis  sine  meta, 
Quo  nee  vates  nee  propheta 
Evolavit  alfius. 
Tam  implenda,  quam  impleta, 
Numquam  vidit  totsecreta 
Purus  homo  purius." 
'  The  Greek  fathers  are  incorreet  in  referring  the  appellation  Boavegyeg,  or  viol 


MISSIONS.]  §   103.     CIIAKACTEK    OF    JOHN.  409 

that  zeal,  remained  in  the  regenerate  John  ;  the  moral  energy,  for  in- 
stance, and  decision,  with  which  he  loved  good  and  hated  evil.  The 
natural  disposition  was  cleansed  from  all  sinful  passion,  softened,  and 
made  subservient  to  the  will  of  God.  In  the  Apocalypse  the  thunder 
rolls  loud  and  mighty  against  the  enemies  of  the  Lord  and  his  bride. 
In  the  Gospel  and  Epistles,  it  is  true,  the  gentle,  quiet  breeze  prevails  ; 
but  here  also  the  storm  lowers  at  least  in  the  distance,  in  the  desci'iption 
of  the  judgment  of  the  Son  of  Man  (Jno.  5  :  25-30).  With  what  holy 
horror  does  the  apostle  speak  of  the  traitor,  and  of  the  rising  rage  of 
the  Pharisees  against  their  Messiah  I  He  represents  the  Lord  as  call- 
ing the  Jews,  who  had  murderous  designs  upon  him,  children  of  the 
devil,  without  qualification  (8  :  44).  He  himself  terms  every  one  who 
does  not  confirm  his  Christian  profession  by  holy  conduct,  a  liar  (1  Jno. 
1  :  6,  8,  10)  ;  every  one  who  hates  his  brother,  a  murderer  (3  :  15)  ; 
every  one  who  wilfully  sins,  a  child  of  the  devil  (3  :  8).  How  earnestly 
and  decidedly  does  he  warn  men  of  every  denier  of  the  incarnation  of 
Christ,  as  of  a  liar  and  Antichrist  (2  :  18  sqq.  4  :  1  sqq.).  Nay,  in  his 
second  epistle,  v.  10  and  11,  he  forbids  even  the  saluting  an  errorist  or  re- 
ceiving him  into  the  house.  In  view  of  these  passages,  there  is  nothing  at 
all  improbable  in  the  narrative  of  Irenseus,'  that  when  the  aged  apostle 
once  met  the  Gnostic  errorist,  Cerinthus,  in  a  public  bath,  he  immedi- 
ately left  the  place,  saying,  he  feared  the  building  might  fall  to  pieces, 
because  Cerinthus,  the  enemy  of  the  truth,  was  in  it. 

If  we  only  do  not  think  of  the  character  of  John  as  unmanly  and 
soft,  after  the  fashion  of  sentimental  romance-writers,  we  shall  have  no 
difficulty  in  reconciling  these  apparently  conflicting  traits  of  glowing 
love  and  consuming  wrath,  heavenly  mildness  and  thundering  zeal.°  It 
was  one  and  the  same  disposition  which  revealed  itself  in  both  cases, 
only  in  opposite  directions  ;  at  one  time  embracing  the  divine,  at  another 
repelling  the  ungodly  and  antichristian  ;  as  the  same  sun  gives  light  and 
warmth  to  the  living,  and  hastens  the  decay  of  the  dead.  He  who 
places  Christian  love  in  a  good-natured  indulgence  towards  sin,  entirely 

jigovTyQ  (from  133  and  1:33^)  to  the  striking  presentation  of  profound  ideas,  the  con- 
vincing power  of  eloquence.  Then  the  title  would  be  only  honorable,  involve  no  cen- 
sure, and  stand  in  no  sort  of  connection  with  the  fact,  Lu.  9  :  51-56. 

'■  Adv.  Haer.  III.  3.     Comp.  Euseb.  III.  28,  and  IV.  14. 

*  We  have  an  interesting  psychological  parallel  in  the  church  historian,  Neander, 
who  has  been  frequently,  and  not  without  reason,  connpared  with  John.  This  divine 
is  well  known  to  have  been  uncommonly  mild,  and  often  to  have  gone  too  far  in  his 
liberality  and  lenity  towards  different  and  even  decidedly  erroneous  views  of  Christi- 
anity. And  yet,  against  certain  phenomena  of  our  age,  particularly  the  philosophy  of 
Hegel  and  his  followers,  he  showed  a  repulsive  severity  and  bitterness,  and  in  his 
private  intercourse  with  his  pupils  took  every  opportunity  to  warn  them  against  the 
"  Moloch  of  modern  pantheism." 


410  §    103.       CHARACTER   OF   JOHN.  [l-  BOOK. 

mistakes  its  true  spirit,  and  only  ruins  the  moral  character  of  him 
towards  whom  he  shows  this  false  forbearance.  The  more  ardently  a 
mother  loves  her  child,  the  more  carefully  will  she  watch  and  punish  his 
faults,  that  he  may  grow  more  and  more  lovely.  The  more  glowing  and 
unreserved  a  man's  love  to  God,  the  more  decided  and  inflexible  will  be 
his  hatred  of  the  devil  and  of  all  wickedness. 

If  we  compare  John  with  Peter,  we  find,  that  with  all  their  unity 
of  faith  and  love  they  exhibit  the  glorified  image  of  God  in  very  dif- 
ferent aspects.  Peter  is  made  for  outward,  practical  activity,  for  organ- 
izing and  superintending  the  church  ;  John,  with  his  pensive,  profoundly 
meditative  turn,  is  fitted  for  promoting  the  inward  life  of  knowledge  and 
love  in  congregations  already  established.  In  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
we  find  both  at  the  head  of  the  infant  church  ;  but  Peter  towers  far 
above  John  in  commanding  energy.  It  is  Peter  who  comes  forth  as  the 
awakening  preacher,  the  mighty  wonder-worker,  the  pioneer  and  prince 
of  the  apostles.  The  disciple  of  love,  in  mysterious  silence,  stands 
modestly  at  his  side,  yet  imposingly ;  for  one  feels  that  he  bears  in  his 
silent  soul  a  whole  world  of  thought,  which  he  will  yet  in  proper  time 
and  place  reveal.  While  Peter  and  Paul  had  the  gifts  for  planting, 
John,  like  Apollos,  had  the  talents  for  watering.  To  him  the  Head 
of  the  church  committed  not  the  work  of  founding,  but  that  of  finishing. 
As  his  Gospel,  both  in  its  date  and  character,  presupposes  the  three 
others,  so  his  writings  in  general,  to  be  fully  understood,  call,  with  all 
their  childlike  simplicity,  for  a  high  degree  of  Christian  knowledge.  In 
temperament,  Peter  is  sanguine,  with  a  strong  infusion  of  the  choleric  ; 
hence  excitable,  quick  in  deciding,  imperious,  passionate,  not  always  per- 
severing and  reliable,  because  determined  by  momentary  impressions  ;  a 
man  of  the  present,  ready  for  immediate  speech  and  action.  John  is 
melancholic,  therefore  not  so  quickly  but  all  the  more  deeply  moved, 
clinging  with  the  strongest  affection  to  the  object  of  his  love,  little  con- 
cerned about  the  world  without,  lingering  musingly  in  the  past,  a  mas- 
ter in  knowledge  and  love.  Both  disciples  loved  the  Lord  with  all  the 
heart,  but,  as  Grotius  finely  remarks,  Peter  was  more  a  friend  of  ChnM 
{(pMxgcoTog),  John  of  Jesus  {(^iloujaovc:)  ;  that  is,  the  one  revered  and 
loved  the  Saviour  chiefly  in  his  official.  Messianic  character  ;  the  other 
was  attached  most  of  all  to  his  person,  and  was,  therefore,  personally 
still  nearer  to  him,  being,  so  to  speak,  his  bosom  friend.  Then  again, 
the  love  of  the  former  was  more  active  and  masculine,  that  of  the  latter 
more  receptive  and  virgin-like.  Peter  took  greatest  delight  in  acting 
out  his  love  to  the  Lord  ;  John,  in  having  himself  loved  by  Ilim,  and 
in  the  consciousness  that  he  was  so  loved.  Hence  he  so  often  styles 
himself  the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved.     Among  the  female  characters 


MISSIONS.]  §  104.      WEITINGS   OF   JOHN.  411 

of  the  New  Testament,  we  find  precisely  the  same  relation  between  the 
practical  Martha,  careful  and  troubled  about  many  things,  and  the  con- 
templative Mary,  forgetting  the  outward  world  and  joyfully  reposing  in 
the'  love  of  Jesus,  the  one  thing  needful.  Yet  both  have  the  approval 
of  the  Lord  ;  both  are  equally  necessary  in  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  and 
the  absence  of  either  of  these  characters  would  essentially  mar  the  com- 
plete New  Testament  picture  of  the  Christian  life. 

John  and  l*aul  have  depth  of  knowledge  in  common.  They  are  the 
two  apostles  who  have  left  us  the  most  complete  systems  of  doctrine. 
But  they  know  in  different  ways.  Paul,  educated  in  the  schools  of  the 
Pharisees,  is  an  exceedingly  acute  thinker  and  an  accomplished  dialec- 
tician. He  sets  forth  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  in  a  systematic 
scheme,  proceeding  from  cause  to  effect,  from  the  general  to  the  par- 
ticular, from  premise  to  conclusion,  with  logical  clearness  and  precision. 
He  is  a  representative  of  genuine  scholasticism  in  the  best  sense  of  the 
terra.  John's  knowledge  is  that  of  intuition  and  contemplation.  He 
gazes  with  his  whole  soul  upon  the  object  before  him,  surveys  all  as  in 
one  picture,  and  thus  presents  the  profoundest  truths  as  an  eye-witness, 
not  by  a  course  of  logical  demonstration,  but  immediately  as  they  lie  in 
reality  before  him  His  knowledge  of  divine  things  is  the  deep  insight 
of  love,  which  ever  fixes  itself  at  the  centre  and  thence  surveys  all 
points  of  the  circumference  at  once.  He  is  the  representative  of  all 
true  mysticism.  Both  these  apostles  together  meet  all  the  demands  of 
the  mind  thirsting  for  wisdom  ;  of  the  keenly-dissecting  understanding, 
as  well  as  the  speculative  reason,  which  comprehends  what  is  thus 
analyzed  in  its  highest  unity  ;  of  mediate  reflection  as  well  as  immediate 
intuition.  Paul  and  John,  in  their  two  grand  systems,  have  laid  the 
eternal  foundations  of  all  true  theology  and  philosophy  ;  and  their  writ- 
ings, now  after  eighteen  centuries  of  study,  are  still  unfathomed. 

Not  inaptly  has  Peter  been  styled  the  apostle  of  hope  ;  Paul,  the 
apostle  of  faith  ;  and  John,  the  apostle  of  love.  The  first  is  the  repre- 
sentative of  Catholicism  ;  the  second,  of  Protestantism  ;  the  third,  of 
the  ideal  church,  in  which  this  great  antagonism  shall  resolve  itself  into 
perfect  harmony. 

§  104.  The  Writings  of  John. 
The  labors  and  influence  of  John  undoubtedly  related  more  or  less  to 
all  the  departments  of  religious  life,  even  upon  government  and  worship, 
as  we  learn  from  the  scattered  testimonies  of  the  second  and  third  cen- 
turies. But  they  were  mainly  concerned  with  the  living  knowledge  of 
the  holiest  mysteries  of  our  faith,  especially  the  incarnation  and  divinity 
of  Christ.     And  hence  he  is  called  by  the  Greek  fathers  the  "theolo- 


412  §  104.      WRITINGS    OF   JOHN.  [l-   BOOK, 

gian"  by  eminence.  His  writings  have  very  little  to  do  with  the  out- 
ward form,  the  constitution  and  usages  of  the  church.  On  the  contrary, 
they  present  an  inexhaustible  mass  of  ideas,  not  logically  drawn  out, 
but  only  sketched  in  a  few  masterly  strokes — a  thoroughly  original  con- 
ception and  representation  of  Christianity,  from  which  a  peculiar  system 
and  school  of  theology  must  arise.  In  them  the  church,  planted  by 
Peter  among  the  Jews,  and  by  Paul  among  the  Gentiles,  plunges  into 
the  depths  of  her  life,  refreshes  herself  with  the  blissful  contemplation 
of  the  theanthropic  glory  of  her  heavenly  bridegroom,  and  with  holy 
longing  adorns  herself  to  receive  him.  As  we  speak  of  a  Petrine  and  a 
Pauline  period  and  tendency  in  the  apostolic  church,  so  we  may  speak 
also  of  a  Johannean,  though  it  is  not  so  sharply  defined.  Over  the  last 
forty  years  of  the  first  century,  which  comprise  the  peculiar  labors  of  this 
apostle  and  the  composition  of  his  writings,  there  hangs  a  mysterious 
veil.  It  is  with  them  as  with  those  forty  days  between  the  resurrection 
and  ascension,  when  the  Lord  hovered,  as  it  were,  between  earth  and 
heaven  ;  was  near  his  people,  yet  far  away  ;  discernible  by  the  senses, 
yet,  like  a  departed  spirit,  able  to  enter  a  room  where  the  doors  were 
shut ;  ate  and  drank  with  his  disciples,  yet  no  longer  needed  earthly 
food.  The  Johannean  period,  which  may  be  dated  from  the  death  of 
the  two  other  leading  apostles,  that  is,  from  the  Nerouian  persecution, 
A.  D.  64,  presupposes  the  activity  of  Peter  and  Paul,  brings  together 
the  results  of  their  labors  in  a  higher  unity,  and  forms  the  transition  to 
the  next  age,  in  which  the  church  is  left  more  to  herself  to  develop  the 
contents  of  revelation  according  to  the  laws  of  human  nature.  The 
theology  of  the  second  and  third  centuries  does  not  work  much  with. 
Paul's  doctrines  of  sin  and  grace,  of  faith  and  justification.  The  fathers, 
on  the  contrary,  and  the  Catholic  church,  except  the  school  of  Augus- 
tine, leave  these  so  far  in  the  back-ground  as  finally  to  call  for  the 
Reformation.  The  age  after  the  apostles,  and  the  whole  Greek  church 
starts  rather  from  John's  fundamental  ideas  of  the  incarnation  of  the 
Logos  and  the  divine  human  nature  of  the  Redeemer,  using  them  as  its 
weapons  against  the  Gnostic  errors,  which  afterwards  grew  into  formal 
systems  and  overspread  all  Christendom.  Irena;us  and  other  church  fathers 
supposed,  that  John  himself  wrote  against  the  Judaizing  Gnostics  and 
Docetists,  particularly  Cerinthus  and  the  Nicolaitans  (comp.  Rev.  2  :  6, 
15).  In  his  Gospel  we  observe  no  certain,  direct  marks  of  this,  except 
perhaps  in  the  introduction.  For  much  that  has  been  referred  to  a 
polemical  design,  such  passages,  for  instance,  as  19  :  34.  20  :  20,  2t, 
may  be  satisfactorily  explained  otherwise.  Unquestionably,  however,  is 
the  fourth  Gospel  a  most  effectual,  indirect  and  positive  refutation  of  all 
the  fundamental  heresies  in  Christology,  whether  springing  from  Judaism 


MISSIONS.]  §  105.      THE   GOSPEL   OF  JOHN.  413 

or  heathenism  ;  for  it  unfolds  the  infallible  truth  and  the  objective 
reality  of  the  theanthropic  life  of  Jesus  Christ.  In  John's  epistles  we 
cannot  mistake  also  a  direct  reference  to  the  Gnostic  Docetists  who 
denied,  or  resolved  into  a  mere  appearance,  the  central  mystery  of 
Christianity,  the  Incarnation,  the  real,  abiding  union  of  Deity  and 
humanity  in  the  person  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  Cerinthus,  for  example, 
affirmed,  that  the  divine  element,  or  the  Messiah,  first  united  itself  out- 
wardly with  the  man  Jesus  at  his  baptism  in  the  Jordan,  and  forsook 
him  again  at  the  beginning  of  his  passion.  By  this  theory,  he  virtually 
annulled  the  mediatorship  of  Jesus,  the  reality  of  the  atonement,  and 
the  whole  objective,  historical  character  of  Christianity.  This  is  the 
Antichrist,  then  already  present  in  many  forms,  against  which  the  apos- 
tle so  earnestly  warns  his  flock.'  But  of  this  heresy,  and  of  the  doc- 
trinal contents  of  John's  writings  in  general,  we  must  speak  more  at 
large  under  the  head  of  theology.  Here  we  have  to  do  properly  only 
with  the  outward  relations,  the  historical  frame-work,  of  the  books  in 
question. 

§  105.   The  Gospel  of  John. 

This  most  vivid  and  profound  picture  of  the  incarnate  Son  of  God  and 
his  eternal  glory  as  it  beamed  from  the  servant  form,  full  of  grace  and 
truth,  is,  according  to  Irenaeus  and  other  church  fathers, °  the  last  of  all 
the  Gospels,  and  was  written  at  Ephesus  ;  and  this  statement  is  con- 
firmed by  internal  evidence.  For  the  narrative  of  John  implies  the 
existence  of  the  first  three  Gospels  ;  explains  localities  in  Palestine  and 
Hebrew  expressions  and  customs  for  Gentile-Christian  readers ;  and 
stands  at  the  summit  of  the  development  of  the  apostolic  church  and 
theology.  All  this  points  with  tolerable  certainty  to  the  last  thirty 
years  of  the  first  century.  But  here  we  shall  perhaps  be  obliged  to 
stop.  For  the  marks,  which  have  been  used  to  fix  the  date  more 
accurately,  do  not  furnish  a  demonstration.' 

»  1  Jno.  2  :  18,  19,  22,  23.     4:3.     2  Jno.  7  sqq. 

"  Iren. :  Adv.  haer.  III.  1.  Clemens  Alex,  in  Eus.  VI.  14.  Eusebius  himself,  III. 
24.     Jerome  :  De  vir.  ill.  c.  9,  &c. 

'  Thus  some  commentators  on  Jno.  5  :  2,  where  the  sheep-gate  and  the  pool  of 
Bethesda  are  spoken  of  as  still  existing  (ttrri),  have  inferred  that  this  Gospel  must  have 
been  written  before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  But  aside  from  the  facts  that  the 
pool  was  still  pointed  out  in  the  time  of  Eusebius,  and  that  there  may  very  well  have 
remained  some  ruins  of  the  gate,  the  use  of  the  present  tense  in  historical  narrative  is 
sufficiently  accounted  for  by  the  effort  after  vivid  representation.  Still  less  does  the 
prophecy  of  the  martyrdom  of  Peter,  21  :  19,  imply  that  this  apostle  was  still  living; 
■while  the  succeeding  verses,  20-23,  point  rather  to  a  later  time.  On  the  other  hand, 
from  such  passages  as  11  :  18.  18  :  1.  19  :  41,  where  the  evangelist  speaks  of  locali- 
ties about  Jerusalem  in  the  past  {tjv)  ,  some  have  drawn  the  conclusion  that  he  wrote 


414  §  105.      THE   GOSPEL   OF   JOHN.  [l-  BOOK. 

The  design  of  the  fourth  Gospel,  as  expressly  stated  by  the  author,  is 
to  lead  its  readers  to  faith  ia  the  Messiahship  and  divinity  of  Jesus,  and 
thereby  to  the  possession  of  eternal  life.  The  church  fathers  attributed 
to  it  also  other  secondary  objects,  such  as  the  refutation  of  the  Gnostics 
and  Ebionites  (which,  however,  is  not  immediately  and  clearly  appa- 
rent), and  the  furnishing  of  a  supplement  to  the  synoptical  Gospels. 
John  certainly  leaves  unnoticed  many  very  important  sections  of  the 
history,  which  he  might  presume  were  already  familiar  from  oral  tradi- 
tion and  the  other  Gospels  ;  as,  for  instance,  the  childhood  of  Jesus  ; 
his  baptism,  to  which,  however,  he  alludes  in  c.  1  :  33  sqq.  ;  his  tempta- 
tion and  transfiguration  ;  the  healing  of  the  demoniacs  ;  the  sermon  on 
the  mount,  and  the  popular  parables  respecting  the  kingdom  of  God  ; 
the  institution  of  baptism,  the  idea  of  which,  however,  is  for  the  first 
time  set  forth  in  the  conversation  with  Xicodemus  on  regeneration  by 
water  and  the  Spirit,  3  :  1  sqq.  ;  the  institution  of  the  Lord's  Supper, 
which  is  merely  touched  (13  :  1  sqq.),  though  it  aifords  the  only 
proper  explanation  of  the  similitude  of  the  vine,  c.  15,  as  well  as  of  the 
mystic  language  respecting  the  eating  and  drinking  of  the  flesh  and 
blood  of  Christ,  c.  6  :  51-58  ;  and  the  ascension  (comp.  20  :  17). 
In  place  of  these  John  gives  us  the  two  greatest  miracles,  the  turning 
of  water  into  wine  and  the  raising  of  Lazarus,  along  with  the  most  pro- 
found discourses  of  the  Saviour,  especially  his  parting  address  and 
mediatorial  prayer  (c.  13-17),  not  to  be  found  in  the  three  preceding 
Gospels.  We  should  not  regard  John,  however,  as  attempting  to 
correct  the  other  evangelists,  or  merely  to  furnish  a  supplement  to  them. 
This  idea  is  at  once  contradicted  by  his  having  many  points  in  common 
with  them  ;  as  the  miraculous  feeding  of  the  multitude,  and  most  of  the 
scenes  in  the  history  of  the  passion.  His  work  is  all  one  effusion,  and, 
though  it  serves  as  a  valuable  complement  to  the  other  Gospels,  is  yet  a 
complete  whole  in  itself. 

John  wrought  on  a  fixed  plan,  and  he  shows  a  certain  art,  which, 
without  any  clear  intention  on  his  part,  sprang  as  it  were  instinctively 
from  his  peculiar  conception  of  the  subject  ;  as  nature  by  her  plastic 
virtue  produces  the  fairest  forms  to  serve  as  models  for  the  human  artist. 
In  the  first  place,  the  outward  arrangement  of  the  matter  of  the  book  is 
very  clear  ;  all  the  events  of  the  history  being  made  to  cluster  around 
the  several  Jewish  feasts.     During  the  public  ministry  of  Jesus  there  are 

this  book  after  the  year  70  ;  but  such  a  "  was  "  does  not  necessarily  imply  that  the 
thing  no  longer  is.  The  latest  limit  seems  to  us  to  be  the  date  of  the  Apocalypse  (95 
or  96) ,  not  indeed  because,  as  almost  all  expositors  down  to  Bengel  suppose,  the  Apoca- 
lypse, c.  1  :  2,  refers  to  the  written  Gospel,  but  because  the  whole  economy  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  seems  to  require,  that  the  Revelation,  the  seal  of  the  apostolic  litera- 
ture, should  be  composed  last. 


MISSIONS.]  g  105.       THE    GOSPEL   OF   JOHN.  415 

mentioned  in  all  at  least  three,  probably  (i.  e.  unless  the  feast  of  Purim 
be  intended  in  5  :  1)  four  passovers  (2  :  13.  5:1.  6:4.  11  :  55. 
12  :  1.  13  :  1),  one  feast  of  tabernacles  (1  :  2),  and  one  feast  of 
dedication  (10  :  22)  ;  thus  furnishing  data  for  the  length  of  our  Lord's 
labors  as  a  teacher  (about  three  years).  But  along  with  this  external 
arrangement  an  inward  order  is  also  observed,  a  progressive  develop- 
ment of  the  relation  of  Jesus  to  the  world  and  to  his  disciples.  Espe- 
cially may  we  trace  the  gradual  increase  of  the  hatred  of  the  unbelieving 
Jews  towards  the  personal  manifestation  of  the  eternal  Light  and  Life 
down  to  the  final  catastrophe,  where,  however,  that  hatred  must  unwit- 
tingly and  unwillingly  serve  to  glorify  the  Crucified  and  to  accomplish 
the  plan  of  redemption. 

The  evangelist  begins  his  history  with  a  philosophico-theological  pro- 
logue (1  :  1-18),  propounding  as  his  theme  the  great  truth,  that  Christ, 
the  incarnate  Logos,  is  from  the  beginning  one  with  God,  and  the  prin- 
ciple of  all  revelation,  of  all  light  and  life  in  humanity.  The  history 
itself  may  be  divided  into  three,  or,  if  we  choose  to  make  a  separate 
part  of  what  is  in  some  sense  merely  a  historical  introduction,  four  sec- 
tions :  (a)  The  jirejMration  for  the  public  ministry  of  Jesus,  first  by  the 
appearance  of  John  the  Baptist  (1  :  19-36),  then  by  the  choice  of  the 
first  disciples  (v.  31-51),  who  are  favored  at  the  outset  with  a  foretaste 
of  the  intercourse  of  divine  and  human  powers,  of  the  glory  of  the 
Only  Begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth,  (b)  The  public 
labors  of  Jesus  in  doctrine  and  miracle,  by  which  he  manifests  before  the 
world  his  divine  nature  and  eternal  glory,  a  savor  of  life  unto  life  to  the 
susceptible,  but  to  the  hardened  a  savor  of  death  unto  death  (c.  2-12). 
Chapters  2-4  are  devoted  chiefly  to  the  favorable  results  of  the  Saviour's 
ministry  on  those  who  were  longing  for  salvation,  on  his  disciples  and 
kindred  at  the  marriage  in  Cana,  on  the  still  timid  Nicodemus  in  Jeru- 
salem, the  woman  of  Samaria,  and  the  inhabitants  of  Sichem  ;  chapters 
5-10  set  forth  principally  the  growing  opposition  of  the  unbelieving 
Jews  (ot  'lovdaioc)  to  Jesus,  till  it  reaches  a  deadly  hatred  ;  c.  11  records 
the  raising  of  Lazarus,  which  brings  to  a  crisis  the  faith  of  the  Saviour's 
friends  and  the  unbelief  of  his  enemies  ;  then  comes  the  transition  to  the 
history  of  his  passion  (12  : 1  sqq.  24  sqq.),  and  a  recapitulation  of  his 
discourses  (12  :  44-50).  (c)  Jesus  in  the  private  circle  of  his  disciples,  his 
last  supper,  his  farewell  address,  his  solemn  consecration  to  death,  his 
mediatorial  intercession,  and  his  inward  glorification  (c.  13-11).  This 
section  is  the  peculiar  ornament  of  the  fourth  Gospel,  and  the  inmost 
sanctuary  of  the  history  of  Jesus,  where  the  holy  sorrow  of  eternal 
Love  as  it  addresses  itself  to  the  great  sacrifice,  and  the  silent  breath 
from   the  land   of  peace,    so   indescribably   charm   us.      (d)  The   his- 


416  §  106.       THE    EPISTLES    OF   JOHN.  [l-   BOOK. 

tory  of  the  paxsion  and  resurrcdion,  or  the  p^iblic  glorification  of  the 
Lord,  when,  as  formerly  by  his  words  and  works,  so  now  by  his  obe- 
dience and  sufferings  and  a  creative  act  of  God,  he  is  mightily  accredited 
as  the  Messiah,  the  conqueror  of  sin,  death,  and  hell  (c.  18-20).  In 
his  appearances  after  his  resurrection,  he  gives  his  disciples  a  pledge 
of  his  perpetual  presence  with  them.  In  the  enthusiastic  exclamation 
of  Thomas  :  "  My  Lord  and  my  God  I"  there  expresses  itself  the  fullest 
recognition  of  the  divinity  of  the  risen  Saviour  ;  and  to  awaken  this 
faith,  which  believes  even  without  seeing,  was  the  object  of  the  Gospel, 
with  the  statement  of  which  it  fitly  closes  (20  :  31).  The  twenty-first 
chapter  is  a  subsequent  addition,  of  special  importance  for  the  history 
of  Peter,  made  either  by  John  himself,  or  by  one  of  his  friends  and 
pupils  from  what  was  orally  handed  down  by  the  apostle. 

§  106.    The  Epistles  of  John. 

The  epistles  of  John  were  undoubtedly  written  at  Ephesus  after  the 
Gospel,  which  is  presumed  to  be  known  (1  Juo.  1  :  1  sqq.),  and  in  the 
advanced  years  of  the  apostle,  though  before  the  date  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse. In  them  the  author  proves  himself  truly  a  faithful  pastor,  full 
of  the  tenderest  love  and  care  for  the  welfare  of  his  "  little  children." 

The  first  epistle  attests  itself  at  once  by  the  introduction  as  well  as 
by  the  striking  similarity  of  thought  and  style,  which  is  not  that  of  imi- 
tation, but  of  identity  of  origin,  as  the  work  of  the  author  of  the  fourth 
Gospel,  with  which  it  stands  intimately  connected  as  a  practical  appli- 
cation. It  is  a  circular  letter  of  exhortation  and  encouragement  to  the 
churches  of  Asia  Minor  (comp.  Rev.  2  and  3),  which  were  already  well 
versed  in  the  faith,  built  on  the  golden  foundation  of  Paul's  doctrine 
of  grace,  and  therefore  not  exposed,  indeed,  to  the  gross,  sensuous  errors 
of  Judaism  and  heathenism,  but  perhaps,  instead  of  these,  to  a  refined 
form  of  theoretical  and  practical  aberration,  more  dangerous  because 
united  with  Christian  elements.  The  object  of  the  epistle  is,  therefore, 
not  to  produce,  but  to  nourish  the  Christian  life,  and  to  warn  its  readers 
against  moral  laxness,  against  all  intermixture  of  light  with  darkness, 
of  truth  with  falsehood,  of  the  love  of  God  with  the  love  of  the  world, 
and  against  the  influence  of  those  Gnostic,  Docetistic  "antichrists" 
who  denied  the  reality  of  the  incarnation,  the  true  union  of  Deity  and 
humanity  in  Jesus  Christ ;  who  separated  the  knowing  of  Christ  from 
the  following  of  him,  religion  from  morality  ;  and  who  probably  fostered 
antinomian  licentiousness.  Of  these  errorists  John  says,  that  they  went 
out,  indeed,  from  the  Christian  communion,  but  never  really  belonged  [o 
it,  and  by  their  secession  only  revealed  the  opposition  which  had  existed 
within  them  from  the  first  (2  :  19).     In  perfect  accordance  with  his 


MISSIONS.]  §  106.      THE   EPISTLES   OF   JOHN.  417 

peculiar  character,  however,  he  does  not  enter  on  any  minute,  dialectical 
refutation  of  them,  as  the  acute,  scholastic  Paul  does  in  the  case  of  the 
Judaizers.  He  only  briefly  points  out  their  fundamental  error  with 
profound  discernment  and  holy  horror,  and  contrasts  it  with  the 
Christian  principle.  Here,  as  in  the  Gospel,  his  great  object  is  to  set 
forth  the  positive  truth.  The  simple,  sublime  thought  of  the  epistle, 
which  he  presents  at  the  very  beginning  instead  of  the  customary  ad- 
dress, and  continually  enforces  under  diflTerent  shapes  with  childlike 
earnestness,  is  the  love  of  God  and  of  the  brethren,  founded  on  living 
faith  in  the  God-man,  whose  history  is  fully  given  in  the  Gospel ;  in 
other  words,  the  idea  oi  fellowship  {Kotvuvia,  1  :  3,  1  ;  comp.  5  :  1,  2'), 
in  its  twofold  aspect :  the  union  of  believers  with  God  and  his  Son 
Jesus  Christ  (unio  mystica),  and  the  union  of  believers  with  one  another 
(communio  sanctorum).  The  latter  is  rooted  in  the  former,  and  is  its 
necessary  product ;  the  two  are  the  marks  of  regeneration  and  adoption, 
and  are  inseparable  from  the  keeping  of  the  commandments  of  God, 
from  a  holy  walk  in  the  light  after  the  example  of  Christ,  as  well  as 
from  true  joy  and  the  possession  of  the  eternal  life,  which  the  incarnate 
Logos  has  brought  into  the  world,  and  which  he  alone  can  give.  These 
few  thoughts,  clothed  in  the  simplest  words,  contain  the  sum  of  Christian 
morality  and  describe  the  inmost  essence  of  piety.  In  striking  accord- 
ance with  this  is  the  above-mentioned  narrative  of  Jerome  about  the 
aged  apostle's  continual  repetition  of  the  exhortation  to  lave.  What 
Herder  says  of  John's  writings  in  general,  may  be  applied  with  peculiar 
emphasis  to  this  first  epistle  :  "They  are  still  waters,  which  run  deep  ; 
flowing  along  with  the  easiest  words,  but  the  most  profound  meaning." 

The  second  and  third  epistles  of  this  apostle  are,  like  Paul's  epistle 
to  Philemon,  very  short  private  letters.  In  the  second  John  congra- 
tulates a  pious  female  Christian  of  Asia  Minor,  by  the  name  of  Cyria, 
perhaps  a  deaconess,  on  the  Christian  conduct  of  some  of  her  children  ; 
exhorts  her  to  be  steadfast  in  the  truth  and  in  love  ;  warns  her  most 
earnestly  against  all  contact  with  the  Gnostic  errorists  attacked  in 
1  Jno.  2  :  1?  sqq.  4:8;  and  mentions  at  the  close,  in  apology  for  his 
brevity,  his  expectation  of  soon  visiting  her.  The  third  epistle  is 
addressed  to  one  Gains,  probably  an  officer  of  a  congregation,  com- 
mending him  for  his  hospitality  to  the  messengers  of  the  faith,  and 
rebuking  a  certain  Diotrephes,  otherwise  unknown  to  us,  for  his  am- 

'  This  word  denotes  the  inward,  eternal  nature  of  the  church,  of  the  iKKXrjaia, 
which  latter  term  John  uses  only  in  the  third  epistle,  v.  6,  9,  10.  The  temporal  form, 
under  which  the  body  of  Christ  is  revealed,  is  left  almost  entirely  out  of  view  by  this 
noblest  of  mystics.  Scattered  traditional  accounts,  however,  intimate,  that  he  exerted 
an  important  influence  on  the  development  of  the  constitution  and  worship  of  tho 
church  of  Asia  Minor. 

27 


418  §  107.       THE   APOCALYPSE.  [l-  BOOK. 

bitious  and  uncharitable  disposition.    Perhaps  these  lines  after  v.  6  were 
a  letter  of  recommendation  for  some  Christian  brethren. 

In  these  two  epistles  the  author  calls  himself  neither  an  apostle  nor 
an  evangelist, — nor,  indeed,  does  he  so  style  himself  anywhere, — but 
simply  "the  elder"  (6  irgEapvTeQo^) .  This  must  be  understood  either  in 
the  same  official  sense  in  which  Peter  calls  himself  "co-presbyter" 
(1  Pet.  5  :  1),  or  what  is  more  likely,  as  denoting  the  apostle's  great  age 
(like  TrgeGpvTTjg,  Philem.  V.  9).  For  John  was  at  that  time  an  old  man 
in  years  and  experience,  a  real  father  in  Christ,  and  it  is  very  possible 
that  he  was  so  styled  by  his  aifectiouate  "little  children"  in  Asia  Minor.' 
At  any  rate  it  furnishes  no  sufficient  reason  for  ascribing  this  epistle  to 
a  "  presbyter  John,"  distinct  from  the  apostle.  Such  a  person  could  in 
no  case  have  possessed  such  authority  as  is  implied  in  2  Jno.  10  and 
3  Jno.  10.  Eusebius,  it  is  true,  reckons  these  epistles  among  the  anti- 
legomena,  or  the  disputed  books  of  the  canon  ;  but  the  uncertainty  of 
tradition  in  this  case  is  sufficiently  accounted  for  by  the  fact,  that  these 
epistles,  being  small  and  of  a  private  character,  did  not  come  so  early  to 
be  generally  known  or  much  used.'^  They  contain  no  internal  marks  of 
spuriousness.  Even  the  author's  severity  against  the  errorists,  2  Jno. 
10,  11,  is  by  no  taeans  inconsistent  with  the  character  of  John  (comp, 
§  103).  On  the  contrary,  the  unmistakable  resemblance  particularly  of 
the  second  epistle  to  the  first  in  thought  and  style,  almost  to  verbal 
repetition/  is  a  sufficient  argument  for  the  identity  of  the  author.'* 

§  107..  The  Apocalypse. 

At  the  close  of  the  Scriptures  stands,  like  a  mysterious  sphynx,  the 
Revelation  of  John,  or  rather  of  Jesus  Christ  through  John,  His  ser- 
vant ;  the  prophetic  history  of  the  conflicts  and  conquests  of  the  church  ; 
the  book  of  Christian  hope  and  comfort ;  the  pledge  of  the  all-con- 
trolling dominion  of  Christ  in  the  world,  till  he  shall  come  to  take  home 
his  longing  bride. 

That  this  book  was  the  last  of  all  the  productions  of  the  apostles,  is 
indicated  by  its  position  at  the  close,  and  as  the  seal  of  the  canon  ;  by 
the  whole  character  of  its  contents,  which  have  to  do  with  the  future 

'  At  least  John  is  called  by  Clement  of  Alexandria  in  the  above-quoted  anecdote 
"  the  old  man"  (6  yeguv) ;  and  he  addresses  the  youth,  whom  he  had  found  a£;ain,  with 
the  words  :  Tl  fie  (pevyetg,  tekvov,  tov  oeavrov  TvartQa,  rov  yvjivbv,  tov  y' govt  a. 
Though  this  also  may  be  explained  as  simply  antithetical  to  the  youth. 

^  Yet  Irenaeus  cites  the  2nd  epistle,  v.  11,  as  a  work  of  the  apostle  John  (Adv.  haer. 
I.  13,  and  III.  16);  and  Clement  of  Alex,  must  have  known  it,  since  he  styles  the 
first  ejiistle  of  John  "  the  greater"  {Strom.  II.  15) . 

'  Comp.  2  Jno.  4-7  with  1  Jno.  2  :  7,  8.     4  :  2,  3. 

*  On  this  question  comp.  Liicke's  Commentar.  zu  den  Br.  Joh.  p.  329  sqq. 


-MISSIONS.]  §  107.       THE    APOCALYPSE.  419 

and  the  end  of  all  things  ;  and  by  the  oldest  and  most  reliable  tradition, 
which  places  the  banishment  to  Patmos  and  the  seeing  of  this  vision  at 
the  close  of  the  reign  of  Domitian  (f  A.  D.  96),  therefore  in  the  last 
years  of  John's  life  (comp.  §  101). 

The  place  of  its  composition  was  undoubtedly  Patmos.  From  the 
expression:  "I  was  in  the  isle  that  is  called  Patmos,"  1  :  9,  many, 
indeed,  have  inferred,  that  John,  when  he  wrote  the  book,  was  no  longer 
there,  but  had  returned  to  Ephesus.  This  imperfect,  however,  is  to  be 
closely  connected  with  v.  10,  as  though  it  were  said  :  "During  my  resi- 
dence in  Patmos  I  was  in  the  Spirit"  (i.  e.  in  ecstasy)  ;  and  the  whole 
is  to  be  referred  to  the  position  of  a  later  reader,  to  which,  as  in  1  :  2, 
the  prophet  transfers  himself.  From  1  :  11  and  10  :  4,  it  is  evident 
that  the  writing  immediately  accompanied  the  seeing  and  the  hearing, 
so  that  with  the  revelation  itself  the  book  also  ended,  22  :  7,  9,  10. 

Reserving  for  subsequent  discussion  the  matter  and  design  of  the 
Apocalypse,  we  must  here  attend  somewhat  minutely  to  the  question  of 
its  genuineness,  which  is  still  one  of  the  most  difficult  and  distracting 
parts  of  New  Testament  criticism  and  exegesis.  Whilst  the  Gospel  and 
the  first  epistle  of  John  are  raised  above  all  rational  doubt,  and  have 
only  come  out  approved  and  purified  from  the  fire  of  modern  criticism  to 
which  they  have  been  subjected  by  a  Strauss,  a  Baur,  and  a  Schwegler, 
the  apostolical  origin  and  character  of  the  Apocalypse,  on  the  contrary, 
has  been  denied  even  by  judicious  and  believing  scholars  on  grounds 
both  dogmatical  and  critical.'  So  far,  indeed,  as  external  evidence  is 
concerned,  this  book  fares  as  well  as  any  other,  and  better  than  most  of 
the  New  Testament  writings.  The  tradition  in  favor  of  its  lu'iug  the 
work  of  the  beloved  disciple  reaches  back  to  Justin  Martyr,  who  wrote 
some  forty  years  after  the  death  of  John,  and  himself  resided  in  Ephe- 
sus. Nay,  we  may  trace  it  even  to  fapias,  a  disciple  of  the  apostles  ; 
and  Irenaeus,  the  pupil  of  the  bishop  Polycarp  of  Smyrna,  one  of  the 
seven  churches  of  the  Revelation,  appeals  even  for  the  correctness  of 

'  By  Luther,  for  example,  who  would  regard  the  book  as  "neither  apostolical  nor 
prophetical,"  because  "his  mind  could  not  accommodate  itself  to  it;"  by  Zwingle, 
who  declared  at  the  disputation  in  Berne  :  "From  the  Apocalypse  we  will  derive  no 
proof,  for  it  is  not  a  canonical  book ;"  and  more  recently  by  Schleiermacher,  Lucke, 
Neander,  Bleek,  and  others,  who  at  the  same  time  regard  the  genuineness  of  the  Gos- 
pel as  incontrovertible.  With  the  infidel  school  of  Baur,  Zeller.  and  Schwegler,  it  is 
just  the  reverse.  The  Apocalypse,  on  account  of  its  supposed  Ebionism,  is  found  alto- 
gether characteristic  of  the  Jewish  apostle,  John  (Gal.  2:9);  while  for  the  absence 
of  it  the  Gospel  and  epistles  are  denied  to  him,  and  placed  down  in  the  middle  of  the 
second  century.  Thus  in  this  case  the  "  higher  criticism"  arrives  at  two  entirely  oppo- 
site results,  which  is  by  no  means  calculated  to  strengthen  our  confidence  in  it,  and 
should  make  its  eulogists  more  cautious  and  discreet. 


420  §  107.      THE   APOCALYPSE.  [l-  BOOK. 

his  reading  and  interpretation  of  the  mystical  number  666  (Rev.  13  : 
18)  to  the  testimony  of  those  "  who  had  seen  John  face  to  face."'  It 
is  true,  Dionysius  of  Alexandria,  about  the  middle  of  the  third  century, 
brought  about,  in  the  Eastern  church,  a  partial  rejection  of  the  apos- 
tolic origin  and  canonical  authority  of  the  Apocalypse  ;  not,  however, 
on  historical  or  traditional  grounds,  but  only  from  dogmatical  prejudices, 
viz.,  to  get  rid  of  a  gross,  sensuous  millenarianism,  which  it  was  supposed 
to  favor,  and  with  which  the  spiritualism  of  the  school  of  Origen  had  no 
sympathy  whatever. 

Then  again,  we  have  an  explicit  declaration  of  the  author  himself, 
which  leaves  us  no  other  alternative  but  to  take  the  book  as  the  work 
either  of  the  apostle  John,  or  of  a  deliberate,  bare-faced  impostor.  But 
against  the  latter  all  sound,  moral  and  religious  feeling  revolts.  While 
in  the  fourth  Gospel  the  author  speaks  of  himself  only  in  the  third  per- 
son and  by  circumlocution,  in  the  Apocalypse  he  more  than  once  calls 
himself  expressly  "John"  (1  :  1,  4,  9.  22  :  8),  because  he  here  ap- 
pears as  a  prophet ;  and  in  the  Old  Testament  no  anonymous  prophecies 
occur  (comp.  especially  Dan.  8:1.  9:2.  10:2).  True,  he  does 
not  directly  apply  to  himself  the  title  of  "apostle"  or  "evangelist,"' 
but  he  appears  evidently  clothed  with  apostolical  authority  ;  in  the  first 
place,  from  the  very  fact  of  his  being  the  organ  of  so  momentous  and 
comprehensive  a  revelation,  which,  if  it  be  a  true  revelation,  the  Lord 
certainly  would  not  have  communicated,  especially  during  the  life-time 
of  his  favorite  disciple,  to  an  inferior  person,  perhaps  one  of  John's  own 
presbyters  in  Ephesus  ;  secondly,  from  his  position  as  superintendent  of 
the  churches  of  Asia  Minor  (1  -A),  to  which  none  but  an  apostle  could 
write  in  such  a  tone  and  with  such  earnestness  and  severity  of  rebuke. 
Any  other  John,  thus  writing,  would  have  come  into  evident  conflict 
with  the  apostle's  unquestionable  oflBcial  relation  to  these  churches,  par- 
ticularly that  of  Ephesus,  and  hence  would  have  been  obliged,  at  the 
outset,  at   least  to  introduce  himself  to  them  more   distinctly,  and  to 

*  jidv.  Haer.  V.  30.  Evseb.  Y.  8.  A  very  full  collection  of  the  assertions  of  tra- 
dition on  the  point  in  hand  may  be  found  in  the  learned  Einieitung  in  die  Offenbar. 
Joh.,  by  Dr.  Liicke,  §  30  sqq.  p.  261-36.5,  1st  ed.  f^  34  sqq.  p.  516  sqq.  of  the  2nd  ed. 
(1851) ;  and  in  Hengstenberg's  Commentar  zur  Jpok.,  vol.  If.  Pt.  2,  p.  97  sqq.  Comp. 
also  several  solid  articles  by  Havernick  in  the  "  Ev.  Kirchenzeitung,"  1834,  p.  707  sqq., 
and  Guericke's  Einieitung  m's  N.  T.  p.  538  sqq. 

"^  In  the  ^fiuQTvoi/ae  tuv  Xoyop  tov  ^eov,  &c.,  1  :  2,  many  expositors  detect,  indeed,  a 
reference  to  the  fourth  Gospel,  in  which  case  these  words  would  unequivocally  declare 
the  identity  of  the  authors  of  the  two  books.  But  the  perfect:  e/xaQTvQrjas,  •'■hath 
borne  record,"  may  also  be  referred,  as  it  is  by  Bengel  and  Hengstenberg  {Comment.  I. 
p.  69),  to  the  time  of  reading  (comp.  lyijatjia,  Philem.  v.  19),  and  the  "'  word  of  God," 
Sec,  in  view  of  the  explanatory  oaa  eUe,  to  the  succeeding  visions  of  the  book. 


MISSIONS.]  §  107.       THE    APOCALYPSE.  421 

enter  more  minutely  into  the  proof  of  his  divine  mission,  if  such  he 
really  had,  before  he  could  obtain  a  hearing  or  secure  himself  from  ridi- 
cule, since  even  a  Paul  and  a  John  (3  Jno.  9,  10)  had  to  contend 
against  enemies  of  the  apostolical  dignity.'    By  the  simple  name,  "  John," 

'  On  these  grounds  we  must  affirnn,  that  the  hypothesis  first  hinted  at  by  Dionysius 
of  Alexandria,  the  spiritualistic  and  anti-chiliastic  disciple  of  the  great  Origen,  and 
latterly  advocated  even  by  such  distinguished  scholars  as  Bleek,  De  Wette  (in  the 
earlier  editions  of  his  Eirdeitung  in's  N.  T.),  Credner,  and  Neander  (who,  however, 
does  not  give  a  definite  decision) ,  making  the  "Ephesian  presbyter,  John  (afterwards  con- 
founded with  the  apostle) ,  the  probable  author  of  the  Apocalypse,  contradicts  the 
clearest  exegetical  evidence  ;  as  also  Dr.  Liicke  concedes  (1.  c.  p.  239  sqq.),  and  De 
Wette  (in  the  fourth  ed.  of  his  Einl.  p.  353,  though  he  again  expresses  himself  other- 
wise in  his  Commentar  uber  die  ^pok.).  Indeed,  there  is  room  even  to  inquire,  whe- 
ther the  very  existence  of  this  obscure  presbyter  and  mysterious  duplicate  of  the 
apostle  John  rests  not  upon  sheer  misunderstanding,  as  Herder  suspected  {Offenb.  Joh- 
p.  206,  in  the  12th  vol.  of  Herder's  Werke  zur  Theol.).  We  candidly  avow,  that  to  us, 
notwithstanding  what  Lucke  (1.  c.  p.  396  sqq.)  and  Credner  {Einleit.  in's  N.  T.,  I.  p. 
694  sqq.)  have  said  in  its  favor,  this  man's  existence  seems  very  doubtful.  The  only 
proper,  original  testimony  for  it  is,  as  is  well  known,  an  obscure  passage  of  Papias  in 
Euseb.  III.  39  :  "  When  I  met  any  one,  who  had  been  a  companion  of  the  elders 
(TTgeafSvTeQoic),  I  inquired  about  the  dfscourses  of  the  elders,  what  Andrew  or  what 
Peter  had  said,  or  what  Philip,  or  what  Thomas,  or  James,  or  what  John,  or  Matthew, 
or  any  other  of  the  disciples  of  the  Lord,  what  Aristion  or  the  presbyter  (6  nQsaftiiTEgog) 
John,  the  disciples  of  the  Lord,  saj'."  Had  we  an  accurate  author  to  deal  with  here, 
it  would  certainly  be  most  natural  to  assume,  with  Eusebius,  Lucke,  Neander  (p.  631) , 
Credner,  and  others,  that  there  were  two  Johns,  both  personal  disciples  of  Jesus.  But 
it  is  very  possible,  that  a  man  like  Papias,  whom  the  mild  Eusebius  calls,  in  spite  of 
his  venerableness,  a  "  weak  head,"  meant  in  both  cases  one  and  the  same  John,  and 
repeated'his  name  perhaps  on  account  of  his  peculiarly  close  contact  with  him.  So 
Irenaeus,  at  least,  seems  to  have  understood  him,  when  he  calls  Papias  a  disciple  of  the 
apostle  John  (without  mentioning  any  presbyter  of  that  name)  and  friend  of  Polycarp 
{jldv.  haer.  V.  33).  The  arguments  for  this  interpretation  are  the  following  :  (1)  The 
term  "presbyter"  is  here  probably  not  an  official  title,  but  denotes  age,  including  ihe 
idea  of  venerableness,  as  also  Credner  supposes  (697),  and  as  may  be  inferred  from 
2  Jno- 1  and  3  Jno.  1,  and  from  the  usage  of  Irenaeus,  who  applies  the  same  term  to 
his  master,  Polycarp  {Mv.  haer.  V.  30) ,  and  to  the  Roman  bishops  before  Soter  (V.  24). 
This  being  so,  we  cannot  conceive  how  a  contemporary  of  John,  bearing  the  same 
name,  should  be  distinguished  from  the  apostle  by  this  standing  title,  since  the  apostle 
himself  had  attained  an  unusual  age,  and  was  probably  even  sixty  v\hen  he  came  to 
Asia  Minor.  (2)  Papias  in  the  same  passage  styles  the  other  apostles  also  '  presby- 
ters," the  ancients,  the  fathers ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  calls  also  Aristion  and  John 
(personal)  "disciples  of  the  Lord."  (3)  The  evangelist  designates  himself  as  *' the 
elder"  (2  Jno.  1  and  3  Jno-  1)  ;  which  leads  us  to  suppose  that  he  was  frequently  so 
named  by  his  '•  little  children,"  as  he  likes  to  call  his  readers  in  his  first  epistle.  For 
this  reason  also  it  would  have  been  altogether  unsuitable  and  could  only  have  created 
confusion,  to  denote  by  this  title  another  John,  who  lived  with  the  apostle  and  under 
him  in  Ephesus.  Credner  supposes,  indeed,  that  these  two  epistles  came  not  from  the 
apostle,  but,  like  the  Apocalypse,  from  the  '•  presbyter  John"  in  question.  But  it  is 
evident  at  first  sight,  that  these  epistles  are  far  more  akin,  even  in  their  language,  to 


422  §    107.       THE    APOCALYPSE.  [l-  BOOK. 

the  reader  could  evidently  understand,  in  this  connection,  no  other  than 
the  well-known  apostle  and  evangelist.  And  this  was,  in  fact,  univer- 
sally the  case  in  the  church,  as  the  testimony  of  the  fathers  and  the 
titles  of  the  manuscripts  show,  until  the. decay  of  Apocalyptic  hopes  and 
the  want  of  deeper  understanding  in  some  theologians  awakened  pre- 
judice against  the  contents  of  the  book. 

The  doubts  respecting  the  apostolical  origin  and  canonical  authority 
of  the  Apocalypse,  however,  do  not  arise  solely  from  doctrinal  prepos- 
sessions. There  are  also  considerable  critical  difficulties,  which  modern 
science  alone  has  brought  fully  to  light,  but  which  it  has  also  in  many 
instances  exaggerated.  An  impartial  comparison  of  this  production 
with  the  other  works  ascribed  to  John,  shows  at  once  a  striking  differ- 
ence in  matter  and  form,  and  seems  to  leave  no  alternative  but  to  deny 
either  the  Apocalypse  or  the  Gospel  and  epistles  to  this  apostle.  Here, 
if  anywhere  in  the  field  of  biblical  criticism,  honest  scientific  doubt  may 
be  to  some  extent  justified.  The  difference  may  be  reduced  to  three 
points:  (1)  Language  and  style;  the  Greek  of  the  Revelation  being 
largely  Hebraized,  irregular  and  abrupt,  like  a  wild  mountain  torrent, 
while  that  of  the  Gospel  and  epistles,  though  not  without  a  Hebrew 
tinge,  is  much  purer,  and  flows  along  in  lovely  tranquillity.  (2)  The 
psychological  temper  and  the  whole  tone  of  the  author.  The  writer 
of  the  Apocalypse  shows  an  exceedingly  vivid  imagination,  moving  along 
majestically  with  the  grandest  imagery.  He  breathes  a  holy  an^er 
against  the  enemies  of  God.  In  a  word,  he  is  the  "  sun  of  thunder," 
calling  down  fire  from  heaven  (Lu.  9  :  54-56).     The  evangelist,  on  the 

the  first  epistle,  than  to  the  Apocalypse  (comp.  2  Jno.  4-7  with  1  Jno.  2  :  7,  8.  4:2, 
3.  2  Jno.  9  with  1  Jno.  2  :  27.  3:9,  &c.).  This  is  De  Wette's  reason  for  consiJer- 
ing  them  genuine.  And  when  Credner  supposes  that  the  presbyter  afterwards  accom- 
modated himself  to  the  apostle's  way  of  thinking  and  speaking,  he  makes  an  entirely 
arbitrary  assumption,  which  he  himself  condemns  in  pronouncing  a  like  change  in  the 
apostle  "altogether  unnatural  and  inadmissible"  (p.  733).  (4)  The  Ephesian  bishop, 
Polycrates,  of  the  second  century,  in  his  letter  to  Victor,  bishop  of  Rome;  on  the 
Paschal  controversy  (in  Euseb  V.  24) ,  mentions  but  one  John,  though  he  there  enume- 
rates the  /leydXa  (TTotxda  of  the  Asian  church,  Philip  with  his  pious  daughters,  Poly- 
carp,  Thraseas,  Sagaris,  Papirius,  Melito,  most  of  whom  were  not  so  important  as  the 
presbyter  John  must  have  been,  if  he  were  a  personal  disciple  of  the  Lord  and  the 
author  of  the  Apocalypse.  We  can  hardly  think,  that  in  this  connection,  where  it 
was  his  object  to  present  as  many  authorities  as  possible  for  the  Asiatic  usage  respect- 
ing the  feast,  Polycrates  would  have  passed  over  this  John,  if  he  had  known  anything 
about  him,  and  if  his  tomb  could  have  been  really  pointed  out  in  Ephesus,  as  the  later 
Dionysius  and  Jerome  intimates.  Jerome,  however,  in  speaking  of  this,  expressly 
observes:  "Xonnulli  putant,  dims  memorias  cjusdcm  Johannis  evangelistae  esse"  {De 
vir.  ill.  c.  9) ;  which  again  makes  this  whole  story  doubtful,  and  destroys  its  character 
as  a  historical  testimony  in  favor  of  this  obscure  presbyter. 


MISSIONS.]  g  107.      THE    APOCALYPSE.  423 

contrary,  reveals  in  almost  every  line  a  mild,  serene,  contemplative  mind 
sunk  in  deep  meditation ;  breathes  forth  the  gentle  breath  of  love  and 
peace  ;  and  bespeaks  himself  the  disciple  who  lay  upotf  the  bosom  of  the 
All-merciful.*  (3)  The  theological  stand  point ;  the  author  in  the  one 
case  moving  apparently  amidst  the  theocratic  ideas  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment prophets  and  the  Jewish  Christian  sphere  of  thought,  while  in 
the  other,  starting  from  the  most  profound  and  sublime  view  of  the  in- 
carnate Word,  he  sets  forth  Christianity  in  its  specific  character  as  an 
independent,  new  creation,  though  at  the  same  time  the  fulfillment  and 
climax  of  all  previous  revelations. 

Many  scholars  think  this  difference  sufficiently  explained  by  the  sim- 
ple fact,  that  the  Apocalypse  was  written  some  twenty  years  before  the 
other  works  of  John.^  But  even  had  it  been  written  soon  after  the 
death  of  Nero  (which,  however,  as  already  observed,  is  manifestly 
against  tradition),  still  John  must  have  already  reached  at  that  time 
(A.  D.  69)  at  least  the  age  of  sixty,  and  after  that  period  style,  tera- 
perament,  and  religious  views  do  not  usually  undergo  any  material 
change.  Nor  can  it  be  conceived  why  he  should  have  learned  his  Greek 
first  in  Asia  Minor^  while  this  language  was  .so  universally  known,  and 
was  used  by  James,  for  instance,  with  much  skill  and  comparative 
purity,  though  he  perhaps  was  never  out  of  Palestine.  In  fact,  the 
author  of  the  Apocalypse  shows  himself,  as  also  Liicke  concedes,^  by  no 
means  a  tyro  in  Greek,  but  well  versed  and  ready  in  his  way.  The 
Hebraisms  and  irregularities  are  in  some  cases  occasioned  by  the  cha- 
racter of  the  matter,  and  evidently  designed  •*  in  others  they  are  rhe- 

'  We  have,  however,  already  observed,  §  103,  that  the  apostle  John  shows  also  ex- 
treme severity  in  his  judgment  of  everything  ungodly,  and  that  this  hatred  of  Anti- 
christ is  but  the  reverse  of  his  enthusiastic  love  for  Christ ;  comp.  especially  1  Jno. 
2:4,9,18,22.     3:8,15.     2  Jno.  10,  11. 

*  So  says  Gieseler,  for  example,  I.  1,  p.  127,  note  8 :  "  The  internal  difference  in 
language  and  thought  between  the  Apocalypse,  which  John  wrote  (A.  D.  69)  while 
yet  essentially  a  Hebrew  and  Palestinian  Jewish  Christian  in  his  views,  and  the  Gos- 
pel and  epistles,  which  he  composed  after  a  twenty  or  thirty  years'  residence  among 
the  Greeks,  is  so  necessary  a  result  of  circumstances,  that  suspicion  would  beTiwakened 
if  it  did  not  exist."  The  opinion  of  Tholuck  is  the  same,  Die  Glaubwi'irdigkcit  der 
evangel.  Geschichte,  2nd  ed.  p.  283.  From  the  rich  treasury  of  his  reading  he  draws 
such  analogies  as  the  vast  varietas  dictionis  Appulejanae  ;  the  difference  between  the 
Dialogiis  de  Oratoribus  and  the  Annales  of  Tacitus ;  between  the  Leges  and  the  earlier 
dialogues  of  Plato ;  the  sermons  and  the  satires  of  Swift,  &c.  This  catalogue  may  be 
easily  increased  from  the  history  of  modern  literature.  Think,  for  example,  of  the 
immense  distance  between  Schleiermacher's  Reden  ijber  die  Religion  and  his  Dialek- 
tik ;  Hegel's  Logik  and  .lEsthetik ;  the  first  and  second  part  of  Gothe's  Faust ;  Carlyle's 
Life  of  Schiller  and  his  Latter-day  Pamphlets,  &c. 

'  L.  c.  p.  363,  1st  ed.,  comp.  p.  448  sqq.,  2nd  ed. 

'*  This  is  the  case,  for  example,  in  the  very  beginning.  1:4:  'Att^  6  uv  Kal  6  ^v  koI 


424  §107.     THE   APOCALYPSE,  [l-  BOOK. 

torical  and  poetical ;  while  in  some  instances  they  belong  to  the  New 
Testament  idiom  in  general,  which  rests  throughout,  and,  indeed,  in  the 
Gospel  of  John  far  more  than  even  in  Paul's  epistles,  on  the  basis  of 
the  Hebrew,  as  the  New  Covenant  itself  rests  on  the  Old. 

We  must,  therefore,  cast  about  for  some  other  explanation  to  main- 
tain the  identity  of  authors.  This  we  find,  on  the  one  hand,  in  the  dif- 
ferent mental  state  of  the  writer,  who,  in  producing  the  Apocalypse,  was 
not  under  the  influence  of  the  ordinary,  reflecting,  self-controlling  con- 
sciousness {cvvot),  but  in  a  spiritual  ecstasy  {iv  nvevfian),'^  and  was,  far 
more  than  the  author  of  any  other  New  Testament  book,  a  mere  passive 
organ,  an  amanuensis,  so  to  speak,  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  in  the  peculiarity  of  his  subject,  for  which  the  figurative  lan- 
guage of  Old  Testament  prophecy,  especially  of  Ezekiel,  Daniel,  and 
Zechariah,  was  alone  fitted  ;  for  this  sort  of  literature  was  wholly 
foreign  to  the  idiom  of  the  heathen  Greek.  The  task  of  the  prophet  is 
very  different,  both  in  matter  and  form,  from  that  of  the  historian  and 
letter-writer.  The  prophet  seeks  for  poetical,  rare,  antique,  solemn, 
full-toned,  strong  expressions ;  the  historian  for  those  which  are  clear, 
simple,  precise,  and  universally  intelligible.  Thus  the  style  of  Isaiah, 
for  instance,  when  he  moves  along  in  mere  historical  narrative,  and  when 
he  rises  in  prophetic  flight,  is  very  different.  It  is  in  itself  not  at  all 
impossible  for  one  and  the  same  apostle,  at  different  times,  to  have  occu- 
pied the  different  spheres  of  authorship,  each  in  its  proper  style.  We 
have  examples,  in  fact,  of  versatile  geniuses  in  the  literary  history  of 
almost  all  cultivated  nations.  Thus,  therefore,  thfe  differences  in  view 
must  have  arisen  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  even  though  John  wrote 
the  work  in  question  long  after  his  Gospel. 

This,  however,  is  but  one  aspect  of  the  matter.  The  difference  be- 
tween the  book  of  Revelation  and  the  other  writings  of  John,  has  been 
manifoldly  exaggerated.  With  it  all,  there  appears  a  striking  affinity 
between  them,  as  well  in  the  simple,  elevated  style,  and  in  single  expres- 
sions, as  in  the  tone  and  ideas  of  the  whole.  In  proof  of  this,  we  have 
but  to  refer  the  attentive  reader  particularly  to  the  lyric  parts  of  the 

6  egxojJ-^vo^;  for  this  is  no  doubt  a  circumlocution  for  the  unutterable  name  Jehovah 
(comp.  Ex.  3  :  14),  and  the  participles  are  used  as  indeclinable,  to  express  even  in  the 
language  the  unchangeabieness  and  faithfulness  of  God.  Herder  emphatically  asserted 
the  intentional  character  of  these  grammatical  irregularities,  of  vv'hich  the  above  is  the 
most  harsh  and  striking :  Commentar  zur  Apok.  p.  241  :  "The  solecisms  are  often  pro- 
perly and  diligently  studied  ;  the  construction  is  often  industriously  made  to  deviate 
from  the  Greek.  The  author's  soul  labors  under  the  burden  of  the  language  of  the 
Hebrew  prophets.  He  wishes  to  say  what  they  say  as  they  say  it.  He  struggles 
with  the  language  ;  he  breaks  with  it." 
'  Comp.  1  Cor.  14 :  14  sqq.  and  Rev.  1  :  10. 


MISSIONS.]  §  107.     THE    APOCALYPSE.  425 

Apocalypse,  the  anthems  of  profound  adoration  and  blissful  joy  sung  by 
the  glorified  saints  before  the  throne  of  the  Lamb  ;*  to  the  incomparable 
picture  of  the  New  Jerusalem  and  the  perfected  theocracy,  where  heaven 
and  earth,  God  and  his  people,  are  forever  united,  and  the  material 
universe,  spiritualized,  is  radiant  with  the  divine  glory,  c.  21  and  22  ; 
to  the  expression  of  the  deep  longing  of  the  bride  for  the  coming  of  the 
heavenly  bridegroom,  with  which  the  seer  sinks  back  from  his  ecstasy 
into  the  sphere  of  the  militant,  praying  church,  22  :  17,  20.  Truly 
John-like,  too,  is  the  elevation  of  Christianity  in  the  Apocalypse  above 
all  Jewish  exclusiveness,  and  the  conception  of  it  as  a  living  power, 
determining  and  controlling  the  history  of  the  world  from  beginning  to 
end ;  and,  above  all,  the  doctrine  of  the  person  of  Christ,  to  whom  the 
Apocalypse,  like  the  Gospel,  applies  the  highest  epithets,  representing 
Him  as  the  beginning  and  the  end,  the  fountain  of  life,  the  object  of 
divine  worship  on  the  part  of  angels  and  the  whole  creation,  the  Ruler 
and  Judge  of  the  world  ;"  and  knowing  of  no  salvation  but  through  His 
atoning  blood.'  Particularly  remarkable  is  the  appellation  "Logos" 
(Rev.  19  :  13.  Comp.  5:5),  which  is  used  of  Christ  nowhere  else  in 
the  'New  Testament,  but  in  the  prologue  to  the  Gospel  and  the  begin- 
ning of  the  first  epistle  of  John.*     No  one  in  the  whole  circle  of  apos- 

'4:8  sqq.     5  :  8  sqq.     7  :  9  sqq.     14  :  1  sqq.     15  :  3  sqq. 

M  :  17.     2:8,17.     3:14.     20  :  11  sqq.     21:6.     22:13. 

'1:5.     5:9.     7  :  14 ;  comp.  1  Jno.  1:7.     2:2, 

*  This  affinity  in  form  and  substance  between  the  Apocalypse  and  the  Gospel  and 
epistles  of  John,  cannot  be  altogether  denied  even  by  those  who  refer  them  to  different 
authors.  Neander  says  (II.  p.  628.  Note):  The  Apocalypse  "shows  the  presence 
of  a  Johannean  type  of  doctrine,  as  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  while  it  cannot  have 
come  from  the  apostle  Paul,  betrays  the  hand  of  a  man  who  proceeded  from  the  com- 
pany of  this  apostle."  KostUn  {Johanncischer  LehrbcgHff,  1843,  J).  498)  :  •' It  is  accord- 
ingly confirmed  from  all  quarters,  that  John's  system  of  doctrine  is,  in  great  part,  a 
spiritualization  (?)  of  that  of  the  Apocalypse."  Schwegler  {Das  nachapost.  Zeitulter, 
II.  p.  373  sq.)  :  "Notwithstanding  this  material  (?)  difference,  the  two  books  have 
not  a  few  points  of  resemblance,  in  language,  style  and  matter,  so  as  to  make  one 
think  that  the  author  of  the  Gospel  had  read  the  Apocalypse,  and,  to  give  his  pro- 
duction a  Johannean  coloring,  had  purposely  copied  from  it  many  expressions  and 
ideas.  .  .  .  Different  as  the  Gospel  certainly  is  from  the  Apocalypse,  yet  it  is  related 
to  it,  on  the  other  hand,  as  the  fruit  to  the  root,  as  the  close  of  a  process  of  develop- 
ment to  its  beginning."  Dr.  Liicke  endeavors  to  account  for  this  resemblance,  which 
accompanies  the  (in  his  opinion)  far  greater  diversity,  by  the  hypothesis,  that  a  friend 
and  disciple  of  John,  during  the  latter's  life-time,  wrote  down  the  substance  of  the 
book  from  the  oral  communications  of  the  apostle  himself  respecting  the  visions  re- 
vealed to  him,  adhering  as  much  as  possible  to  his  style  of  language  and  thought,  and 
putting  them  into  his  mouth  as  by  mimicry,  so  as  to  have  the  apostle  appear  as  the 
author,  while  he  was  really  the  author  only  mediately  and  partially  (1.  c.  p.  390  sqq. 
1st  ed.).    But  this  artificial  hypothesis  is  only  a  shift  to  get  out  of  the  embarrassment, 


426  §  107.      THE   APOCALYPSE.  [l-  BOOK. 

tolical  authors,  but  John,  can  have  written  the  Apocalypse  ;  not  even  the 
evangelist  John  Mark,  whom  Hitzig,  following  out  a  hypothetical  hint 
of  Beza,  has  declared  to  be  the  author,  on  account  of  the  similarity  of 
language  and  the  partial  identity  of  name.  Still  less  can  any  one  be 
selected  from  among  the  apostolic  fathers,  to  whom  this  work  could  be 
even  with  the  remotest  probability  attributed.  But  the  author  of  such 
a  production,  which,  in  a  purely  esthetic  point  of  view,  is  one  of  the 
sublimest  creations  of  poetry  in  all  ages,  and  the  contents  of  which  have 
attracted  and  engaged  with  undiminished  fascination  the  learning  of  the 
most  learned,  and  the  ingenuity  of  the  most  ingenious,  could  certainly 
not  have  remained  utterly  unknown  ;  he  must  have  been  a  very  promi- 
nent actor  in  history/ 

Finally,  as  the  Apocalypse  demands  John  for  its  author,  so,  con- 
versely, the  peculiar  character  of  John  seems  to  demand  that  he  should 
produce  an  Apocalypse."  "We  suppose  that  this  book  has  not  come  into 
the  canon  without  the  special  ordering  of  Providence,  and  that  it  forms 
the  ap^Dropriate,  indivspensable  conclusion  of  the  New  Testament.  We 
believe,  moreover,  that  the  completeness  of  the  Christian  system  of 
revelation  demands  prophecy,  the  unveiling  of  the  future  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  by  infallible  organs,  as  certainly  as  this  kingdom  has  its 
development  on  earth  through  perpetual  warfare  and  victory,  and  as 

into  which  any  one  must  fall  who  will  not  at  the  start  acknowledge  the  apostolical 
authorship  of  the  book.  Aside  from  the  fact,  that  this  supposition  has  not  the  slight- 
est historical  testimony  to  support  it,  it  cannot  for  a  moment  be  thought  that  John, 
who  traces  the  principles  of  morality  to  their  lowest  root,  and  draws  an  impassable  line 
between  truth  and  falsehood,  would  have  let  such  a  pious  fraud,  perpetrated  at  his  side, 
go  uncensured,  and  would,  have  perfectly  concealed  his  true  relation  to  these  most  im- 
portant visions.  Gieseler,  on  the  contrary,  a  rationalistic  scholar  indeed,  but  impartial 
and  judicious,  justly  remarks  {Kirchengesch.  I.  1,  §  31,  Note  8) :  "I  cannot  bring  my- 
self to  deny  the  Apocalypse  to  the  apostle  John.  The  author  describes  himself  as 
the  apostle ;  the  oldest  witnesses  declare  him  to  be.  Had  the  book  been  falsely  ascribed 
to  him  some  thirty  years  before  his  death,  he  would  certainly  have  disclaimed  it. 
and  this  disclaimer  would  have  come  down  to  us  from  the  circle  of  his  disciples 
through  Irenaeus  ;  but  the  later  rejection  of  it  proceeds  only  from  dogmatical  interests." 
And  the  assumption,  too,  of  a  false  ascription  of  it  to  the  apostle  after  his  death  has 
insurmountable  difficulties,  external  and  internal,  historical  and  moral,  in  its  way. 

'  The  case  of  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  which  might  be  cited  here,  is  not  parallel. 
For  in  the  first  place,  the  author  of  that  bonk  does  not  name  himself  at  all ;  whereas 
the  author  of  the  Revelation  designates  himself  explicitly  as  John,  and  appears  as 
overseer  of  the  churches  of  Asia  Minor.  And  again,  there  are  men  of  Paul's  school, 
known  to  us,  as  Luke,  Barnabas,  Clement,  Apollos,  who  may  well  have  written  the 
epistle. 

^  This  point  has  been  more  fully  discussed  with  poetical  freshness  and  great  inge- 
nuity by  Dr.  John  Peter  Lange,  in  the  attractive  article  :  Ueber  den  unauflo  slid  ten 
Zusammenhang  zwischen  dcr  Individualilat  des  Aposteh  Johannes  und  dcr  Individualitul 
dir  Apocalypse^  in  his  '■'■  Vermischte  Schriften^^''  vol.  II.  (1S41),  p.  173-231. 


MISSIONS.]       §  108.      STATE  OF  THE  CHUKCH  IN  ASIA  MINOE.  427 

certainly  as  the  hope  of  the  glorious  return  of  the  Lord  forms  a  con- 
stituent element  of  Christian  life.  And  now  that  disciple  who  had  been 
favored  in  a  peculiar  degree  with  the  gift  of  intuition  and  profound  con- 
templation ;  who  drank  in  adoring  reverence  and  love  at  the  fountain 
of  the  theauthropic  life,  and  was  admitted  to  the  special  confidence  of 
the  Head  of  the  church  ;  who  was  chosen  by  the  dying  Redeemer  as  the 
guardian  of  his  bereaved  mother,  and  thus,  in  some  sense,  His  represen- 
tative ;  and  who,  as  the  patriarch  of  the  apostolic  church,  experienced 
most  of  its  conflicts  and  sufferings,  its  victories  and  hopes  ;  that  disciple 
was  best  fitted  of  all  the  apostles  to  be  the  organ  of  these  revelations 
of  the  future  and  the  final  completion  of  the  church,  and  to  seal  her 
sacred  records.  The  mystic  John,  the  apostle  of  completion,  was  by  his 
sanctified  natural  gifts,  as  well  as  by  his  position  and  experience,  pre- 
destinated, so  to  speak,  to  unveil  the  deep  foundations  of  the  church's 
life  and  the  ultimate  issue  of  her  history  ;  so  that  in  the  Apocalypse  the 
rejuvenated  apostle  simply  placed  the  majestic  dome  upon  the  wonder- 
ful structure  of  his  Gospel,  with  the  golden  inscription  of  holy  longing  : 
"  Even  so  come,  Lord  Jesus  1" 

§  108.   State  of  the  Church  in  Asia  Minor  at  the  close  of  the  Apostolic 

Period.  The  Seven  Epistles  of  the  Apocalypse. 
"We  must  not  take  leave  of  John  without  giving  a  sketch  of  the 
churches  in  Asia  Minor,  to  which  the  Revelation  is  primarily  addressed. 
The  theatre  of  John's  later  labors  was  also  the  main  theatre  of  the 
Christian  life  at  the  close  of  the  apostolic  period.  At  first  the  principal 
seat  of  Christianity  was  Jerusalem  ;  then  Antioch  ;  thence  it  moved 
westward,  until  in  the  course  of  the  second  century  Rome  became  more 
and  more  plainly  the  centre  of  ecclesiastical  movements  at  least  for  the 
West. 

The  seven  epistles  in  the  second  and  third  chapters  of  the  Apocalypse 
give  us  a  glimpse  of  the  church  in  its  light  and  shade  towards  the  end 
of  the  first  century ; — primarily  of  the  church  of  Asia  Minor,  but 
through  it  also  of  the  church  in  other  lands.  These  letters  are  all  very 
much  alike  in  their  plan,  and  present  a  beautiful  order,  which  has 
already  been  very  well  developed  by  Bengel.  They  contain  (1)  a  com- 
mand of  Christ  to  write  to  the  angel  of  such  and  such  a  church.  (2) 
A  designation  of  Jesus  by  some  imposing  title,  which  generally  refers  to 
His  majestic  appearance  (1  :  13  sqq.),  and  serves  as  the  basis  and  war- 
rant of  the  subsequent  promises  and  threatenings.  (3)  The  address  to 
the  angel,  or  the  responsible  head  of  the  congregation,  be  it  a  single 
bishop  or  the  college  of  pastors  and  teachers.  The  angels  are,  at  all 
events,  the  representatives  of  the  people  committed  to  their  charge,  and 


428  §  108.     STATE   OF   THE   CHUECH   IN   ASIA    MINOR         [l-  BOOK. 

what  was  said  to  them,  was  said  at  the  same  time  to  the  churches.  This 
address,  or  the  epistle  proper,  consists  always  of  {a)  a  short  sketch  of 
the  present  moral  condition  of  the  congregation, — both  its  virtues  and 
defects, — with  commendation  or  censure  as  the  case  may  be  ;  {b)  an 
exhortation  either  to  repentance  or  to  faithfulness  and  patience,  accord- 
ing to  the  prevailing  character  of  the  church  addressed  ;  (c)  a  promise 
to  him  who  overcomes,  together  with  the  admonition  :  "  He  that  hath 
an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit  saith  unto  the  churches"  (2  :  26- 
29.  3:5  sq.,  12  sq.,  21  sq.),  or  the  same  in  the  reverse  order  as  in 
the  first  three  epistles  (2  :  7,  11,  11).  This  latter  variation  divides  the 
seven  churches  into  two  groups,  one  comprising  the  first  three,  the  other 
the  remaining  four,  just  as  the  seven  seals,  the  seven  trumpets,  and  the 
seven  vials  are  divided.  The  ever-recurring  admonition  :  "  He  that  hath 
an  ear,"  &c.,  consists  of  ten  words.  This  is  of  course  no  unmeaning 
play,  but  an  application  of  the  Old  Testament  system  of  symbolical 
numbers,  in  which  three  was  the  symbol  of  the  Godhead ;  four  of  the 
world  or  humanity  ;  the  indivisible  number  seven,  the  sum  of  three  and 
four  (as  also  twelve,  their  product),  the  symbol  of  the  indissoluble  cove- 
nant between  God  and  man  ;  and  ten  (seven  and  three),  the  round 
number,  the  symbol  of  fulness,  completion. 

As  to  their  moral  and  religious  condition,  the  churches  and  the  repre- 
sentatives fall,  according  to  the  epistles,  into  three  classes  : 

1.  Those  which  were  predominantly  good  and  pure,  viz.,  those  of 
Smyrna  (2:9)  and  Philadelphia  (3  :  8).  Hence,  in  the  messages  to 
these  two  churches  we  find  no  exhortation  to  repentance  in  the  strict 
sense  of  the  word,  but  only  an  encouragement  to  be  steadfast,  patient, 
and  joyful  under  sufi"ering.  The  church  of  Smyrna,  a  very  ancient,  still 
flourishing  commercial  city'  in  Ionia,  on  the  bay  of  Smyrna,  perhaps 
eighteen  leagues  north  of  Ephesus,  was  externally  poor  and  persecuted, 
and  had  still  greater  tribulation  in  view,  but  is  cheered  with  the  pros- 
pect of  the  crown  of  life.  If  the  Apocalypse  was  written,  according  to 
the  oldest  and  most  reliable  tradition,  not  till  the  year  95,  there  is 
nothing  against  the  old  opinion  that  the  venerable  martyr,  Polycarp, 
was  already  at  the  head  of  this  church.''     Philadelphia,  a  city  built  by 

'  Smyrna,  or  Izmir,  as  the  Turks  call  it,  has  at  present  some  130,000  inhabitants,  of 
whom  more  than  20,000  are  Greek  and  Armenian  Christians.  It  is  also  the  centre  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  and  Protestant  missionary  operations  in  Asia  Minor. 

-  This  opinion  has  recently  been  revived  by  Hengstenberg  (Comment.  I.  168),  and 
defended  against  De  Wette  and  others,  who  date  the  composition  of  the  Apocalypse  as 
early  as  the  year  68.  When  Polycarp  suffered  martyrdom,  A.  D.  161  (according  to 
others  167),  he  had  already,  as  he  said,  served  his  divine  Lord  and  Master  eighty-six 
years,  and  would  the  less  forsake  him  now.  In  107,  Ignatius  met  him  in  Smyrna  as 
bishop,  and  according  to  Irenaeus  {Jdv.  haer.  III.  3.  and  in  Euscb.  IV.  14),  Tertullian 


MISSIONS.]  AT   THE   CLOSE   OF   THE   APOSTOLIC   PEKIOD.  429 

king  Attalus  Philadelphus  and  named  after  him  (now  Ala-Schar),  in 
the  province  of  Lydia,  a  rich  wine  region,  but  subject  to  earthquakes, 
was  the  seat  of  a  church  likewise  poor  and  small  outwardly,  but  very 
faithful  and  spiritually  flourishing  ; — a  church  which  was  to  have  all  the 
tribulations  and  hostility  it  met  with  on  earth  abundantly  rewarded  in 
heaven. 

2.  Those  which  were  in  a  'predominantly  evil  and  critical  condition,  viz. 
the  churches  of  Sardis  (3:2)  and  Laodicea  (3  :  15).  Here  accord- 
ingly we  find  severe  censure  and  earnest  exhortation  to  repentance. 
The  church  at  Sardis,  till  the  time  of  Croesus,  the  flourishing  capital  of 
the  Lydian  empire,  but  now  a  miserable  hamlet  of  shepherds,  had  indeed 
the  name  and  outward  form  of  Christianity,  but  not  its  inward  power 
of  faith  and  life.  Hence  it  was  on  the  brink  of  spiritual  death.  Yet 
the  epistle,  3  :  4  sq.,  distinguishes  from  the  corrupt  mass  a  few  souls 
which  had  kept  their  walk  undefiled,  without,  however,  breaking  away 
from  the  congregation  as  separatists,  and  in  modern  style  setting  up  an 
opposition  sect  for  themselves. — The  church  of  Laodicea,  a  wealthy 
commercial  city  of  Phrygia,  not  far  from  Colosse  and  Hierapolis  (Col. 
2:1.  4:1 3,  15),  where  now  stands  only  a  desolate  village  by  the 
name  of  Eski-Hissar,  proudly  fancied  itself  spiritually  rich  and  faultless, 
but  was  in  truth  poor  and  blind  and  naked,  and  in  that  most  dangerous 
state  of  indifi'erence  and  lukewarmness  from  which  it  is  more  difficult  to 
return  to  the  former  decision  and  ardor,  than  it  was  to  pass  at  first 
from  the  natural  coldness  to  faith.  Hence  the  fearful  threatening  :  "  I 
will  spew  thee  out  of  my  mouth."  (Lukewarm  water  produces  vomit- 
ing.) Yet  even  the  Laodiceans  are  not  driven  to  despair.  The  Lord, 
in  love,  knocks  at  their  door  and  promises  them,  on  condition  of 
thorough  repentance,  a  part  in  the  marriage-supper  of  the  Lamb  (3  :  20 
sq.). 

3.  Those  of  a  mixed  character,  viz.,  the  churches  of  Ephesus  (2:2- 
4,  6),  Pergamus  (13-15),  and  Thyatira  (v.  19).  In  these  cases  com- 
mendation and  censure,  promise  and  threatening  are  united.  Ephesus, 
then  the  metropolis  of  the  Asian  church,  already  sufficiently  familiar  to 
us  from  the  history  of  Paul  and  as  the  residence  of  John,  had  withstood, 
indeed,  the  Gnostic  errorists  predicted  by  Paul  (Acts  20  :  29),  and 
faithfully  maintained  the  purity  of  the  doctrine  delivered  to  it  ;  but  it 
had  lost  the  ardor  of  its  first  love,  and  it  is,  therefore,  earnestly  ex- 
horted to  repent.  It  thus  represents  to  us  that  state  of  dead,  petrified 
orthodoxy,  into  which  various  churches  oftentimes  fall.  Zeal  for  pure 
doctrine  is,  indeed,  of  the  highest  importance,  but  worthless  without  liv- 

and  other  old  witnesses,  he  was  appointed  bishop  of  this  church  by  the  apostles  par- 
ticularly by  John. 


430      §  108.       STATE   OF   THE    CITUKCn    IN    ASIA    MINOE,    ETC.     [i.  BOOK. 

ing  piety  and  active  love.  The  epistle  to  the  angel  of  the  church  of 
Ephesus  is  peculiarly  applicable  to  the  later  Greek  church  as  a  whole. 
— Pergamus  in  Mysia,  the  northernmost  of  these  seven  cities,  formerly 
the  residence  of  the  kings  of  Asia  of  the  Attalian  dynasty,  and  re- 
nowned for  its  large  library, — now  Bergamo,  a  little  Turkish  village  of 
about  two  thousand  inhabitants, — was  the  seat  of  a  church,  which  under 
trying  circumstances  had  shown  great  fidelity,  but  tolerated  in  her 
bosom  those  who  held  dangerous  Gnostic  errors.  For  this  want  of  rigid 
discipline,  she  also  is  called  on  to  repent. — The  church  of  Thyatira,  a 
flourishing  manufacturing  and  commercial  city  in  Lydia,  on  the  site  of 
which  now  stands  a  considerable  town  called  Ak-Hissar,  was  very  favor- 
ably distinguished  for  self-denying,  active  love  and  patience,  but  was 
likewise  too  indulgent  towards  errors  which  corrupted  Christianity  with 
heathen  principles  and  practices.  The  last  two  churches,  especially  that 
of  Thyatira,  form  thus  the  exact  counterpart  to  that  of  Ephesus,  and 
are  the  representatives  of  a  zealous  practical  piety  in  union  with 
theoretical  latitudinarianism.  As  doctrine  always  has  more  or  less 
influence  on  practice,  this  also  is  a  dangerous  state.  That  church  alone 
is  truly  sound  and  flourishing,  in  which  pure  doctrine  and  pure  life,  faith 
and  love,  theoretical  orthodoxy  and  practical  piety,  are  harmoniously 
united  and  promote  one  another. 

With  good  reason  have  pious  theologians  in  all  ages  regarded  these 
Seven  churches  of  Asia  Minor  as  a  miniature  of  the  whole  Christian 
church.  "  There  is  no  condition,  good,  bad,  or  mixed,  of  which  these 
epistles  do  not  present  a  sample,  and  for  which  they  do  not  give  suitable 
and  wholesome  direction."  Here,  as  everywhere,  the  word  of  God  and 
the  history  of  the  apostolic  church  evince  their  applicability  to  all  times 
and  circumstances,  and  their  inexhaustible  fullness  of  instruction,  warn- 
ing, and  encouragement  for  all  states  and  stages  of  religious  life. 


SECOND    BOOK 


THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  LIFE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INFLUENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY  ON  THE  MORAL  RELATIONS. 

§  109.   The  New  Creation. 

If  we  apply  to  Christianity  the  maxim  :  "By  their  fruits  ye  shall 
know  them,"  if  we  judge  of  its  origin  and  character  by  its  moral  effects, 
we  find  it  not  only  the  purest  and  best  of  all  religions,  but  absolutely 
the  only  true  and  perfect  religion.  It  alone  makes  genuine  morality 
possible,  and  brings  it  to  perfection.  The  pagan  religions  embosom  a 
great  mass  of  immoral  principles  and  practices,  and  even  sanction  them 
by  their  opinions  concerning  the  gods,  in  whom  we  find  the  concentrated 
essence  of  all  human  passions.  We  discover,  indeed,  in  Confucius, 
Socrates,  Plato,  Cicero,  Seneca,  Plutarch,  Marcus  Aurelius,  and  other 
ancient  sages,  a  multitude  of  most  beautiful  precepts  and  most  exalted 
moral  maxims.  But  they  have  neither  improved  the  world  nor  saved  a 
single  sinner.  They  are  isolated  flashes  of  light,  which  cannot  make 
day.  They  lack  an  all-pervading  principle  ;  they  lack  unity,  complete- 
ness, and  vital  energy.'     Action  is  the  most  powerful  preaching.     Life 

'  Cicero,  in  his  Tusculan  Questions,  II.  22,  where  he  discusses  virtue  in  only  one 
of  its  aspects,  as  the  overcoming  of  pain,  in  vi^hich  very  aspect,  however,  the  heroic 
Roman  character  is  most  worthy  of  admiration,  makes  the  remarkable  concession,  that 
he  has  never  yet  seen  a  perfect  wise  man  ("  quern  adhuc  nos  quidem  vidimus  nemi- 
nem"),  and  that  the  philosophers  had  described  merely  what  he  would  be,  if  there 
should  ever  be  otie  ("qiialis  futurus  sit,  si  modo  aliquando  fuerit").  The  highest  idea! 
of  morality,  to  which  classic  antiquity  attained,  was  that  just  man  {6iKaioc).  proving 
himself  by  suffering,  whom  Plato  portrays  in  the  second  book  of  his  Republic  in  con- 
trast with  the  unjust  (d(5i/cof),  Politia,  p.  74  sqq.  ed.  Ast.  (0pp.  vol.  IV.),  p.  360,  E. 
8qq.  ed.  Bip.  While  the  unjust  man,  says  Plato,  assumes  the  air  of  justice,  in  order  to 
carry  out  his  injustice,  the  just  man,  on  the  contrary,  is  simple  and  upright,  wishing, 
28 


434  §  109.      THE   NEW   CEEATION.  ["•  BOOK. 

alone  can  kindle  life.  On  far  higher  ground  stands  Judaism,  which  is 
not  the  offspring  of  unaided,  erratic  fancy  and  speculation,  but  a  divine 
revelation,  and  has  constantly  in  view  the  glory  of  God  and  the  holiness 
of  man.  Yet  it  is  but  the  shadow  of  a  future  substance,'  a  preparation 
for  Him  who  has  fulfilled  the  law  and  the  prophets,  presented  in  his  life 
the  ideal  of  holy  love,  reconciled  man  with  God,  and  thereby  opened  the 
only  pure  fountain  of  true  virtue.  The  law  demands  ;  the  gospel  gives. 
The  law  shows  what  is  duty  ;  the  gospel  gives  the  ability  to  do  it.  The 
one  is  a  mirror  of  God's  holiness  ;  the  other,  of  his  love.  The  former 
accuses  and  condemns  ;  the  latter  justifies  and  blesses.  True,  the  law 
too  has  its  promises  ;  but  they  are  conditioned  by  the  fulfillment  of  its 
commands,  which  is  possible  only  by  the  Spirit  of  the  gospel.  Nothing 
short  of  supernatural  faith  in  Jesus,  the  Redeemer,  furnishes  an  effec- 
tual remedy  for  the  disease  of  sin,  and  brings  us  into  living  communion 
with  God  and  into  the  element  of  disinterested  love  to  God  and  man,  in 
which  the  essence  of  true  virtue  and  piety  consists.  Without  regene- 
ration by  the  Holy  Ghost,  there  can  be,  in  reality,  nothing  more  than 
mere  outward  conformity  to  the  requisitions  of  the  law  from  more  or  less 
selfish  motives ;  a  legal  righteousness,  related  to  Christian  morality  as 
the  statue  to  the  living  man,  or  as  the  shadow  to  the  substance. 

Christianity,  therefore,  is  literally  a  new  moral  creation,  not,  however, 
annihilating  the  old,  but  delivering  its  energies  from  the  corruption  and 
bondage  of  sin  and  raising  them  to  perfection.  It  makes  its  first  ap- 
pearance in  all  its  fullness  and  glory  in  the  theanthropic  person  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  second  Adam,  the  head  and  representative  of  regenerate 
humanity.  To  be  Reconciler  and  Redeemer,  Christ  must  incorporate 
himself  with  human  nature  in  all  its  motions  and  states.  He  must  pass 
through  all  its  pains  and  moral  conflicts.  He  must  perfectly  overcome, 
without  once  for  a  moment  giving  way,  the  temptation  to  evil  from 

as  .^schylus  says,  to  be  good,  rather  than  to  appear  good  ;  a  man,  who  "  without  doing 
any  wrong  may  assume  the  appearance  of  ihe  grossest  injustice  {/uTjSev  jug  ddiKm' 
do^av  ExtTu  T7ig  /leyiarrjc  uSiKiac).  that  he  may  try  his  justice  in  not  allowing  himself 
to  be  shaken  by  ill  report,  or  anything  that  springs  therefrom,  but  in  remaining  con- 
stant until  death ;  being  regarded,  indeed,  throughout  his  life  as  unjust,  while  in  truth 
he  is  just."  Nay,  Plato  predicts  to  this  wise  man.  as  with  a  presentiment  of  Christ 
crucified,  that  he  "  shall  be  scourged,  tortured,  fettered,  deprived  of  his  eyes,  and,  after 
having  endured  all  possible  sufferings,  fastened  to  a  post"  (p.  361.  E.  ed.  Bip.).  But  after 
all,  this  description,  in  the  first  place,  never  rises  from  the  sphere  of  legal  justice  into 
that  of  religion  properly  so  called  ;  and  then  it  is  nothing  but  a  mere  ideal,  an  ab- 
straction, without  any  certainty  of  ever  being  realized ;  an  unconscious  and  significant 
prophecy,  so  to  speak,  of  the  unpretending,  suffering  virtue  in  servant  form,  which  ap- 
peared four  centuries  after  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  was  crucified  for  the  salvation  of  the 
world. 

'  Col.  2  :  17.    Heb.  10  :  1. 


I'IFe]  §  109.      THE   NEW   CREATION".  435 

without,  which,  as  it  assailed  the  first  Adam,  so  aiso  must  assail  him, 
for  the  trial  and  exercise  of  his  virtue.  He  had  to  maintain,  in  the 
thickening  conflict  with  the  earthly  and  hellish  kingdom  of  darkness,  his 
obedience  to  God  and  his  love  to  man,  even  to  the  sacrifice  of  his  own 
life.  In  this  way  He  must  break  the  power  of  sin  in  its  whole  compass 
and  realize  in  his  own  person  the  idea  of  sinless  holiness,  the  ideal  of 
moral  perfeQtion.'  That  he  actually  did  this  is  testified  by  the  whole 
gospel  history,  as  well  as  by  the  daily  experignce  of  all  believers,  who 
continually  feel  the  influence  of  this  moral  idea  upon  themselves,  and 
are  conscious  that  that  influence  proceeds  not  from  their  own  nature, 
nor  from  another  man,  but  from  the  person  of  Christ.  His  sublime 
moral  teaching  is  but  the  reflection  of  his  character.  His  life,  as  por- 
trayed to  us  from  personal  observation  by  the  unlettered  evangelists 
with  the  artless  pencil  of  the  most  single-hearted  love  of  truth,  and  as 
it  has  since  lain,  as  the  most  sacred  and  certain  of  all  realities,  at  the 
foundation  of  the  faith  of  His  people,  is  an  uninterrupted  communion 
with  God,  his  heavenly  Father ;  an  undisturbed  harmony  of  all  the 
powers  of  the  soul ;  a  perfect  dominion  of  reason  over  sense,  of  mind 
over  body,  of  the  consciousness  of  God  over  that  of  self  and  the  world  ; 
an  ever-victorious  struggle  against  all  forms  of  sin  and  error  ;  but  at  the 
same  time  an  unreserved  self-devotion  to  the  welfare  of  humanity  as  a 
whole,  irrespective  of  nation,  age,  sex,  condition,  or  culture,  making  its 
interests  His  own,  bearing,  in  the  deepest  sympathy,  its  moral  and  physi- 
cal sufferings,  healing  its  diseases,  perfecting  and  satisfying  its  suscepti- 
bility for  the  divine  ; — in  a  word,  it  is  om  grand  act  of  the  freest  and 
purest  love  to  God  and  man.  In  Him  piety  and  morality,  absolute 
devotion  to  God«,nd  absolute  devotion  to  mankind,  are  but  two  expres- 
sions of  the  same  inward  principle,  and  therefore  perfectly  reconciled. 

'  The  Christology  of  the  church  conceives  the  union  of  the  divine  and  hunnan 
natures  in  the  Redeemer  as  something  already  accomplished,  a  finished  fact.  This  is 
the  theological  way  of  viewing  it.  But  with  this  there  is  also  a  historical  and  ethical 
view,  which  coincides  in  its  result  with  the  other,  but  at  the  same  time  forms  its 
necessary  complement.  This  regards  the  union  in  its  progress,  its  development,  as  a 
perpetually  growing  incarnation  of  God  and  deification  of  man.  These  two  processes 
condition  each  other,  and  are  simultaneously  completed,  since  they  are  one  (not  iden- 
tical). Just  so  far  as  the  divine  forms  itself  in  the  various  stages  and  conditions  of 
human  existence,  the  latter  is  deified,  and  vice  versa.  The  descent  of  the  eternal  Logos 
through  the  Holy  Ghost  into  the  womb  of  the  virgin,  in  whom  the  religious  suscep- 
tibility of  the  whole  human  family  reached  its  maturity,  is  the  beginning, — the  exal- 
tation of  the  human  nature,  thus  forever,  yet  without  confusion,  united  with  the  Logos, 
to  the  right  hand  of  the  Father  and  to  a  participation  in  the  divine  government  of  the 
world,  is  the  end,— of  this  sacred  biography  of  the  second  Adam.  Only  so  far  as  He 
has  become  what  he  is  by  a  moral  and  religious  process,  by  the  activity  of  his  will,  can 
he  be  in  any  proper  sense  the  pattern  which  we  are  to  follow.  Comp.  Lu.  2  :  52. 
Heb.  5:8. 


436  §109.       THE   NEW    CREATION.  [ll.  BOOK. 

Where  in  the  universe  is  there  a  being  so  full  of  earnestness  and  mild- 
ness, grandeur  and  humility,  hatred  of  sin  and  love  of  sinners  ;  so 
deeply  moved  and  inspired,  yet  of  such  heavenly  serenity  and  calmness  ; 
so  symmetrical  and  harmonious  ;  so  thoroughly  controlled  by  a  sole 
regard  to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  the  world  ;  so  divine, 
yet  so  genuinely  human  ;  so  sublime  and  awful,  yet  so  irresistibly  attrac- 
tive,— as  Jesus  of  Nazartth  ?  Here  is  more  than  the  majesty  of  the 
starry  heavens  above  us  and  the  moral  law  within  us,  which  filled  even 
the  prosaic  philosopher,  Kant,  with  ever-growing  admiration  and  awe. 
Here  is  the  "  holy  of  holies"  of  history,  which  infidelity  itself,  if  it 
retain  the  least  sense  of  decency  and  of  the  dignity  of  man,  does  not 
venture  to  violate.  Here  is  the  light  of  the  world,  which  immediately 
attests  its  own  presence  and  glory,  and  sends  its  rays  through  all  ages 
and  climes.  Here  is  the  fresh  fountain  of  life,  in  which  the  noblest 
of  our  race  have  bathed  and  purified  themselves,  have  renewed  their 
youth  and  been  inspired  for  every  great  and  good  work.  Here  is  the 
soul's  only  true  point  of  departure,  its  only  firm  centre  of  repose,  on 
which  rests  all  confidence  in  the  moral  nobility  and  eternal  destiny  of 
man,  nay,  all  certitude  itself.  Here  is  the  only  sure  refuge  of  the 
weary  and  heavy-laden — and  such  are  all  who  know  themselves — where 
they  find  rest  and  refreshment,  and  soon  learn  to  exclaim  with  Peter  : 
"Lord,  to  whom  shall  we  go?  Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life!" 
— "  One  could  bear,"  says  the  childlike  Claudius,  "to  be  branded  and 
broken  on  the  wheel  for  the  mere  idea"  (how  much  more  for  the  living, 
bodily  reality  ?),  "and  he  must  be  crazy  who  can  think  of  mocking  and 
laughing  at  it.  He,  who  has  his  heart  in  the  right  place,  lies  in  the 
dust,  exults,  and  adores." 

By  His  sinless  life,  by  His  free-will  offering  of  himself  on  the  cross  iu 
our  stead  and  for  our  good,  and  by  His  triumph  over  death  and  the 
grave,  Christ  has  wrought  out  a  complete  atonement  and  redemption  for 
humanity,  and  has  become  the  founder  and  the  head  of  a  new  moral  and 
religious  kingdom,  which  carries  in  itself  the  necessary  supernatural 
power,  and  is  destined  to  purge  the  world  of  all  elements  of  sin  and 
error,  and,  leaven-like,  to  pervade,  to  sanctify,  and  perfect  it.  This 
purifying  and  developing  work  of  the  Redeemer  in  and  through  his 
kingdom  is  absolute,  arriving  at  nothing  short  of  moral  and  religious 
perfection.  If,  therefore,  there  are  still  imperfection,  sin,  and  error  in 
the  world,  the  reason  is  not  in  the  Redeemer  nor  in  the  constitution  of 
his  kingdom,  but  in  the  perversity  of  human  nature.  Every  believer 
must  admit,  that,  if  evil  still  cleaves  to  him,  it  is  purely  his  own  fault. 
So  far  as  he  lives  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature  ;  old  things  have 
passed  away,   and  all  has  become  new  (2  Cor.  5  :  17).     Again,  this 


LIFE.]  §  110.       THE    APOSTLES  437 

work  of  Christ  is  absolute  and  universal  in  its  extent.  As  it  touches 
all  the  powers  and  capacities  of  the  individual,  so  it  extends  also  to  all 
the  proper,  divinely-established  relations  and  conditions  of  human  life, 
resting  not  till  it  bring  humanity  as  a  whole  (not  in  the  numerical,  but 
organic  sense)  to  perfection  ;  till  all  sciences,  arts,  states,  and  social 
institutions,  in  happy  freedom  serve  the  Lord  ;  till  even  the  body  is 
glorified,  all  nature  regenerated  and  transformed  into  the  theatre  of  the 
perfect  theocracy,  the  new  earth  united  with  the  new  heavens,  and  God 
made  all  in  all.  For  Christ  is  not  merely  "a  clergyman  or  a  pastor, 
but  a  high-priest  and  king,'"  to  whom  the  whole  world  belongs  and 
must  ultimately  submit  in  free  and  cheerful  adoration. 

Thus  the  incarnation  of  the  eternal  Word,  while  it  is,  on  the  one 
hand,  the  culminating  point  of  all  the  previous,  preparatory  revelations 
of  God,  the  winding  up  of  the  ancient  history,  is,  on  the  other,  the 
creative  beginning  of  a  vast  series  of  operations  and  influences,  which, 
flowing  forth  from  this  central  fact  and  the  ever-present  energy  of  its 
life,  run  through  all  centuries  and  nations,  and  will  end  only  with  the 
third  and  last  creation.  The  Old  Testament  begins  with  the  natural 
creation  ;  the  New,  with  the  moral,  the  incarnation  ;  and  with  the 
union  of  the  two,  the  absolute  glorification  of  Nature  in  Spirit,  of  the 
world  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  the  Bible  closes.'' 

We  are  now  to  observe  how  this  transforming  power  of  the  Spirit 
of  Christ  revealed  itself  in  the  apostolic  church  :  first  in  the  personal 
character  of  the  apostles  ;  then  in  the  family  and  the  congregation  ;  and 
finally,  in  civil  and  national  life. 

§  110.  The  Apostles. 
When  we  look  at  the  lives  and  labors  of  the  several  apostles,  as  they 
have  already  been  presented  in  detail ;  when  we  consider  their  humble 
parentage  and  education,  their  unselfish  motives  and  purposes,  their 
gigantic  performances  in  almost  total  want  of  outward  means,  their 
incalculable  influence  not  only  upon  their  own  age,  but  upon  the  whole 
succeeding  history  of  the  church  and  the  world, — we  are  irresistibly 
overwhelmed  with  the  impression  of  a  power,  a  purity,  and  a  sublimity, 
which  far  transcend  the  sphere  of  mere  natural  will,  and  before  which 
the  greatest  heroes  of  heathendom  vanish  like  shadows.  Here  we 
everywhere  feel  the  life-giving  breath  of  a  new  moral  creation,  of  a 
regeneration  which  reaches  to  the  very  centre  of  the  human  constitution, 
and  which  can  be  produced  only  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.     A 

*  Words  of  Dr.  R.  Rothe  in  the  preface   to  the   first  volume  of  his  Thcologische 
Ethik.  1845,  p.  xiii. 

*  Comp.  (j  6  above.  * 


438  §  110.      THE   ll'OSTLES.       .  ["•  BOOK. 

few  fishermen  of  Galilee,  who,  as  Jews,  were  accustomed  to  make  so 
rigid  a  separation  between  a  holy  God  and  sinful  man,  and  to  shrink 
from  any  mixture  of  the  two  as  from  horrible  idolatry,  rise  to  the  in- 
tuition of  the  absolute  God-man,  and  thereby  prove  that  they  them- 
selves have  become  children  of  God,  in  whom  is  reflected  that  original, 
sinless  life  of  the  Redeemer.  They  can  all  say'  with  Paul  :  "I  live  ; 
yet  not  I  (in  my  old,  natural  man,  in  the  flesh,  a  slave  of  sin  and  of  the 
law),  but  Christ  liveth  in  me"  (Gal.  2  :  20).  Their  piety  is  thus  a  real 
indwelling  of  Christ  in  their  souls  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  through  the 
instrumentality  of  faith,  so  that  He  forms  the  motive  power  of  their 
whole  being,  and  they  think,  speak,  write  and  act  by  Him,  in  His 
Spirit,  and  according  to  His  will. 

This  union  of  the  apostles  with  Christ  was  not,  indeed,  a  pantheistic 
confusion.  They  retained  their  self-consciousness,  their  personality  and 
individual  peculiarities.  No  true,  living  unity  can  be  conceived  without 
personal  distinction.  But  neither  was  this  union,  on  the  other  hand,  a 
merely  moral  one,  a  sympathy  of  thought,  feeling,  and  aim,  like  that, 
perhaps,  between  a  pious  Jew  and  Moses,  between  a  Mohammedan  and 
Mohammed,  or  between  any  pupil  and  his  teacher,  or  other  kindred 
spirits.  Next  to  the  unsearchable  Trinity,  and  the  relation  of  the 
divine  and  human  natures  in  the  Redeemer,  it  was  the  deepest,  holiest, 
and  most  indissoluble  union  conceivable.  It  was  a  literal  community 
of  life,  which  extended  to  the  whole  man,  beginning  in  the  inmost  soul 
and  ending  with  the  resurrection  of  the  body  (2  Cor.  3  :  18.  Phil.  3  : 
24)  ;  a  communion  of  life,  which,  according  to  the  sublime  represen- 
tation of  the  Scriptures  themselves,  has  its  original  in  the  mystery  of 
the  eternal  unity  of  the  Only  Begotten  with  the  Father  (Jno.  It  :  21)  ; 
its  image,  in  the  tenderest  and  closest  unions  in  the  province  of  nature, 
the  relation  of  body  and  soul,  members  and  head,  wife  and  husband, 
branch  and  vine.*  Christ  is  not  only  the  progenitor  of  the  life  of 
believers,  as  Adam  was  the  progenitor  of  our  natural  existence.  He  is 
a  "quickening  spirit"  (1  Cor.  15  :  45),  and  as  such  the  ever-present 
and  inexhaustible  fountain  of  life.  On  him  the  whole  spiritual  existence 
of  his  people  every  moment  depends,  as  the  branches  on  the  vine,  and 

^  Comp.  Jno.  6  :  r)l-58.  15  :  1-8.  Rom.  8  :  9-11.  1  Cor.  6  :  17.  12  :  14-27- 
Gal.  2  :  20  sq.  Eph.  1  :  22  sq.  4  :  15  sq.  5  :  22-23-  Col.  1  :  18,  24.  2  :  19.  3  : 
3  sq.,  anc' ^many  other  passages,  especially  Paul's  perpetually  recurring  phrases,  "in 
the  Lord,"  "  in  Christ,"  where  the  h  should  not  be  taken  instrumentally  and  con- 
founded with  6m.  but  as  denoting  the  sphere  of  life,  the  element,  in  which  believers 
move,  and  in  which  all  their  moral  relations,  their  duties  as  parents  and  children,  hus- 
band and  wife,  masters  and  servants,  rulers  and  subjects,  &c.,  have  their  foundation  and 
their  significance. 


LIFE.]  §  110.      THE   APOSTLES.  439 

from  him  tliey  are  perpetually  inspired  anew  for  word  and  deed.  Jno. 
14  :  19.     15:5;  "  Without  me  ye  can  do  nothing." 

In  relation  to  the  Redeemer,  therefore,  the  religious  life  of  the  apos- 
tles was  derived,  gushing  forth  from  His  fullness  and  wholly  dependent 
on  Him,  yet  at  the  same  time  truly  free.  In  relation  to  the  church, 
however,  it  was  original,  welling  up  in  uncommon  freshness  and  purity, 
the  most  vigorous  and  unadulterated  continuation  of  the  earthly  human 
life  of  Jesus  himself  ;  a  life  of  love,  of  unconditional  devotion  to  God 
and  to  the  eternal  interests  of  mankind  to  the  latest  breath.  A  specific 
distinction  between  the  apostles  and  ordinary  Christians  there  is  not ; 
for  the  former  owed  all  to  the  Lord,  and  the  latter  enjoy,  in  the  Holy 
Ghost,  through  faith,  the  same  immediate  access  to  the  Redeemer.  But 
there  is  an  important  difference  in  degree.  A  Peter,  a  Paul,  and  a 
John  are  patterns  and  examples  for  us  in  a  far  deeper  sense  and  in 
higher  measure  than  the  most  enlightened  and  godly  martyrs,  church 
fathers,  or  reformers. 

The  mode  of  transition  from  the  natural  to  the  higher  spiritual  life 
varied  in  the  apostles  according  to  their  individual  peculiarities  ;  for  to 
these  God  condescends  to  accommodate  himself  in  His  revelations. 
Our  Lord  himself  (Jno.  3:8)  compares  the  operation  of  the  Spirit  in 
regeneration  to  the  wind,  primarily  to  illustrate  the  mysteriousness  of 
its  origin  and  end,  its  absolute  freedom  and  independence  upon  human 
calculations,  and  yet,  at  the  same  time,  the  impossibility  of  denying  or 
resisting  its  action.  But  we  may  legitimately  extend  the  comparisou 
also  to  the  various  degrees  of  force  and  rapidity  with  which  the  Spirit 
operates.  For  as  the  wind  at  one  time  blows  a  hurricane  amidst  light- 
ning and  thunder,  uprooting  trees,  demolishing  houses,  and  wrecking 
ships  ;  at  another  rises  gradually  and  almost  imperceptibly,  as  the  cool 
zephyr,  playing  with  delightful  freshness  on  the  brow  ; — so  is  it  also 
with  the  Holy  Ghost,  according  as  He  has  to  deal  with  a  proud, 
energetic  character,  or  a  modest  and  gentle  one,  with  a  hoary  offender 
or  a  guileless  child.  Upon  a  Paul  He  descends  suddenly  and  unex- 
pectedly, like  a  thunder-storm  ;  upon  a  John  He  falls  like  the  gentle 
dew  or  the  mild  rays  of  the  vernal  sun.  Yet  even  in  the  first  case  the 
transformation  ought  not  to  be  regarded  as  altogether  abrupt  and 
magical.  Even  what  are  called  sudden  conversions  are  always  inwardly 
and  outwardly  prepared,  though  often  in  a  way  not  clearly  discernible 
by  the  subject  himself ;  they  never  wholly  break  the  connection  with  the 
previous  course  of  life.'  For  regeneration  is  not  the  destroying,  but  the 
redeeming,  the  exalting,  and  the  sanctifying  of  the  natural  gifts,  faculties, 

'  Com  p.  Neander's  fine  article  :  Die  mawnigfachen  Wegc  dcs  Herrn  in  dent  Werkeder 
Bekehrung,  in  his  "  Kleinen  Gelegenheit$schriften"    3id  ed.,  1829,  p.  130  sqq. 


440  §  110.       THE    APOSTLES.  [n.  BOOK. 

and  idiosyncracies.  Everything  purely  human  Christianity  attracts, 
develops,  and  perfects.  Only  sin  it  inexorably  repels  ;  and  sin  is  not  a 
constituent  element  of  human  nature,  as  it  originally  was,  but  an 
accident  cloaving  to  it  only  from  the  fall  ;  not  nature  itself,  but  a  cor- 
ruption of  the  nature  created  by  God  and  in  itself  good.  Manicheism 
has  always  been  condemned  by  the  church  as  an  error,  leading  to  the 
denial  of  man's  capability  of  redemption,  as  the  opposite  extreme  of 
Pelagianism  leads  to  the  denial  of  his  need  of  it. 

Accordingly  we  find  in  the  apostles,  in  point  of  fact,  their  peculiar 
temperaments  and  capacities  remaining  after  conversion,  but  raised 
from  the  sj^here  of  nature  into  that  of  Spirit,  from  the  service  of  self 
and  the  world  to  the  service  of  God  and  his  Christ.  How  much  alike 
are  these  apostles,  yet  how  great  the  diversity  among  them  !  The 
church  may  well  be  compared  to  a  garden  variegated  with  flowers  of 
every  species  and  clime  ;  to  an  anthem,  in  which  the  highest  and  deepest 
tones  blend  in  wonderful  harmony  ;  to  a  body,  whose  members  have 
each  its  particular  form  and  function,  yet  are  ruled  by  the  same  head, 
permeated  by  the  same  blood,  and  subservient  to  the  same  end,  accord- 
ing to  the  masterly  representation  of  Paul,  1  Cor.  12  :  4  sqq.  In  this 
very  diversity  of  divine  endowments  must  we  adore  the  inexhaustible 
wisdom  and  grace  of  the  Lord.  The  unbiassed  contemplation  of  this 
unity  in  diversity  and  diversity  in  unity,  should  free  us  from  all  exclu- 
siveness  and  bigotry;  and  raise  us  to  a  genuine  liberality  and  catholicity 
of  thought  and  feeling. 

Peter  retained  the  fire  of  his  nature,  his  quickness  of  decision  in  word 
and  deed,  his  practical  talent  for  governing  ;  but  these  were  purified 
from  vanity  and  self-conceit,  and  coupled  with  true  humility.  He 
became  more  constant  and  reliable,  and  thenceforth  sought  not  his  own 
honor,  but  solely  the  glory  of  the  Lord  and  the  salvation  of  souls.' 
John  remained  a  son  of  thunder  in  the  boldness  and  massiveness  of  his 
ideas,  in  his  overwhelming  zeal  against  everything  uugodly  and  anti- 
christian,  in  his  keen  discrimination  between  light  and  darkness,  truth 
and  falsehood,  the  Spirit  of  Christ  and  the  spirit  of  the  world,  the 
children  of  God  and  the  children  of  the  devil.  But  the  inconsiderate 
vehemence  of  passion,  in  which  he  once  rashly  proposed  to  call  down 
fire  from  heaven,  he  had  laid  aside,  and  had  become  wholly  conformed 
to  the  spirit  of  his  Master.  In  his  character  there  was  a  rare  blending, 
by  no  means  unaccountable,  however,  on  psychological  principles,  of  the 
most  ardent  love  with  the  holiest  severity,  an  almost  maidenly  tender- 
ness and  mildness  with  the  strongest  antipathy  to  everything  impure.* 

'■  Comp.  1  Pet.  4  :  10,  11.     5:1  sqq.,  and  §  89  above. 

®  Comp.  what  we  have  already  said  (^  103)  respecting  the  character  of  this  apostle. 


LIFE.]  §  110.       THE    ArOSTLES.  441 

Of  the  character  of  Paul  we  have  the  fullest  representation  in  his 
numerous  epistles  and  in  the  Acts  of  Luke  ;  as,  in  fact,  this  apostle 
labored  more  than  all  the  others  (1  Cor.  15  :  10).  In  him  the  trans- 
ition from  the  old  life  to  the  new  was  most  abrupt,  and  therefore  most 
striking.  Indeed  he  calls  himself  even  an  abortion  {tKTQuim,  1  Cor.  15  : 
8),  to  denote  the  violent,  irregular  mode  of  his  conversion.  Yet  his 
great  gifts  and  learned  education,  which  distinguished  him  above  all  his 
colleagues,  were  made,  under  the  direction  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  of  the 
most  important  service  to  the  church..  It  is  he  who  has  given  us  the 
only  complete,  systematic  exhibition  we  have  of  the  doctrines  of  salva- 
tion. Endowed  with  uncommon  depth  and  acuteness  of  thought,  with 
indomitable  energy  and  proud  independence  of  will,  earnestly  and 
honestly  striving  withal  after  moral  perfection,  but  totally  blind  as  to 
the  way  of  attaining  it,  and  implicated  in  the  sin  against  the  Son  of 
Man  (Matt.  12  :  32),  he  stands  at  first  at  the  head  of  the  zealots  for 
the  law  of  his  fathers,  sworn  to  exterminate  the  followers  of  the  Naza- 
rene.  Suppressing  the  gentle  risings  of  sympathy,  not  suffering  hhnself 
to  be  disconcerted  by  the  sight  of  the  heavenly  sufferer,  Stephen,  he 
persecutes  the  Christians,  breathes  out  blasphemies  against  the  Cruci- 
fied, and  hastens  to  Damascus,  with  full  power  from  the  Sanhedrim, 
to  root  out  there  also,  if  possible,  the  dangerous  sect.  How  entirely 
different  his  conduct  after  the  wonderful  event  which  transformed  the 
cursing  Saul  into  the  praying  Paul,  the  cruel  persecutor  into  the  most 
laborious  and  efficient  advocate  of  Christianity  !  All  those  gifts  of 
nature,  which  have  hitherto  been  dealing  destruction  in  the  service  of  a 
blind  fanaticism,  become  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  are  consecrated 
to  the  most  faithful  service  of  Christ  crucified,  whom  he  thenceforth 
regards  not  as  an  usurper  of  the  Messiahship,  but  as  the  true  Saviour 
of  the  world,  and  as  his  highest,  his  only  wisdom  and  strength.  The 
same  energy,  decision  and  consistency,  but  coupled  with  gentleness, 
meekness  and  wisdom  ;  the  same  inflexibility  of  purpose,  but  no  dis- 
position to  use  violence  or  unholy  means  ;  the  same  independence  and 
lordliness,  but  animated  by  the  most  selfrdenying  love,  which  strives  to 
become  all  things  to  all  men  ;  the  same,  nay,  still  greater  zeal  for  the 
glory  of  God,  but  cleansed  of  all  impure  motives  ;  the  same  inexorable 
rigor,  not,  however,  against  erring  brethren,  but  only  against  sin  and  all 
impeachment  of  the  merits  of  Christ ;  the  same  fire,  no  longer  that  of  a 
passionate  zealot,  but  of  a  mind  at  rest,  considerate  and  self-possessed  ; 
the  same  dialectic  acumen  of  a  Rabbin  of  Gamaliel's  school,  no  longer 
busied,  however,  with  useless  subtleties,  but  employed  to  vindicate  evan- 
gelical doctrine  and  oppose  all  self-righteousness.  In  a  service  of  almost 
thirty  years,  from  his  conversion  to  his  martyrdom,  Paul  shows  such 


442  §  110.      THE   APOSTLES.  [n.  BOOK. 

nobleness  of  mind,  such  deep  tenderness  of  heart,  such  disinterestedness 
and  fidelity  in  laboring  for  the  most  exalted  and  holy  ends,  the  spread 
of  the  kingdom  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  immortal  souls,  through 
almost  incessant  persecution  and  hardship,  derision  and  anxiety,  hunger 
and  thirst,  chains  and  imprisonment ;  and  notwithstanding  the  unex- 
ampled success  of  his  labors  in  two  quarters  of  the  globe,  with  all  his 
consciousness  of  the  unassailable  height  and  glory  of  his  calling,  he 
exhibits  such  unfeigned  humility,  declaring  himself  the  least  of  all  the 
apostles  and  the  chief  of  sinners,  ascribing  all  his  honor  and  fame  to 
free  grace  alone,  and  glorying  only  in  his  weakness,  in  which  the  power 
of  God  is  magnified  ; — in  short,  he  presents  a  character  so  pure  and 
sublime,  that  he  stands  forth  as  a  living  apology  for  Christianity  of  irre- 
sistible force  to  every  unprejudiced  mind.  Indeed  it  seems  inconceiv- 
able that  any  one,  after  thoroughly  studying  such  a  life,  can  for  a 
moment  doubt  the  divinity  of  the  gospel.  Of  deception  and  hypocrisy 
it  is  here  not  to  be  whispered  ;  nor  even  of  self-delusion  and  enthusiasm. 
For  Paul,  though  he  was  once  caught  up  into  the  third  heaven  and 
heard  unutterable  words,  was  anything  rather  than  a  dreamer  and  a 
visionary.  He  manifests,  on  the  contrary,  rare  moderation,  prudence, 
and  self-control  in  all  the  circumstances  of  his  life.  In  general,  we 
observe  in  all  the  apostles  an  extraordinary  combination  of  the  inno- 
cence of  the  dove. and  the  wisdom  of  the  serpent,  depth  and  clearness, 
fullness  of  heart  and  discretion,  vivacity  and  calmness. 

The  four  leading  apostles  have  by  many  been  characterized  according 

to  the  four  temperaments,  to  James  being  assigned  the  phlegmatic,  to 

Peter  the  sanguine,  to  Paul  the  choleric,  and  to  John  the  melancholic, 

each  sanctified  by  Christianity.     This  comparison,  however,  will  not 

hold  strictly  ;  at  least  the  phlegmatic  temperament  does  not  accord 

with  the  practical  activity  of  James  and  the   life  and  power  of  his 

epistle.     It  is  better  to  suppose  in  all  a  mixture  of  temperaments,  with 

the  preponderance  of  one  or  another,   as  in   every  well-proportioned 

character.'     James  is  the  most  fettered,  Paul  the  most  free  ;  the  former 

predominantly  legal,  the  latter  thoroughly  evangelical.     Yet  the  two 

coincide   remarkably   in   their   common   anthropological   starting-point, 

as  also  in  their  spiritualized  conception  of  the  law  and  of  righteousness." 

'  UUman  {Die   Simdlosigkeit  Jesu,  p.  46,  5th  ed.)  justly  observes,  that  in  Jesus  we 

can  speak  of  no  temperament  at  all ;  as  this  always  denotes  a  certain  disproportion  in 

the  combination  of  mental  faculties,  the  preponderance  of  one  class  of  talents.     "  In 

Him  we  find  only  the  purest  temperamcntum  in  the  old  sense  of  the  word,  a  mixture 

harmonious  throughout,  the  proper,  healthy  proportion  of  all  faculties  and  talents." 

The  same  is  true  of  the  apostles,  only  in  a  less  degree,  so  far  as  they  approach  this 

pattern. 

*  As  Neander  especially  has  finely  shown  in  his  article  :  Paulus  und  Jakobus.     Die 


LIFE.]  §  111.      THE   FAMILY.  443 

Peter  is  the  most  outwardly  active  and  practical,  John  the  most  m- 
wardly  active  and  mystical ;  yet  is  the  former  also  profound  and  spirit- 
ual, while  the  latter  shows  equal  zeal  for  a  holy  walk.  James  preaches 
chiefly  the  acting  faith  ;  Peter,  the  confessing  ;  Paul,  the  justifying  ; 
John,  the  loving  and  enjoying.  It  is  at  bottom,  however,  the  same 
faith  in  all,  only  appearing  in  life  in  different  forms,  which  can  never  be 
abstractly  severed  from  one  another.  With  James,  law  is  the  main 
idea  ;  with  Peter,  hope  ;  with  Paul,  faith  ;  with  John,  love.  But 
James  makes  love  the  sum  and  soul  of  the  law  ;  John  makes  love  con- 
sist in  fulfilling  the  divine  commands  ;  while  upon  the  same  love  Paul 
pens  from  experience  the  most  beautiful  and  sublime  eulogy,  and  in 
it  Peter  faithfully  followed  the  Lord,  even  to  the  death  of  the  cross. 
And  as  to  hope,  Peter,  on  his  part,  sees  in  Christ  the  fulfillment  of  all 
the  Messianic  promises,  while  all  the  other  apostles,  John  among  the 
rest,  who  most  anticipates  the  ideal  future,  agree  with  him,  that  we  are 
here  "  saved  in  hope,"  that  "  we  walk  by  faith,  not  by  sight,"  and  that 
"  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be." 

Thus,  therefore,  these  representatives  of  the  four  ground-forms  of  the 
Christian  life,  which  are  continually  repeating  themselves  in  the  church, 
integrate  one  another,  and  blend  in  full-toned  harmony,  to  the  praise 
of  the  one  Redeemer,  whose  holy  and  sanctifying  Spirit  lives  in  them  all, 
and  to  the  continual  instruction,  encouragement,  and  edification  of  the 
redeemed,  who  follow  them  in  the  same  path  and  to  the  same  glorious 
goal  I' 

§  111.  T/^e  Family. 
Marriage,  that  universal,  fundamental  moral  relation,  the  nursery  of 
the  state  and  the  church,  is,  indeed,  as  old  as  humanity  itself,  and  a 
strictly  divine  institution  (Gen.  2  :  18).  But  under  the  influence  of  sin 
it  has  degenerated,  and  Christianity  alone  restores  it  to  its  proper  dig- 
nity and  significance.     Our  religion  places  marriage  in  the  most  exalted 

Einheit  ties  evangelischen  Geintes  in  vcrschiedenen  Formen,  printed  in  his  "  Kleinen  Gelegen- 
heitsschriftenP  p.  1  sqq. 

'  Der  Schlachtruf,  der  St.  Pauli  Brust  entsprungen, 

Rief  nicht  sein  Echo  auf  zu  tausend  Streiten  ^ 

Und  welch'ein  Friedensecho  hat  geklungen 

Durch  tausend  Herzen  von  Johannis  Saiten! 

Wie  viele  rasche  Feuer  sind  entglommen 

Als  Wiederschein  von  Petri  Funkenspriihen  ! 

Und  sieht  man  Andre  still  mit  Opfern  kommen. 

Ist's,  weil  sie  in  Jakobi  SchuP  gediehen  : — 

Ein  Satz  ist's,  der  in  Variationen 

Vom  ersten  Anfeig  Ibrttont  durch  ^Eonen. 


444  §    111-       THE   FAMILY.  [n.  ROOK. 

light  by  representing  it  as  a'  copy  of  the  relation  of  Christ  to  his 
church,  thus  giving  it  a  truly  holy,  we  may  say,  a  sacramental  character 
(Eph.  5  :  -22-33). 

By  this  comparison,  in  the  first  place,  polygamy,  which  is  found  more 
or  less  not  only  in  all  heathen  nations  (most  rarely  in  the  Roman  and 
Germanic),  but  even  amongst  the  Old  Testament  patriarchs  and  kings, 
and  which  has  the  sanction  of  law  with  Mohammedians,  is  forever  con- 
demned, and  monogamy  made  the  rule.  This  form  of  the  conjugal 
relation  was  presented  in  the  creation  of  the  first  human  pair  as  the 
normal  one  ;  was  made  the  ideal  by  the  Mosaic  law  ;  and  is  the  only 
condition  of  a  true  and  truly  happy  marriage.  Then  again,  in  this 
analogy  is  implied  the  indissoluble  nature  of  the  marriage  bond  ;  for  the 
union  between  Christ  and  his  bride,  the  church,  can  never  be  broken. 
The  husband  and  the  wife  are  one  flesh  ;  and  what  God  has  joined 
together,  man  must  not  put  asunder  (comp.  Matt.  19  :  3-9.  1  Cor.  T  : 
10).  Increase  of  immorality  always  goes  hand  in  hand  with  the  facili- 
tating of  divorce. 

Again,  Christianity  alone  raises  icoman  to  her  true  dignity.  It  is 
well  known,  that  in  antiquity,  even  among  the  highly-cultivated  Greeks, 
woman  was  generally  looked  upon  as  a  mere  tool  of  lust,  and  therefore 
in  the  most  degraded  light.  Her  education  was  shamefully  neglected  ; 
and  if  she  sometimes  attained  prominence  in  society,  it  was  wholly  in 
consequence  of  bodily  attraction  and  the  gift  of  entertaining  wit,  not  for 
any  moral  force  or  purity  of  character.  Even  Plato,  with  all  his 
exalted  ideas,  knew  nothing  of  the  sacredness  of  monogamy.  In  his 
ideal  state  he  allows  promiscuous  concubinage.  And  in  the  ethical 
works  of  Aristotle,  among  many  virtues,  chastity  and  mercy,  those  pil- 
lars of  genuine  morality,  are  never  mentioned.  Sophocles,  in  his  pious, 
childlike,  devoted,  self-denying  sufferer,  Antigone,  who  followed  her 
blind  father  into  exile  and  sought  in  every  way  to  alleviate  his  misfor- 
tunes, reaches  out  prophetically  beyond  the  domain  of  heathenism. 
Antigone  is  an  ideal  creation  of  poetic  fancy,  realized  only  in  Christian 
nations.  In  reverence  for  the  marriage  relation  the  ancient  Germans 
stood  highest.  They  distinguished  themselves  above  all  other  pagans 
by  their  great  regard  for  the  female  sex,  their  chastity  and  conjugal 
fidelity  ;  and  these  traits  among  others  especially  predisposed  them  for 
the  gospel.  Yet  these  become  most  firm  and  sacred  only  by  being 
referred  to  the  holiest  of  all  conceivable  relations.  Christianity  does 
not,  indeed,  take  woman  out  of  her  natural  sphere  of  subordination  and 
domestic  life,  and  throw  her  into  the  whirl  of  public  activity,  from 
which  she  instinctively  shrinks  ;  but  places  her  in  a  religious  and  moral 
point  of  view  by  the  side  of  man,  as  a  joint-heir  of  the  same  heavenly 


LIPE-l  §  111.    THE   FAMILY.  445 

inheritance  (1  Pet.  3  :  *[);  and  by  doctrine  and  illustrious  example,  as 
in  the  ever  blessed  Virgin,  in  Salome,  Martha  and  Mary,  and  Mary 
Magdalene,  it  has  opened  the  way  for  the  development  of  the  noblest 
and  loveliest  female  virtues  in  all  their  forms. 

Finally,  from  that  fruitful  analogy  may  be  derived  all  the  duties  of 
husband  and  wife  to  one  another  and  to  their  children,  as  Paul  himself 
presents  them  in  few  but  comprehensive  words  in  the  passage  cited 
above. 

1.  T^he  relation  of  the  hitsband  to  the  wife  is  the  same  as  that  of 
Christ  to  the  church.  In  other  words,  the  husband  is  even  by  virtue  of 
his  whole  physical  and  intellectual  constitution  the  head  of  the  wife,  her 
lord  and  ruler  (Eph.  5  :  22).  He  is  not,  however,  to  lord  it  over  her 
ambitiously  and  arbitrarily,  as  a  despot,  but  with  the  power  of  love,  sur- 
rendering himself  to  her,  as  a  part  of  his  own  being,  as  his  other  self, 
making  her  partaker  of  all  his  joys  and  possessions,  patiently  and  meekly 
bearing  her  weaknesses,  promoting  in  every  way  her  temporal  and  above 
all  her  spiritual  welfare,  and  sacrificing  himself  for  her,  even  to  his  last 
breath,  as  Christ  has  given  His  life  for  the  church,  is  continually  purify- 
ing and  sanctifying  her  with  his  blood,  and  raising  her,  as  a  spotless, 
richly  adorned  bride,  to  full  participation  in  his  glory  and  blessedness.' 
This,  then,  makes  the  sanctification  and  moral  perfection  of  the  charac- 
ter the  highest  end  of  conjugal  life,  to  which  the  physical  object,  the 
propagation  of  the  race,  must  be  subordinate  and  subservient,^ — a  view, 
of  which  heathendom  never  dreamed.  Of  course,  however,  the  devotion 
of  the  husband  and  wife  to  each  other,  as  well  as  to  the  children,  ought 
never  to  be  absolute,  or  it  would  degenerate  into  idolatry.  It  should 
not  interfere  in  the  least  either  with  the  moral  duties  of  public  life  and 
occupation,  by  neglect  of  which  the  most  ardent  conjugal  love  must  only 
shrink  morbidly  into  itself  and  wither,  or  with  the  demands  of  love  to 
God,  who  alone  can  claim  our  undivided  heart  and  life.  On  the  contrary 
it  should  favor  both.  When  there  is  any  danger  of  a  conflict  here,  then 
the  command  is  of  force  :  "  Let  them  that  have  wives,  be  as  though 
they  had  none"  (1  Cor.  1  :  29). 

2.  The  wife  stands  related  to  the  husband,  as  the  church  to  the  Lord  ; 
that  is,  she  is  to  be  subject  to  him,  and  to  show  him  all  due  reverence.^ 
But  this  obedience  does  not  exclude  equality  of  personal  and  moral  dig- 

»  Eph.  5  :  25-31.     Col.  3  :  19.     1  Pet.  3  :  7. 

"  Schleiermacher  strikingly  says  {Predigten,  I.  p.  575) :  "  The  higher  end  of  Christian 
marriage  is,  that  each  party  may  sanctify,  and  be  sanctified  by  the  other ;"  and  Rothe 
(Tlieol.  Ethik,  III.  p.  670)  :  "Only  in  the  holiness  of  self-denying  love  can  the  mar- 
riage relation  be  a  copy  of  the  relation  of  Christ  to  humanity,  which  he,  by  his  self- 
devotion,  has  purchased  for  his  own.'' 

^  Eph.  5  :  21,  33.     1  Cor.  11:7  sqq.     1  Tim.  2:11  sqq.     1  Pet.  3  :  1  sqq. 


446  §  111.     THE   FASIILT.  ["•  BOOK. 

nity.*  It  should  have  nothing  slavish  or  bitter  about  it,  no  fear  nor 
trembling.  It  should  be  free  and  joyful,  in,  and  for  the  sake  of,  the 
Lord  (comp.  Col.  3:18).  So  the  church  finds  her  highest  honor,  de- 
light, and  freedom  in  everywhere  following  her  heavenly  bridegroom  in 
the  most  trustful  self-resignation.  Pride  is  contrary  to  the  nature  of 
woman,  except  so  far  as  it  relates  to  her  husband  and  children,  in  whom 
she  forgets  herself.  In  this  subordinate  position,  as  well  as  in  the  ma- 
ternal care  of  her  children  and  the  whole  field  of  private,  domestic  life, 
she  has  occasion  to  exhibit  her  silent  moral  elevation,  to  unfold  the  noble 
virtues  of  modesty,  meekness,  patience,  fidelity,  and  self-denial,  and 
thereby  to  adorn  her  Christian  profession,  and  to  integrate  the  masculine 
character.  Here  too,  however,  the  analogy  is  not  perfect.  For  while 
the  wife  often  converts  her  husband,  and  always  ought  at  least  to  exert 
upon  him  a  softening,  refining,  elevating,  and  sanctifying  influence,  such 
an  influence  of  the  church  on  Christ,  the  Perfect,  is  of  course  unneces- 
sary and  impossible. 

3.  The  relation  of  parents  to  children  corresponds  with  that  of  Christ 
and  the  church  to  individual  Christians  ;  the  father  here  again  holding 
the  place  of  Christ,  the  mother  the  place  of  the  church.  Every  new, 
spiritual  birth  is  the  result  of  the  creative  activity  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in 
the  womb  of  the  Christian  church  ;  and  it  is  the  church,  which  by  the 
faithful  administration  of  the  means  of  grace  under  the  direction  and 
with  the  power  of  the  Lord  nourishes,  strengthens,  and  perpetually  sus- 
tains the  new  life  of  her  children,  and  protects  it  from  all  disease  and 
degeneracy,  till  it  reach  the  age  of  independent  manhood  in  Christ.  So 
should  it  be,  also,  in  every  Christian  family.  It  is  the  duty  primarily  of 
the  mother,  who  is  peculiarly  fitted  for  it  by  nature,  to  provide  for  the 
wants  of  the  infant,  and  to  awaken  its  slumbering  powers  to  the  first 
stage  of  their  activity  ;  but  this  she  is  to  do  under  the  oversight,  and 
supported  by  the  authority,  of  the  father,  who  is  king  and  priest  in  the 
sanctuary  of  his  own  house.  Both  parents  are  to  treat  their  children  not 
with  severity,  but  with  devoted,  self-sacrificing  love,"  and  to  train  them 
up  not  only  for  useful  members  of  the  body  politic,  but  above  all  for  citi- 
zens of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  They  are  to  train  them  by  instruction, 
and  still  more  by  the  living  power  of  example  ;  by  actually  bearing  wit- 
ness of  Christianity  in  their  lives,  and  by  the  religious  consecration  of 
the  whole  domestic  system  ;  ever  mindful  that  God  has  given  them  this 
precious  blessing  of  marriage,  and  will  one  day  call  them  to  account  for 
their  use  of  it.  This  sacred  duty  the  apostle  enforces  in  the  few  words, 
Eph.  6:4:  "Bring  them  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition  of  the 

»  Gal.  3  :  28.     1  Pet.  3:7. 
«  Eph.  6  :  4.     Col.  3  :  21. 


LIFE.]  §  111-       THE   FAMILT.  447 

Lord;"*  that  is,  as  the  representatives  of  the  Lord,  so  that,  properly 
speaking,  the  Lord  himself,  by  the  free  agency  of  the  parents,  with 
earnestness  and  gentleness  trains  the  children  for  himself,  as  his 
own.  The  apostle  is  here  speaking,  indeed,  primarily  only  to  fathers, 
as  the  responsible  agents  in  the  education  of  the  children  ;  but  he 
certainly  woald  not  exclude  the  delicate,  noiseless,  but  noue  the  less 
important  part  of  the  mother,  who,  by  her  meekness,  patience,  and  fidel- 
ity, happily  softens  the  sternness  of  the  father's  authority  (though  with- 
out the  latter  she  mistrains  instead  of  training)  ;  and  who,  especially 
where  her  husband  is  not  a  believer,  may  and  should  exercise  an  exceed- 
ingly deep,  lasting  and  salutary  influence  on  the  moral  and  religious  cha- 
racter of  the  children  ;  an  influence,  which  Paul  himself  recognizes  in 
the  mother  and  grandmother  of  Timothy." 

4.  The  first  duty  of  children,  as  derived  from  what  has  now  been  said, 
is  of  course  piety,  reverential  obedience.'  This  again  is  not  to  be  slav- 
ish, but  cheerful,  the  obedience  of  unreserved  confidence  and  grateful 
love.  It  is  also  in  the  course  of  nature  the  first  form  of  all  piety 
towards  God  and  reverence  for  divine  things.  For  in  its  parents  the 
child  sees  the  representative  of  God,  the  reflection  of  His  majesty  and 
love,  nay,  we  may  say  God  himself,  so  far  as  the  child  is  able  to  compre- 
hend Him.  Where  this  course*  which  even  natural  right  and  the  first 
commandment  of  the  second  table  point  out,  is  forsaken,  there  inevi- 
tably results  wildness,  slavery,  and  curse.  Obedience  to  the  divinely- 
ordained  authority  of  parents  forms  the  only  true  training  for  real  free- 
dom and  manly  independence.  All  those  carnal  schemes  of  emanci- 
pation, whether  relating  to  women  or  children,  accomplish  just  the 
opposite  of  what  they  propose,  and  will  have  bitterly  to  repent  their 
subversion  of  the  natural  and  revealed  order  of  things.  It  is  worthy 
of  remark,  that  the  apostle  makes  the  children  of  believing  parents  an 
organic  part  of  the  Christian  congregation  in  requiring  of  them  obedi- 
ence "  in  the  Lord  ;"  thus  supplying  the  purest  motive  for  obedience, 
and  at  the  same  time  duly  restricting  it.  For  as  parental  authority  is 
derived  from  Christ  and  is  to  be  exercised  for  Him,  it  can  only  claim 
obedience  where  it  answers  His  spirit  and  will.  When,  therefore,  it 
commands  what  is  wrong,  it  comes  into  manifest  conflict  with  its  author, 
and  destroys  itself.     Then  applies  our  Lord's  language.  Matt.  10  :  31  : 

'  Not  "  to  the  Lord,"  zum  Herrn,  as  Luther  translates  it;  which  alters  the  sense 
materially. 

"  2  Tim.  1  :  5.  Comp.  1  Tim.  2  :  15.  5  :  10,  14,  where  the  bearing  children, 
TEKvojovia,  certainly  includes  educating  them.  Woman  finds  her  highest  dignity  and 
purest  happiness,  not  merely  in  being  a  mother,  but  also  in  fulfilling  all  the  duties  of  a 
mother  in  the  Lord  and  for  his  glory.  Human  life  should  be  propagated  only  to  be 
educated  for  the  great  end  of  mankind,  for  virtue  and  religion. 

8  Eph.  6  :  1-3.     Col.  3  :  20. 


448  §  112.      MAEEIAGE   AND   CELIBACY.  [n-  BOOK. 

"  He  that  loveth  father  or  mother  more  than  me,  is  not  worthy  of  me.'" 
When  the  children  pass  out  of  their  minority,  they  cease  to  obey  in  the 
strict  sense,  and  enter  the  relation  of  friendship  ;  but  never  should  they 
lose  the  reverence  which  is  due  in  fact  to  old  age  in  general,''  and  the 
gratitude  which  rejoices  to  render  to  parents  like  for  like  (1  Tim.  5  :  4, 
8),  and  embalms  them  even  after  their  death  in  imperishable  memory. 
5.  Even  without  any  express  New  Testament  command,"  it  is  easy  to 
see  that  the  proper  shaping  of  Christian  domestic  life,  and  especially  the 
successful  performance  of  duty  as  to  the  religious  education  of  children, 
require  the  family  altar,  on  which  the  father,  as  priest,  may  daily  offer 
the  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving  and  intercession.  Family  worship,  with 
morning  and  evening  prayer  and  use  of  the  holy  Scriptures,  includes 
also  prayer  at  table.  We  are  not  to  enjoy  God's  gifts  of  nature 
thoughtlessly  like  the  beasts  of  the  field,  but  "  with  thanksgiving."*  In 
individual  cases,  however,  it  is  hard  to  maintain  this  family  worship 
properly,  without  the  assistance  of  liturgies  and  hymn-books.  And 
great  watchfulness  is  necessary,  lest  it  degenerate  into  soulless  mechan- 
ism, into  an  opus  opcrahun,  or  infringe  upon  the  duty  of  closet  prayer, 
the  unseen  personal  intercourse  of  the  soul  with  God.  But  that  this 
danger  is  not  always  sufficiently  avoided,  can  be  no  reason  for  question- 
ing the  duty  of  family  worship  itself,  or  asserting  that  it  is  made  super- 
fluous by  public  worship.  On  the  contrary,  we  shall  always  find,  that 
the  two  require  and  promote  one  another,  and  that,  where  the  former 
dies,  the  latter  also  decays.^  For  as  marriage  continually  replenishes 
the  state  and  secures  its  perpetuity,  so  personal  and  domestic  piety  fur- 
nishes the  church  a  constant  supply  of  her  best  material. 

Thus,  therefore,  are  all  the  natural  relations  of  authority  and  subor- 
dination recognized  and  confirmed  by  Christianity,  and  duly  regulated, 
defined,  and  sanctified  by  being  referred  to  the  Lord  and  his  church  ; 
and  thus  is  the  whole  family  life  consecrated  as  a  nursery  of  the  purest 
virtues,  as  a  miniature  theocracy,  rooted,  indeed,  in  the  soil  of  nature, 
in  the  sexual  love  of  individuals,  but  rising  into  heaven. 

§  112.  Marriage  and  Celibacy. 
Christianity,  then,  as  we  meet  it  in  the  New  Testament,  recognizes  in 
marriage  the  normal  relation,  in  which  the  human  character  fully  deve- 

'  Comp.  Matt.  8  :  21,  22.     Lu.  2  :  49.     Jno.  2  •  4.     Matt.  12  :  46-50. 

"  J  Pet.  5:5.     1  Tim.  5  :  1,  2. 

»  Comp.,  however,  Eph.  5  :  19.     Col.  3  :  16. 

*  1  Cor.  10  :  30,  31.     1  Tim.  4  :  3-5. 

'  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  regular  and  general  attendance  upon  public  worship,  by 
which  the  English,  Scotch,  and  Americans  are  so  distinguished  above  other  nations,  is 
especially  owing  to  their  high  regard  for  family  worship. 


LIFE.]  '         §  112.       MAKRIAGE   AUB   CELIBACY.  449 

lopes  itself  and  answers  its  great  end, — a  relation  instituted  by  God  and 
sanctified  by  Christ.  The  depreciation  of  conjugal  life  by  an  a-sceticism 
which  cannot  rise  above  its  physical  and  natural  basis  to  the  view  of  its 
higher  moral  and  religious  significance,  contradicts  the  spirit  of  the  gos- 
pel, and  is,  in  reality,  of  heathen  origin.'  In  fact,  the  apostle  numbers 
it  among  the  doctrines  of  the  evil  spirits,  which  rule  the  world  of 
idolatry  (1  Tim.  4  :  1  sqq.),  that  they  forbid  marriage,  as  some  Gnostic 
sects  and  the  Manicheans  did, — looking  on  the  body,  which  was  created 
by  God  and  designed  for  the  organ  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  with  its  sensual 
wants,  as  a  part  of  the  intrinsically  evil  matter,  and  consequently 
regarding  all  contact  with  it  as  sinful. 

In  this  point  Christ  cannot  be  strictly  taken  as  our  pattern  ;  for  he 
was  not  merely  an  individual,  but  at  the  same  time  the  imiversal  man, 
for  whom  no  suitable  consort  at  all,  of  equal  birth,  could  be  found. 
The  church,  the  body  of  regenerate  humanity,  and  it  alone  (not  the 

^  The  defective,  sensual  conception  of  marriage  among  the  heathen  could  produce 
both  great  unchastity.  polygamy,  concubinage,  &c.,  on  the  one  side,  and  the  ascetic  con- 
tempt of  the  relation,  on  the  other.  For  wherever  moral  earnestness  was  once 
awakened,  instead  of  sanctifying  this  relation,  it  turned  with  horror  from  it.  In  its 
ideal  of  a  priest,  therefore,  it  usually  includes  in  some  form  the  conception  of  celibacy. 
So  the  ancient  Indians,  in  the  remarkable  myth  given  by  Creuzer  in  his  Symbolik  und 
Mytkologie  der  alten  Volker^  I.  p.  407,  3rd  ed.  After  Birmah  had  formed  from  his 
mouth,  his  arm,  his  leg,  and  his  foot,  the  four  patriarchs  of  the  four  castes,  and  had 
given  wives  to  all  except  the  eldest,  Brahman,  the  progenitor  of  the  priests,  the  latter 
complained  of  his  solitude  ;  whereupon  he  received  the  answer :  "  He  should  not  be 
distracted  (marriage  is  thus  necessarily  distraction),  but  give  himself  up  to  doctrine, 
prayer,  and  worship."  He  persevering,  however,  in  his  request,  Birmah  in  anger  gave 
him  one  Daintany,  a  daughter  of  the  giant  family  of  Daints,  and  from  this  unequal 
match  sprang  the  whole  sacerdotal  caste  of  the  Brahmins.  Among  the  Greeks,  the 
highest  priest  of  the  Eleusinian  mysteries,  the  prophet  or  mystagogue,  was  forbidden 
to  marry  after  assuming  the  office,  and,  if  he  already  had  a  wife,  he  must  abstain  from 
commerce  with  her.  In  the  Roman  religion  the  virgin  priestesses  of  Vesta  are  fami- 
liar. The  Gnostic  and  Manichean  contemjit  of  marriage  springs  from  pagan  views, 
and  rests  on  a  fundamentally  wrong  conception  of  matter  and  body.  With  the  Jews 
(except  the  sect  of  Essenes,  whose  asceticism,  however,  was  affected  by  foreign, 
oriental  elements)  a  fruitful  marriage  stood,  as  is  well  known,  in  high  esteem,  and 
passed  for  a  special  divine  blessing ;  while  celibacy  or  barrenness  was  considered  a 
reproach,  particularly  for  women,  or  a  divine  visitation  of  punishment  (Gen.  16  :  2-14. 
19:30-36.  1  Sam.  1  :  6-11.  Ps.  127  :  3-5.  128:3-6.  Is.  4  :  I.  47:8,9.  Hos. 
9  :  14.  Lu.  1  :  25,  36).  The  priests  and  even  the  high-priests  were,  therefore,  all 
married,  yet  during  their  term  of  service  in  the  temple  ihey  were  required  to  abstain 
from  cohabitation. — The  high  estimate  of  virginity,  which  came  to  prevail  so  early  in 
the  Christian  church,  cannot  be  derived  from  Jewish  ideas,  and  certainly  as  little  from 
heathenism.  It  arose,  no  doubt,  from  ardent  enthusiasm  for  the  kingdom  of  God, 
which  could  very  easily  take  up  many  vitiating  elements  and  influences  from  the  low 
pagan  notion  of  marriage  ;  especially  as  the  conception  of  Christian  marriage  was  so 
seldom  fully  realized ;  for  this  required  a  long  process  of  civilization. 
29 


450  §  112.     MAEKIAGE    AND    CELIBACY.  [n.  BOOK. 

individual  soul),  is  his  bride  ;  and  this  relation  is  assuredly,  as  already- 
shown,  the  sacred  model  of  every  true  marriage. 

As  to  the  apostles  ;  we  know  for  a  certainty  that  Peter  was  married, 
and  took  his  wife  with  him  on  his  missionary  tours.'  Tradition  affirms 
the  same  of  Philip,  and  gives  him,  as  well  as  Peter,  children.^  From 
1  Cor.  9  :  5  it  has  been  justly  inferred,  that  at  least  the  majority  of  the 
apostles  and  brothers  of  the  Lord  (probably  sons  of  Joseph  from  his 
former  marriage)  lived  in  wedlock.^  At  all  events  Paul  here  excepts 
none  but  himself  and  Barnabas,  while  claiming  the  same  right  of  mar- 
riage for  himself,  if  he  chose  to  make  use  of  it.*  Yet  ancient  tradition 
unanimously  represents  St.  John  as  unmarried.^  As  to  the  subordinate 
officers  of  the  church  ;  the  book  of  Acts  mentions  four  prophesying 
daughters  of  the  deacon  and  evangelist,  Philip  (21  :  8,  9).  In  1  Tim. 
3  :  2,  12.  Tit.  1  :  6,  it  is  disputed  indeed,  whether  successive  or  only 
simultaneous  polygamy,  polygamy  proper,  is  forbidden.    But  at  any  rate 

*  Matt.  8  :  14.  Lu.  4  :  38,  where  his  mother-in-law  is  mentioned,  and  1  Cor.  9  : 
5  :  '•  Have  we  not  power  to  lead  about  a  sister,  a  wife,  as  well  as  other  apostles,  and 
as  the  brothers  of  the  Lord,  and  Cephas  ?" 

^  Clement  of  Alexandria  says  of  these  two  apostles  (Strom.  III.  p.  448)  that  they 
begat  children  ;  tradition  speaks  of  a  daughter  of  Peter  by  the  name  of  Petronilla 
(comp.  Acta  Sand,  noth  May) ;  and  Polycrates,  bishop  of  Ephesus,  in  the  second  cen- 
tury, in  his  letter  to  the  Roman  bishop,  Victor  (in  Euseb.  H.  E.  III.  31,  and  V.  24), 
mentions  three  daughters  of  the  apostle  Philip,  of  whom  the  first  two  died  virgins  in 
Hierapolis  at  an  advanced  age,  and  the  third  lay  buried  in  Ephesus :  ^iTunnov  rbv  tcjv 
duSsKa  uwoaroXuv,  6f  KeKot/iTj'faL  Iv  '\ef^aTTu7.EL  koI  6vo  ■QvyarsgEg  avrov,  yeyrjgaKvlai 
nag'&h'oi'  Kai  ?;  irtga  avrov  ■&vyuTrjg  tv  uyicf)  nvEVfiart  TroTiirevcjafih'T],  r/  h>  'E^t'crcj 
uvanavETUi.  At  the  same  place  (III.  31)  Eusebius,  on  the  authority  of  Proculus, 
speaks  of  "  four  prophesying  daughters"  of  Philip,  who  were  buried  with  their  father 
in  Hierapolis.  But  here  it  is  plain  from  his  remarks  immediately  following,  that  he 
confounds  the  apostle  Philip  with  the  deacon  and  evangelist  of  the  same  name,  who 
according  to  Acts  21  :  9  had  four  prophesying  daughters,  and,  when  Paul  last  went  to 
Jerusalem,  was  laboring  in  Caesarea  in  Palestine. 

'  The  deacon  Hilary,  A.  D.  3S0,  the  probable  author  of  the  commentary  on  Paul's 
epistles  falsely  ascribed  to  St.  Ambrose,  and  hence  called  Ambrosiaster,  explicitly  re- 
marks on  1  Cor.  11  :  2:  "  Omnes  apostoli,  exceptis  Joanne  et  Paulo,  uxores  hal)ue- 
runt." 

*  Hence  some,  though  certainly  without  reason  (comp.  1  Cor.  7  :  7,  8),  held  that 
Paul  also  was  a  husband  or  a  widower.  So  Ignatiu^  Ad  Philad.  c.  4,  according  to  the 
larger  (spurious)  recension  :  'i2f  TltTQOV  Kal  TVav7i.ov,  Kat  tuv  uX?mv  u.TToaTo'Xuv,  rcjv 
ydftotr  7TQocofii?i7](7uPTuv.     So  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Strom.  III.  7,  ed.  Potter. 

^  Hence  he  bears  the  standing  title,  Tcaq&tvo^,  TtagdEviog,  virgo.  Augustine  {Dc  bono 
conjugali,  21)  mentions  with  respect  as  the  view  of  many:  "A  Christo  Joannem 
apostolum  propterea  plus  amatum,  quod  neque  uxorem  duxerit,  et  ab  ineiuite  pueritia 
castissinius  vixerit."  Hence  also  it  is  said  in  the  chant  for  the  festival  of  St.  .John  in 
the  Roman  church:  '-Diligebat  eum  Jesus,  quoniam  specialis  praerogativa  castitatis 
ampliori  dilectione  fecerat  dignum  :  quia  virgo  electus  ab  ipso  virgo  in  aevum  perman- 
sit.     In  cruce  denique  moriturus  huic  matrem  suam  virginem  virgini  commendavit." 


LIFE.]  §  112.     MARRIAGE    AND    CELrBACY.  451 

the  being  "the  husband  of  one  wife,"  which  is  required  of  presbyters 
and  deacons,  as  also  the  mention  of  their  children  and  their  own  house- 
holds, 1  Tim.  3  :  4,  5,  11,  12.  Tit.  1  :  6,  imply  that  one  marriage  is 
right  for  ministers,  and,  so  far  from  censuring  the  married  state,  present 
it  as  the  normal  state,  and  as  a  good  school  for  exercise  in  the  most  im- 
portant duties  of  life. 

But  if  apostolical  Christianity  forbids  no  man  marriage,  as  little  does 
it  enjoin  it.  On  the  contrary,  it  presents  exceptions  from  the  general 
rule,  and  puts  celibacy,  if  it  be  a  voluntary  act  of  self-denial  for  the 
kingdom  of  God,  we  cannot  say,  indeed,  above  the  married  state,  yet 
very  high,  and  attributes  to  it  in  several  places  a  peculiar  value. ^ 
There  are  men  who  lack  the  qualifications  for  conjugal  life,  as  the  capa- 
city to  support  a  wife,  individual  sexual  love,  &c.  ;  others,  who,  by 
some  fault,  whether  their  own  or  not,  cannot  fulfill  the  necessary  con- 
ditions ;  others  again,  who  feel  called  and  bound  to  sacrifice  all  earthly 
love  to  heavenly,  and  to  minister  to  the  latter  alone.  Hence  our  Lord 
in  the  mysterious  passage.  Matt.  19  :  10-12,  without,  however,  giving 
his  disciples  any  command,  speaks  of  three  kinds  of  eunuchism,  con- 
genital, forced,  and  voluntary.  Of  course  the  latter  alone  is  of  any 
moral  worth  ;  voluntary  self-denial  for  the  sake  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  ;  the  willing  renunciation  of  conjugal  love  and  joys,  the  better 
to  serve  the  general  moral  purpose  of  life.  Such,  we  must  suppose,  was 
the  course  of  Paul  and  Barnabas.  For  the  former  was  certainly  a  man 
of  strong  natural  feelings,  of  an  ardent,  passionate  temperament,  so  that 
the  renunciation  of  marriage  was,  in  his  case,  an  act  of  self-denial  and 
moral  heroism,  for  which  he  was  strengthened  bj  the  assistance  of  divine 
grace.  He  represents  it  even  as  a  charism,  and  notices  the  diversity  of 
gifts  in  this  respect  (1  Cor.  1:7:  "E/catrrof  ISiov  cxei  x'^gt'^l^O'  ^k^  ^eov). 
Those,  on  the  other  hand,  who  have  not  the  gift,  to  whom  a  life  of 
celibacy  would  be  such  a  perpetual  struggle  against  natural  propensities, 
as  would  prevent  the  quiet  discharge  of  duty,  he  advises  to  marry  (v. 
9).  Such  a  celibacy,  as  cannot  attain  to  the  complete  subjection  of  the 
bodily  appetite,  is  assuredly  of  far  less  worth  than  a  virtuous  marriage, 

»  Matt.  19  :  10-12.  1  Cor.  7  :  7  sqq.  25  sqq.  Rev.  14  :  4.  As  to  the  latter  pas- 
sage it  is  a  question,  indeed,  whether  by  the  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand  ''  7raj)i^f- 
voi,  which  were  not  defiled  with  women,  and  which  follow  the  I^amb  whithersoever 
he  goeth,"  are  to  be  understood  unmarried  persons,  or  (as  Bleek,  Beitrdge  zur  Evangc- 
lienkritik,  p.  185,  and  De  Wette,  ad  loc,  explain  it)  those  who  have  kept  themsehes 
free  from  all  whoredom  and  unchastity,  and  from  all  contamination  with  idolatry. 
The  first  interpretation  answers  best  to  the  literal  meaning  of  the  words,  but  has 
against  it  the  vast  number  and  the  fact,  that  many  of  the  most  eminent  servants  of  God 
under  both  dispensations,  from  Abraham  to  Peter,  who  certainly  belong  also  among 
the  "  first-fruits  unto  God  and  to  the  Lamb,"  were  not  nag-dhoi  in  the  strict  sense. 


452  §  112.      MAEEIAGE   AKD   CELIBACY.  ["•  BOOK. 

in  which  also  chastity  may  and  should  be  preserved.  To  Paul,  who 
spent  his  life  in  missionary  travel,  and  was  exposed  to  all  possible  pri- 
vations, hardships,  and  persecutions,  the  married  state,  with  its  temporal 
cares  and  all  sorts  of  personal  matters  of  attention,  must  have  seemed 
rather  a  hindrance  to  the  fulfillment  of  his  apostolic  calling,  and  the 
single  state,  the  evvovxi^eiv  f:avTdv  Siu  Tjjv  jSaai/ietav  tuv  ovgavuv,  niore  favor- 
able to  his  activity  in  the  service  of  the  Redeemer  (v.  32-35).  With 
him  celibacy  was  actually  an  elevation  above  all  earthly  cares,  an  entire 
devotion  to  the  purest  love  and  the  holiest  interests,  an  anticipation 
of  the  viia  angelica.^  And  who  will  deny  that  such  cases  repeatedly 
occur  ?  Who  does  not  know,  that  the  voluntary  celibacy  of  so  many 
self-denying  missionaries,  especially  in  times  of  wild  barbarism  and  disso- 
lution, as  at  the  entrance  of  the  Middle  Ages,  was  in  the  hand  of  God 
a  great  blessing,  in  mightily  promoting  the  spread  of  the  gospel  among 
the  rude  nations  and  under  numberless  privations  ?^  Here  Christianity 
deviates  from  the  old  Jewish  view,  in  which  celibacy  was  a  disgrace  and 
a  curse  ;  it  can  transform  this  state  into  a  charism  and  use  it  for  its 
own  ends.  Without  the  acknowledgment  of  the  peculiar  value  and 
manifold  benefits  of  this  virginity,  which  grew  out  of  unreserved  enthu- 
siasm for  Christ  and  his  gospel,  it  is  impossible  properly  to  understand 
the  history  of  the  church,  especially  before  the  Reformation. 

But  in  the  chapter  before  us  Paul  goes  yet  further.  He  manifestly 
gives  celibacy  the  jireference,  believing  that  it  enables  a  man  better 
to  serve  the  Lord  ;  and  he  wishes  that  all  might  be  i-n  this  point  like 
himself,  and  might  share  with  him  the  happiness  of  freedom  from  all 
earthly  cares  and  undivided  devotion  to  the  highest  objects  and  duties 
of  life.  His  words  are  too  clear  to  admit  of  any  other  interpretation  : 
"  He  that  giveth  (a  daughter)  in  marriage  doeth  well  ;  but  he  that 
giveth  her  not  in  marriage  doeth  better"  (1  Cor.  7  :  38).     "  He  that  is 

'  V.  7,  32.     Comp.  Matt.  22  :  30.     Lu.  20  :  34-36. 

"  Comp.  Neander's  remarks,  I.  p.  404.  Not  seldom  is  celibacy  also  very  favorable 
to  great  scientific  investigations  in  the  theological  as  well  as  the  secular  field.  We 
may  here  refer  only  to  two  very  different  men,  Dr.  Neander  the  historian,  and  Alex- 
ander von  Humboldt  the  naturalist.  We  cannot  help  observing  here,  that  the  work 
of  home  and  foreign  missions  would  be  in  many  respects  greatly  facilitated,  and  much 
expense  spared,  if  among  us  Protestants  that  moral  heroism  of  self-denial,  that  volun- 
tary, and,  if  not  perpetual,  yet  at  least  temporary  shvovxLOjxbQ  (5m  tj/v  l3aai?i£iav  tuv 
ov^iai'uv  (Matt.  19  :  12),  were  more  frequent  than  it  unfortunately  is.  The  great  zeal 
with  which  many  young  ministers  scarcely  ordained  (often  even  \Ahile  students^  look 
around  for  a  wife,  as  though  they  had  nothing  more  important  to  do,  is  absolutely  irre- 
concilable at  least  with  the  seventh  chapter  of  1  Corinthians  and  with  the  example 
of  Paul.  The  excellent  Swiss  divine,  A.  Viriet,  expresses  similar  opinions  on  the 
relative  value  of  celibacy,  as  a  v  duntary  service  to  the  kingdom  of  God,  in  his  Pas- 
toral Tlieology,  transL  by  Dr.  Skinner,  p.  1 5G  sqq. 


LIFE.]  §  112.       MAJRRIAGE   AND    CELIBACY.  453 

unmarried  careth  for  the  things  that  belong  to  tlie  Lord,  how  he  may 
please  the  Lord  ;  but  he  that  is  married  careth  for  the  things  that  are 
of  the  world,  how  he  may  please  his  wife"  (v.  32  sqq.).  "I  would  that 
all  men  were  even  as  myself"  (v.  t).  Here  undeniably  that  ascetic  ten- 
dency and  relative  depreciation  of  marriage,  which  we  find  in  almost  all 
the  church  fathers,  even  the  married  ones  (as  TertuUian  and  Gregory 
of  Nyssa),  has  some  plausible  foundation  to  rest  upon.  Yet  we  cannot, 
without  charging  Paul  with  obscurity  and  inconsistency,  understand  him 
as  derogating  from  the  holiness  and  dignity  of  marriage,  which  in  Eph. 
5  '  he  himself  so  decidedly  asserts.  The  apparent  contradiction  may  be 
solved  by  the  following  considerations  suggested  by  the  connection  of 
the  passage  itself : 

1.  It  must  be  remembered,  that  in  the  time  of  the  apostle  the  educa- 
tion of  the  female  sex  and  the  whole  married  life  were  in  a  very  low 
state  ;  that  Christianity  had  scarcely  begun  to  exert  its  refining  influ- 
ence upon  them  ;  and  that  the  elevation  and  sanctification  of  them  must 
in  the  nature  of  the  case  be  gradual.  In  1  Cor.  Y  Paul  has  in  view  the 
relations  actually  prevailing  in  a  congregation  but  just  gathered  from 
amongst  the  frivolous  heathens  of  dissolute  Corinth,  and  therefore  such 
a  marriage  as  by  no  means  answers  to  the  Christian  principle,  or  to  the 
ideal  sketched  by  himself  in  Eph.  5  :  32.  He  has  his  eye  upon  a  union 
which  stands  in  the  way  of  prayer  (v.  5),  entangles  one  in  worldly 
cares,  conflicts  with  the  undivided  service  of  the  Lord  (32-35),  and  is 
in  general  nothing  more  than  a  mere  check  upon  debauchery  (v.  2,  5,  9  : 
KpeiffCTov  yap  ecrri  yaiifjaai,  ij  nv^ova-daL) .  Here  firm  Opposition  to  corrupt 
heathenism  was  the  safe  and  necessary  way  to  the  final  realization  of  the 
true  idea  of  marriage.  So  the  church  at  first  stood  hostile  to  art,  on 
account  of  its  degradation  to  the  service  of  idolatry  and  immorality  ; 
yet  at  a  later  day  herself  gave  birth  to  the  highest  creations  of  archi- 
tecture, painting,  music  and  poetry. 

2.  The  apostle  plainly  has  in  view  approaching  pressure  and  persecu- 
tion, which  are  certainly  heavier  on  the  married  than  on  the  single,  and 
furnish  strong  temptations  to  unfaithfulness  to  the  Lord  from  personal 
considerations.  This  is  evident  particularly  from  v.  26,  which  speaks 
of  "  the  present  distress  ;"  v.  28,  of  "  trouble  in  the  flesh  ;"  and  v.  29- 
32,  of  the  "  shortness  of  the  time,"  earnestly  exhorting  Christians  to 
rise  above  everything  earthly  and  be  ready  for  the  approaching  end." 

'  Comp.  1  Cor.  7  :  28.     9:5.     1  Tim.  5  :  14.     Tit.  1  :  6  sq. 

'^  MiJhler  is  certainly  not  unbiased,  when  in  his  defense  of  celibacy  {Gesammelte 
Schriften  und  Aufsiitze,  I.  p.  197)  he  denies  any  such  reference  to  approaching  dangers 
in  1  Cor.  7-  The  (5(u  ti/v  heoTuaav  dvuynrjv,  v.  26,  he  translates  :  '"  on  account  of  the 
(easily)  rising  natural  appetite,"  and  refers  to  a  passage  in  Hcroph.  de  venat.  c.  VIL 


4:54:  §  113.       CHEISTIANITT   AND   SLAVERY.  [ir.  BOOS. 

The  Christians  were  then  expecting  the  speedy  return  of  the  Lord  (as 
in  fact  he  actually  came,  though  not  to  the  fi7ml  judgment,  yet  to  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem),  and  it  appeared  doubly  advisable  to  await 
the  catastrophe  in  a  state  of  the  greatest  possible  independence  of 
worldly  cares  and  connections.  That  there  are,  however,  at  this  day, 
circumstances,  in  which  it  would  be  an  indiscretion  involving  heavy 
responsibility  for  certain  individuals  to  marry,  can  by  no  means  be 
denied.  The  advice  of  the  apostle,  therefore,  has  by  no  means  lost  its 
force  and  applicability. 

3.  All  this  instruction  on  the  question  proposed  to  him  by  the  Corin- 
thians respecting  marriage  and  celibacy,  Paul  repeatedly  assures  us  (v. 
6,  25,  40),  he  gives  as  his  own  private  judgment,  as  his  humble  opinion 
{yvufiTj),  and  not  as  an  express  command  of  the  Lord  {iTurayii),  who  had 
given  him  no  special,  direct  revelation  on  the  subject.'  Hence,  to  pre- 
scribe laws  on  this  point  is  to  assume  more  than  ai)Osto]ical  authority. 
The  prohibition  of  marriage  is  expressly  enumerated  by  the  same  apostle 
among  the  marks  of  antichrist  (1  Tim.  4  :  3).^ 

Our  conclusion,  therefore,  is,  that  according  to  the  doctrine  and  prac- 
tice of  the  apostles  marriage  is  duty  in  general,  but  under  certain 
circumstances  and  for  certain  individuals,  celibacy  ;  that  the  latter  may 
be  as  great  a  blessing  to  the  church  and  to  mankind  as  the  former  ; 
that  the  decision,  however,  in  any  particular  case,  whether  to  marry  or 
not,  must  rest  neither  on  the  person's  own  will  nor  on  another's,  but  on 
a  consideration  of  the  person's  peculiar  gift,  and  the  plain  indications 
of  Providence.  The  great  work  of  the  man  remains  in  both  cases  the 
same, — to  serve  the  Lord  and  Him  alone.  To  do  this,  in  whatever  way, 
is  neither  greater  nor  less  merit,  but  our  bounden  duty,  and  should  be  at 
the  same  time  our  honor  and  our  joy. 

§  113.    Christianity  and  Slavery, 

To  the  family  in  the  wide  sense  belong  also  servants  or  domestics,  ren- 
dered necessary  by  the  distinction  of  rich  and  poor,  and  by  wants 
which  increase  with  civilization,  and  which  the  proper  members  of  the 

where  uvdyKj]  denotes  the  impetus  ad  Venerem.  But  even  admitting  the  philological 
consideration  (the  passage  adduced,  by  the  way,  is  not  about  men,  but  about  dogs !) , 
this  interpretation  gives  no  good  sense  at  all,  because  the  uvuyKr]  in  this  sense  exists 
also  in  celibacy,  nay,  is  even  still  stronger  in  this  state  (com.p.  v.  9) ;  and  hence  the 
avoidance  of  it  can  be  no  ground  for  recommending  virgmity. 

'  In  this  case,  therefore,  at  least  the  possibility  of  error  is  admitted,  especially  as  the 
personal  experience  of  Paul  on  this  point  was  all  on  one  side,  an  experience  of  the 
advantages  of  thi  single  life,  but  not  of  those  of  the  married.  Jn  his  thus  qualifying 
his  own  advice,  we  must  admire  his  great  pastoral  wisdom  and  prudence. 

^  Comp.  also  Harless.  Ethik  p.  219. 


LIFE.]  §  113.       CHKISTIAI^ITT   AITO   SLAVERY.  455 

family  alone  are  unable  or  unwilling  them  selves  to  meet.  Here  Christi- 
anity, when  it  entered  into  the  world,  had  to  encounter  a  deeply-rooted 
social  evil,  which  in  consequence  of  the  fall  had  gradually  spread  over 
the  most  cultivated  nations  of  heathendom,  and,  we  may  truly  say,  then 
held  the  greater  part  of  the  human  race  in  a  condition  of  almost  beastly 
degradation/ 

Slavery  is  the  robbing  an  immortal  man,  created  in  the  image  of  God, ' 
of  his  free  personality,  degrading  him  into  an  article  of  merchandise,  a 
mere  machine  of  his  owner,  and  thereby  hindering  the  development  of 
his  intellectual  and  moral  powers  and  the  attainment  of  the  higher  end 
of  his  existence.     Far  this  heathenism  had  no  remedy.     On  the  con- 
trary, the  most  distinguished  heatiiens  justified  this  immoral  and  unna- 
tural state  of  things  by  assuming  an  original  and  essential  distinction 
between  the  ruling  and  the  serving  classes.     The  Hindoos  believed,  that 
the  menial  caste  of  Sudra,  upon  which  the  other  three  castes  looked 
down  with  contempt,  had  been  guilty  before  its  earthly  life  of  some 
peculiarly  heavy  crime,  for  which  this  degraded  condition  was  a  just 
punishment ;   or,   according  to  a  somewhat  higher  view,   that  it  had 
sprung  from  the  feet  of  Brahma,  while  the   Brahmins  sprang  from  his 
head,  the  soldiers  from  his  shoulders,  and  the  tradesmen  from  his  thighs. 
The  Greeks  adopted  the  view  of  Homer,  that  Zeus  deprived  those  whom 
he  "destined  for  servitude,"  "  of  half  their  mind  ;"  and  to  this  passage 
even  Plato  appeals  in  the  sixth  book  of  the  Laws,  appearing  in  general 
to  view  slavery  as  a  natural  and  necessary  institution.'     Aristotle  speaks 
much  more  plainly.     He  defines"  a  slave  as  an  Ijgyavov  i^uSv,  a  man,  who 
belongs  not  to  himself,  but  is  the  property  of  another.     He  declares  all 
barbarians  to  be  born  slaves,  who  have  no  reason  at  all  or  only  instinc- 
tive, and  are  good  for  nothing  but  to  obey.     Single  instances  of  Intelli- 
gent, virtuous  slaves  he  would  have  pronounced  exceptions,  which  prove 
'  Attica  alone,  in  the  time  of  Demetrius  Phalereus  (309  B.  C),  according  to  the 
statement  of  Ktesicles,  contained  400,000  slaves  with  only  21,000  citizens  and  10,000 
foreign  residents.     See   Bockh  :  Die  Staatshaushcdtung  der  Athencr,  I.  p.  39  (p.  35  sq. 
of  the  English  translation  by  Geo.  C.  Lewis,  2nd  ed.     London.     1842) .     The  slaves 
were,  indeed,  counted  by  the  head,  like  beasts;  but  even  if  we  quadruple  the  number 
of  freemen,  to  make  it  include  women  and  children,  and   with  B^ckh  suppose  the 
whole  population  of  Attica  to  have  been  at  most  524,000,  the  number  of  slaves  would 
still  be  almost  four  times  that  of  freemen.     In  Sparta  Reitmeier  {Ueber  den  Znstand 
der  Sklaverei  in  Griechenland,  p.  116)  supposes  there  were  even  from  600,000  to  800.000 
slaves.     In  Ron>e  it  was  still  worse,  slaves  being  there  an  article  of  formal  luxury. 

'  So  Ritter  with  many  others  assert,  Gesch.  der  P/iilos.  II.  4r)0.  Yet  this  may  be 
questioned.  For  the  passage  in  the  Politicus  (p.  309,  a) ,  to  which  Ritter  appeals  may 
be  more  favorably  explained,  as  it  is  by  Mohler,  Gesamimlte  Schriften  und  Anfsatze^  II. 
p.  62  and  76. 

*  De  Republica,  I.  c.  1-7. 


456  §  113.       CHEISTIANITT   A^B   SLAVERY.  [n.  BOOK. 

the  rule.  The  Eoman  law  looked  upon  them  in  the  same  light,  sub- 
jected them  to  the  arbitrary  dominion,  passion  and  lust  of  the  master, 
yea,  gave  to  the  latter,  at  least  down  to  the  time  of  Emperor  Hadrian, 
the  uncontrolled  power  of  life  and  death  over  his  slaves.  With  the 
pagan  Germans,  also,  the  equality  of  the  slave  with  the  brute,  of  the 
servus  with  the  jumenlum,  was  current.  It  was  in  perfect  consistency 
(  with  such  principles,  that  the  slaves  were  used  and  abused  like  beasts, 
and  not  seldom  even  worse.  The  Spartans  had  the  abominable  custom 
to  intoxicate  their  helots,  in  order  to  teach  their  youth  sobriety  by  such 
revolting  spectacles  of  drunkenness  ;  and  when  the  slaves  became  dan- 
gerous from  their  increasing  number,  they  were  hunted  in  the  Crypteia, 
as  the  chase  was  called.  The  celebrated  Cato  Censorius,  in  whose  time 
the  distinction  between  the  two  classes  had  not  yet  become  so  strongly 
marked  in  Rome  as  afterwards,  worked,  indeed,  with  his  slaves,  and  ate 
at  the  same  table  with  them,  but  mercilessly  drove  them  away  when 
they  became  weak  from  age,  and  were  no  longer  saleable.'  At  a 
later  day  slaves  became  a  matter  of  luxury,  like  horses  and  precious 
stones.  Romans  of  rank  owned  them  by  hundreds  and  thousands,  and 
their  wives  likewise  kept  great  numbers  (sometimes  over  two  hundred) 
for  the  most  trifling  services  connected  with  their  endless  wardrobes. 
Half-naked  the  poor  wretches  had  to  stand  before  their  mistress,  who 
was  armed  with  an  iron  rod  to  beat  them  for  every  mistake.  Even  for 
innocent  noises,  as  sneezing  or  coughing,  they  were  often  unmei'cifully 
whipped.^ 

Exceptions  there  certainly  were.  Heathendom  retained  a  faint  recol- 
lection of  a  golden  age,  when  there  was  no  sin  nor  slavery.  It  had 
feasts  in  memory  of  this  age,  such  as  the  Saturnalia,  in  which  freemen 
ate  with  slaves,  and  even  waited  on  them.  Theseus,  and  the  deified 
Hercules,  once  himself  a  slave,  Avere  patrons,  and  the  Vestal  virgins, 
the  temples,  statues  and  altars  of  the  gods,  and  the  churches  of  Rome, 
were  refuges,  of  slaves.  In  the  old  philosophers  too  we  meet  with  many 
excellent  precepts,  framed,  to  be  sure,  not  on  tl:e  higher  principles  of 
religion,  but  only  on  those  of  humanity,  respecting  the  kinder  treatment 
of  these  wretched  creatures  ;  especially  in  Seneca,  his  letters,  and  his 
work  on  meekness  and  mildness  {De  dementia).     After  he  himself  had 

■  On  this  Plutarch  in  his  biography  of  Cato,  c.  21,  passes  censure  thus:  "As  if, 
when  no  further  gain  is  to  be  had  from  them,  there  were  no  longer  any  room  for 
humanity ;  as  if  equity  were  not  more  comprehensive  than  justice  !  Even  dogs  and 
other  animals  men  continue  to  feed,  after  they  cease  to  bring  them  gain.  The  Athe- 
nians provided  for  the  mules  used  in  building  the  Parthenon,  till  they  died,  though 
they  were  free  from  all  further  labor." 

Com  p.  on  this  BOttiger's  Sabina  oder  Morgenscenen  indcm  Putzzimmer  eincr  reichen 
Rdmerin  (1806),  Part  I.  p.  40  sqq.,  where  the  proof  is  given. 


LIFE.]  §  113.       CHRISTIANITY    AND    SLAVERY.  457 

retunied  from  an  eight  years'  exile  in  Corsica,  he  laid  down  the  rule  in 
almost  the  same  terms  as  those  of  our  Lord,  Matt,  t  :  12  :  "So  live 
with  an  inferior,  as  thou  thyself  wouldst  wish  a  superior  to  live  with 
thee."'  But  what  were  the  fairest  precepts  of  human  philanthropy 
when  they  were  never  observed,  or  at  least  very  rarely,  and  then  not 
from  principle  and  fear  of  God,  but  accidentally  only,  or  from  constitu- 
tional good  nature  ?  They  could  at  best  but  mitigate  the  evil  in  indivi- 
dual cases.  They  could  effect  no  radical  cure.  This  demanded  an  en- 
tirely different  view  of  the  origin  and  destiny  of  man,  such  as  Christi- 
anity alone  has  introduced. 

Here  also  the  Jews  of  course  stood  on  much  higher  ground.  Yet 
among  them  too  servants  with  their  posterity  were  in  thraldom,  and 
could  be  bought  and  sold.  The  Patriarchs  had  two  kinds  of  servants, 
those  "born  in  the  house"  and  those  "bought  with  money"  (Gen.  17: 
12,  13),  who  are  sometimes  enumerated  with  other  property,  although 
there  is  no  case  recorded,  that  they  sold  them.  The  Mosaic  law 
did  not  abolish  servitude,  but  regulated  and  in  various  respects  mitigated 
it  by  forbidding  ill-treatment,  by  admitting  the  slaves  into  the  cove- 
nant of  circumcision  and  its  religious  privileges,  and  by  releasing  them 
from  their  regular  labors  every  Sabbath,  at  the  three  annual  festivals, 
also  on  the  new  moons,  the  feast  of  trumpets  and  the  day  of  atonement. 
If  they  were  themselves  Jews,  they  should  after  six  years  service  (with- 
out wife  or  children,  however,)  receive  freedom  if  they  chose,  and  a  small 
outfit  of  cattle  and  fruits.  The  year  of  jubilee  made  all  slaves  free,  not 
only  those  of  Israelitish  descent,  but  also  the  strangers,  as  it  would 
seem  from  Lev.  25:  10:  "  And  ye  shall  hallow  the  fiftieth  year,  and 
proclaim  liberty  throughout  all  the  land  unto  all  the  inhabitants  thereof: 
it  shall  be  a  jubilee  unto  you,  and  ye  shall  return  every  man  unto  his 
possession,  and  every  man  unto  his  family."  This  was  a  practical  de- 
claration that  slavery  is  an  abnormal  state  of  society  and  incompatible 
with  a  renovation  of  the  theocracy,  when  all  should  be  made  to  feel 
equally  dependent  upon  God  and  equally  free  in  Him.^  The  Essenes  and 
Therapeutae,  according  to  Philo,  repudiated  all  slavery  as  inconsistent 
with  the  native  equality  of  men.     Of  course  the  Jews  in  their  wars  with 

^  Epp.  47,  ad  Lucil. :  "  Sic  cum  inferiore  vivas,  quemadmodum  tecum  superiorem 
velles  vivere.  .  .  .  Vive  cum  servo  clementer,  comiter  quoque  et  in  sermonem  admitte, 
et  in  consilium,  et  in  convictum,"  etc.  See  these  and  other  passages  from  Seneca, 
Plato,  Aristotle,  Plutarch,  and  the  Saturnalia  of  Macrobius  (which,  however,  only 
copies  Seneca,  often  word  for  word) ,  in  Mohler,  1.  c.  p.  75  sqq. 

^  Comp.  on  this  subject  such  passages  as  Gen.  12  :  16.  14:  14.  17  :  12, 13.  24  : 
35.  30  :  43.  Ex.  20  :  10.  21  :  2  sqq.  23  :  17.  Lev.  25  :  41-46.  Deut.  15  :  12  sqq. 
29:10-12.  Jer.  34  :  8  sq.  Michaelis,  Mosaisches  Recht,  II.  p.  358  sqq.;  and  the 
article  "  Sklaven"  in  Winer's  Real uiorte?- buck,  I.  p.  475  sqq. 


458  §  113.      CHEISTIANITY   AND   SLAVERY.  [n. 


BOOK. 


the  heathen  in  many  cases  fell  into  bondage.  The  community  of  Jews 
in  Rome  consisted  mostly  of  freed  men  ;  and  at  the  destruction  of  Jeru- 
,  salem,  according  to  the  statement  of  Josephus,  no  less  than  ninety-seven 
thousand  were  taken  captive  by  the  Romans,  some  of  whom  were  sold 
at  auction  and  others  transported  to  the  Egyptian  mines. 

What  posture  now  did  Christianity  assume  towards  this  horrible 
degradation  of  a  great,  nay,  the  greater,  part  of  mankind  ?  We  here  have 
to  admire  alike  the  reformatory  principle  of  Christianity,  and  her  wisdom 
in  applying  it.  The  apostles  did  not  attempt  even  a  sudden  political 
and  social  abolition,  and  would  have  discountenanced  any  stormy  and 
tumultuous  measures  to  that  effect.  For,  in  the  first  place,  the  imme- 
diate abolition  of  slavery  could  never  have  been  effected  without  a  revo- 
lution, which  would  have  involved  everything  in  confusion,  a  radical 
reconstruction  of  the  whole  domestic  and  social  life,  with  which  the 
system  was  interwoven.'  In  the  next  place,  a  sudden  emancipation 
would  not  have  bettered  the  condition  of  the  slaves  themselves,  but 
rather  made  it  worse;  for  outward  liberation,  to  work  well,  must  be 
prepared  by  moral  training  for  the  rational  use  of  freedom,  by  education 
to  mental  manhood;  and  this  can  only  be  done  by  a  gradual  process. 
Paul,  on  the  contrary  (1  Cor.  *I:  11),  lays  down  the  general  principle, 
that  Christianity  primarily  proposes  no  change  in  the  outward  relations, 
in  which  God  has  placed  a  man  by  birth,  education,  or  fortune,  but 
teaches  him  to  look  at  them  from  a  higher  point  of  view,  and  to  infuse 
into  them  a  new  spirit,  until  in  time  a  suitable  change  work  its  own 
way  outward  from  within.  This  principle  he  applies  particularly  to  the 
case  before  us.  On  the  one  hand  he  requires  Christian  masters,  not  to 
emancipate  their  slaves,  but  for  the  present  only  to  treat  them  with 
Christian  love  (Eph.  6:  9);  and  he  himself  sends  back  from  Rome  the 
runaway,  Onesimus,  now  regenerate,  and  thus  a  "  beloved  brother" 
in  Christ,  to  his  rightful  master,  Philemon,  in  Colosse,  with  the  touch- 
ing direction  to  receive  him  as  kindly  as  he  would  the  apostle  himself 
(Philem.  v.  16,  IT).  On  the  other  hand  he  does  not  exhort  or  encou- 
rage slaves  to  burst  their  bonds,  but  checks  all  impatient  desire  for 
freedom,  and  exhorts  to  reverential,  single-hearted  obedience  to  masters, 
be  they  hard  or  gentle." 

Christianity,  however,  has  also  provided  the  only  means  for  delivering 
man  from  the  inward  and  most  cruel  bondage  of  sin,   the  bitter  root  of 

*  For  the  slaves  were  employed  not  only  in  domestic  service,  but  in  all  sorts  of 
business,  grinding,  baking,  cooking,  making  clothes,  waiting  on  gentlemen  and  ladies, 
carrying  letters,  attending  to  agriculture,  and  the  keeping  of  cattle,  working  mines, 
&c.     See  Bockh  :  Die  Staatshaiishaltung  der  jithcner,  I.  p.  40. 

"  1  Cor.  7  :  21,  22.  Eph.  6  :  5-7.  Col.  3  :  22.  1  Pet.  2  ■  18.  1  Tim.  6  :  1  (where 
the  vTTo  g-vyov  forbids  to  think  of  free  servants),  Tit.  2:9. 


LIFE.]  §  113,      CHRISTIANTTT   AISTD   SLAVEKT.  459 

all  wrong  social  relations,  slavery  and  despotism  among  the  rest,  and  for 
the  radical  cure,  therefore,  of  the  evil  in  question.  It  confirms,  in  the 
£rst  place,  the  Old  Testament  doctrine  of  the  original  unity  of  the 
human  race  and  its  descent  from  a  single  pair.*  Then  it  asserts 
the  perfect  equality  of  men  in  the  highest,  spiritual  view,  in  their 
relation  to  Christ,  who  has  redeemed  all,  even  the  poorest  and  mean- 
est, with  his  blood,  and  called  them  to  the  same  glory  and  blessed- 
ness. In  Christ  all  earthly  distinctions  are  inwardly  abolished.  In 
Him  there  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek,  bond  nor  free,  male  nor  female;  all 
form  one  ideal  person  in  Him,  the  common  Head  (Gal.  3:  28.  Col.  3: 
11).  On  the  one  hand,  therefore,  the  Christian  master  is  a  servant  of 
Christ,  with  whom  there  is  no  respect  of  persons,  and  he  ought  always 
to  be  conscious  of  this  dependence,  and  of  the  responsibility  it  involves 
(Eph.  6:  9).  On  the  other,  the  slave  is  by  faith  a  freedman  of  Christ, 
in  the  blessed  possession  of  the  only  true  liberty,  that  of  the  children  of 
God,  and  thus,  even  though  remaining  in  his  bonds,  he  is  raised  above 
them;  while  the  richest  prince  without  faith  is  but  a  miserable  slave  of 
sin  and  death.  Hence  the  master  should  look  upon  his  servant  as  also 
his*  brother  in  Christ,  and  treat  him  accordingly  (Philem.  v.  16,  It); 
the  servant  should  obey,  not  as  the  slave  of  man,  but  for  the  sake  of  the 
Lord,  'f  Masters,  give  unto  your  servants  that  which  is  just  and  equal ; 
knowing  that  ye  also  have  a  Master  in  heaven."  "  Servants,  obey  in  all 
things  (of  course  not  in  things  contrary  to  the  divine  commands,  for 
here  the  injunction  ceases  to  be  of  force)  your  masters  according  to  the 
flesh ;  not  with  eye-service,  as  men-pleasers ;  but  in  singleness  of  heart, 
fearing  God;  and  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  it  heartily,  as  to  the  Lord,  and 
not  unto  men;  knowing  that  of  the  Lord  ye  shall  receive  the  reward  of 
the  (heavenly)  inheritance;  for  ye  serve  the  Lord  Christ.""^ 

By  this  view  the  distinction  of  master  and  slave  is  at  once  inwardly 
obliterated  and  deprived  of  its  sting,  even  where  it  outwardly  remains. 
Christianity  is  so  spiritual  and  universal,  that  it  can  exert  its  power  in 
all  conditions  and  relations,  and  turn,  as  by  magic,  even  the  hut  of 
deepest  misery  into  a  heaven  of  peace  and  joy.  Thus  there  are  now 
slaves,  who  through  their  virtue  and  piety  are  infinitely  freer  than  their 
masters,  and  put  them  to  shame.  On  the  other  hand,  a  true  Christian, 
who  comes  into  possession  of  slaves  by  inheritance,  will  never  treat  them 
as  slaves  in  the  proper  sense,  but  as  free  servants,  with  all  love  and 
kindness;  he  will  seek  in  every  way  to  promote  their  moral  and  religious 
culture,  even  if  circumstances,  for  which  he  is  not  personally  answerable, 
should  make  their  formal  emancipation  for  the  time  impracticable.     But 

'  Acts  17  :  26.     Com  p.  Rom.  5  :  12.     1  Cor.  15  :  22,  47. 
"  Col.  3  :  22-4  :  1.     Comp,  Eph.  6  :  5-9. 


460  §  114.       THE   CHRISTIAN   COMMUmTY.  ["•  BOOK. 

of  course  this  alone  is  not  enough.  All  that  is  inward,  must  in  the  end 
work  itself  out  and  fully  establish  itself  as  an  outward  fact  in  actual 
life.  So  Paul  expressly  says  to  the  slave:  "  But  if  thou  mayest  be 
made  free,  use  it  rather"  (1  Cor.  *7:  21)'.  Hence  the  spirit  and  genius 
of  Christianity,  more  powerful  than  any  particular  command,  has  in  all 
ages,  without  any  radical  noise  and  revolution,  or  contempt  for  histori- 
cally established  legal  rights  and  the  principles  of  equity,  urged  towards 
the  orderly,  constitutional  abolition  of  slavery;  and  though  it  has  not 
even  yet  everywhere  succeeded — in  the  freest  land  in  the  world,  in  most 
glaring  inconsistency  with  its  fundamental  political  principles,  there  are 
still  more  than  three  millions  of  negro  slaves  ! — yet  it  will  not  rest,  till 
by  the  power  of  redemption  all  the  chains  which  sin  has  forged  shall  be 
broken;  till  the  personal  and  eternal  dignity  of  man  shall  be  universally 
acknowledged,  and  the  idea  of  evangelical  freedom  and  fraternal  fellow- 
ship perfectly  realized. 

§  114.   The  Christian  Community. 

The  grand  feature  of  the  social  life  of  the  first  Christians  was  that 
mark  of  true  discipleship  (Jno.  13:  35),  brotherly  love,  rooted  in  faith 
and  gospel  truth;  a  communion  of  saints,  founded  on  the  uuio  mystica, 
or  vital  union  with  the  Saviour,  and  drawing  thence  daily  and  hourly 
nourishment.  The  Christians  were  conscious  of  being  reconciled  to  God 
by  the  same  blood,  born  again  of  the  same  seed,  sanctified  by  the  same 
Spirit,  destined  for  the  same  end.  They  felt  themselves  to  be  members 
of  one  body,  children  of  one  Father  in  heaven,  partakers  of  one  salva- 
tion, heirs  of  one  blessedness;  in  short,  one  holy  family  of'  God.  Hence 
they  mostly  called  themselves  "brethren,"'  and  attested  themselves  such 

'  In  the  interpretation  of  this  passage  I  agree  with  Calvin,  Grotius,  and  Neander 
(I.  p.  427)  who  to  [idXTiov  XQ^I'^^'-  supply  the  words  ry  tTiEv&EQla^  most  naturally  sug- 
gested by  what  immediately  precedes.  The  supplying  of  ry  ^ovXeia,  preferred  by 
Chrysostom,  Theodoret  and  others,  reversing  the  sense  and  making  the  apostle  give  the 
preference  to  servitude,  does  not  suit  the  verb  at  all  and  is  by  no  means  required  by  the 
el  Kai,  as  Meyer  and  De  Wette  erroneously  assert.  The  sense  of  Paul  then  is  :  Civil 
bondage  is  perfectly  consistent  with  Christian  freedom,  and  thy  condition  should  give 
thee  no  trouble  on  this  score ;  but  if,  besides  the  inward  freedom  of  faith,  thou  mayest 
also  attain  the  outward,  as  an  additional  (Kai)  good — of  course,  by  proper  legal  means 
— reject  not  the  opportunity,  but  rather  thankfully  use  it. 

"  See  Matt.  23  :  8.  Lu.  22  :  32.  Jno.  21  :  23.  Acts  1  :  16.  9  :  17.  16  :  40. 
Rom.  8  :  12.  14  :  10,  13,  15,  21.  1  Cor.  6:5.  7  :  12.  8  :  11.  15  :  6.  16  :  11.  Col.  1  : 
1.  4:7.  Eph.6:  10,21.  Phil.  1  :  14.  2:25.  1  Pet.  2  :  17.  iJno.  2:9-11.  3: 
10,  14,  16.  4  :  20,  21.  Ja.  1  :  16.  2:15.  4  :  11,  and  many  other  passages  especi- 
ally in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  Paul's  epistles.  Other  names,  which  the  Chris- 
tians gave  themselves,  were  "  disciples''  (of  Jesus) ,  ''  believers,"  "  saints,"  and  subse- 
quently "  Christians."     Comp.  §  61  above. 


LIFE.]  §  114,    THE   CHKISTIAN   COMMUNITY.  461 

by  the  holy  kiss,'  by  acts  of  mutual  service,  and  by  daily  agajpct  or  love- 
feasts  in  connection  with  the  Lord's  Supper.  "  They  continued  stead- 
fastly," as  Luke  briefly  and  strikingly  describes  the  social  life  of  the 
primitive  Christians,  Acts  2  :  42,  "in  the  apostles' doctrine,  and  infellow- 
ship,  and  in  breaking  of  bread,  and  in  prayers."  "  The  multitude  of 
them  that  believed  were  of  one  heart  and  of  one  soul,"  4:  32.  Of 
course  this  inward  unity  and  equality  of  the  Christians  was  not  incon- 
sistent with,  but  included,  the  greatest  diversity  of  gifts  and  powers. 
They  were,  indeed,  "one  in  Christ"  (Gal.  3  :  28);  but  the  unity  was 
such,  that  no  one  could  accomplish  his  destiny  separate  from  the  rest. 
They  required  and  completed  one  another.  There  was  in  the  whole 
body  a  perpetual  vital  action  of  giving  and  receiving  (Eph.  4  :  16). 
True,  this  fraternal  harmony  in  the  congregations  was  in  many  instances 
disturbed.  In  Corinth  there  were  divisions  and  party  strifes.  In  the 
churches,  to  which  James  wrote,  the  rich  indulged  in  heartless  oppres- 
sion of  the  poor.  In  Rome  the  circumcised  and  uncircumcised  had  not 
yet  become  perfectly  harmonized.  And  Ephesus  soon  lost  the  glow  of  its 
first  love.  But  these  disturbances  were  directly  opposed  to  the  spirit  of 
Christianity.  They  proceeded  from  the  selfishness  of  nature  as  yet  im- 
perfectly subdued  or  reasserting  its  power,  and  from  the  corrupting 
influence  of  false  teachers.  The  apostles  everywhere  most  emphatically 
condemn  them.  Among  their  exhortations  those  to  concord,  to  self- 
denying,  forbearing  love,  are  peculiarly  prominent.^ 

While  the  church  was  limited  to  one  community  in  Jerusalem,  it  went 
so  far  in  the  ardor  of  its  first  love,  as  to  abolish  even  externally  the 
distinction  of  rich  and  poor  and  establish  a  community  of  goods, 
after  the  pattern  of  the  common  treasury  of  Jesus  and  his  disciples. 
Those  who  owned  houses  and  estates  sold  their  property,  in  literal 
fulfillment  of  Christ's  command,  Lu.  12  :  33.  Matt.  19  :  21,  and  laid 
the  proceeds  at  the  feet  of  the  apostles  as  the  treasurers  of  the  common 
fund  (Acts  2  :  45.  4  :  34-37).  Luke  commends  particularly  the  self- 
denial  of  the  future  companion  of  Paul,  the  Cyprian  Levite,  Joses,  dis- 
tinguished for  the  gift  of  prophetic  exhortation  and  consolation  (corap. 
13  :  1),  and  hence  honored  with  the  surname,  Barnabas.'     This  com- 

'  Rom.  16  :  16.     1  Cor.  16  :  20.     2  Cor.  13  :  12.     1  Thess.  5  :  26.     1  Pet.  5  :  14. 

"  Comp.  ]  Cor.  1  :  10  sqq.  3  :  3  sqq.  Gal.  5  :  15.  Rom.  14-16.  Phil.  2  :  1-3. 
Ja.  2  :  1  sqq.     3  :  13  sqq.     4  :  1  sqq.     1  Jno.  2  :  9  sqq.     3:11  sqq.,  &c. 

'  From  ns^^!23  ^S)  properly  vlb^  TtQO(pr]T£iac,  which,  however,  includes  nagu- 
KXr/ai^^  Acts  4  :  37.  He  was  in  all  probability  the  same  as  Joseph  Barsabas,  one  of 
the  two  candidates  for  the  vacant  apostleship,  1  :  23,  although  some  commentators 
make  them  two  different  persons. — It  is  true,  the  Mosaic  law  allotted  the  priests  and 
Levites  only  tithes,  not  real  estate,  except  the  forty-eight  cities  with  their  suburbs 
assigned  them  in  Nu.  3Z  :  2  sqq.     But  this  institution  was  probably  not  revived  after 


462  §  114.     THE  cnEiSTiAN  coMMTTJsrnr.  [ii.book. 

munity  of  goods,  howeover,  was  not  enforced  by  law,  as  in  the  sect  of 
the  Essenes,  but  left  to  the  free  will  of  individuals,  to  the  inward  im- 
pulse of  love  and  beneficence.  Peter  tells  Ananias  (Acts  5  :  4)  that 
he  might  have  kept  his  field,  and,  even  after  he  had  sold  it,  might  have 
disposed  of  the  money  as  he  chose.  And  according  to  Acts  12  :  12, 
Mary,  the  mother  of  the  evangelist  John  Mark,  and  a  member  of  the 
church,  owned  a  house  in  Jerusalem.  The  distribution  of  alms  to 
widows,  spoken  of  in  Acts  6,  also  seems  to  indicate,  that  the  distinction 
between  poor  and  rich  was  not  altogether  done  away.  It  is  most  pro- 
bable, however,  that  at  this  time  most  of  the  believers  gave  up  their 
property,  and  that  the  enthusiasm  of  their  first  love  did  more  than  the 
strictest  law  could  have  accomplished.  In  this  childlike  economy  of  the 
primitive  Christian  community  we  may  see  a  prophetic  anticipation,  of 
the  state  of  things  in  the  perfected  kingdom  of  God,  where  the  civil  dis- 
tinction of  poverty  and  wealth  will  entirely  disappear,  and  all  be  kings 
and  priests.  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  however,  that  community  of  goods, 
in  the  universal  establishment  of  which  visionary  reformers  expect  to  find 
a  panacea  for  society,  was  not  free,  even  in  the  primitive  apostolic 
church,  from  temptation  to  hypocrisy  and  avarice;  as  the  examples  of 
Ananias  (Acts  5:  1  sqq.)  and  of  the  dissatisfied  Hebrew  widows  (6:1) 
show. 

How  long  the  community  of  goods  lasted  in  Jerusalem,  we  know  not. 
On  a  larger  scale  it  could  not  have  been  carried  out  without  an  entire 
subversion  of  all  existing  relations ;  and  from  this  the  apostles  ,  were 
infinitely  removed.  Hence  in  other  congregations  we  find  no  trace  of  it. 
But  in  them  all  prevailed,  no  doubt,  the  disposition  which  lay  at  the 
root  of  it,  the  spirit  of  Christian  love  and  charity.  This  is  the  true 
socialism  and  communism,  which  inwardly  breaks  down  the  distinction  of 
rich  and  poor,  without  abolishing  it  in  the  civil  sense,  or  leveling  the 
inequalities  and  varieties  of  life  according  to  abstract  theories;  and 
which  takes  the  sting  from  all  other  forms  of  aristocracy,  such  as  the 
inevitable  dominion  of  talent  over  mental  weakness,  of  culture  over 
ignorance,  &c.'  For  Christianity  perpetually  reminds  the  rich  and 
powerful  of  their  poverty  and  weakness  before  almighty  God,  and  urges 
them  to  liberality  and  humanity;  while  it  makes  the  poor  and  weak 
the  Babylonish  captivity.  Indeed,  as  early  as  Jeremiah's  time,  the  priests  could  pur- 
chase pieces  of  ground  (Jer.  32  :  7). 

'  The  modern  communism  is  mostly  a  carnal,  in  some  cases  even  a  diabolical,  carica- 
ture of  the  self-denying  brotherly  love  of  Christians,  and  proceeds  not  from  genuine 
interest  in  the  lot  of  the  poor,  but  rather  from  low  envy  of  the  rich,  from  mean  selfish- 
ness and  infidel  radicalisjn.  Yet  we  would  by  no  means  deny,  that,  in  opposition  to 
the  rigid  distinction  of  classes,  and  the  heartless  money  aristocracy  of  modern  society, 
it  finds  some  justification. 


LIFE.]  §  115.       CIVIL    AND   NATIONAL   LIFE.  463 

conscious  of  their  riches  and  strength  in  the  Lord,  and  thus  raises  them 
above  the  greatest  outward  misery.  "  Let  the  brother  of  low  degree 
rejoice  in  that  he  is  exalted;  but  the  rich,  in  that  he  is  made  low  :  be- 
cause as  the  flower  of  the  grass  he  shall  pass  away"  (Ja.  1:  9,  10). 
Works  of  mercy,  of  self-denying  care  and  consolation  for  the  needy  and 
the  troubled,  were  from  the  first  a  main  ornament  of  the  Christian  life 
(James  1  :  27).  The  example  of  the  female  disciple,  Tabitha,  who  with 
her  own  hands  made  clothing  for  widows  and  orphans  (Acts  9  :  36),  was 
certainly  not  alone  in  the  apostolic  church,  though  the  history  does  not 
mention  many  individual  cases.  Alms  and  other  expressions  of  Christian 
benevolence  love  solitude  and  silence,  according  to  our  Lord's  exhorta- 
tion: "  Let  not  thy  left  hand  know  what  thy  right  hand  doeth." 

§  115.    Civil  and  National  Life. 

Christ  did  not  appear,  it  is  true,  as  a  political  reformer,  but  as  King 
of  truth  and  Founder  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  He  more  than  once 
decidedly  condemned  the  earthly  Messianic  hopes  of  his  contemporaries, 
and  neither  in  doctrine  nor  in  act  did  he  concern  himself  directly  with 
political  affairs.'  The  same  is  true  of  the  apostles.  They  left  untouched 
the  Roman  civil  institutions,  in  which  there  was  certainly  much  to  cen- 
sure and  to  improve;  and  they  never  courted  in  the  least  the  favor  of 
rulers. 

But  Christianity  is  not  by  any  means  on  this  account  indifferent  or 
hostile  to  politics.  On  the  contrary,  history  testifies,  that  it  has  indi- 
rectly exerted  a  very  important  and  exceedingly  beneficent  influence  on 
the  development  and  purification  of  states,  and  is  indispensable  to  their 
perfection.  It  sees  in  the  body  politic  not  an  arbitrary,  human  inven- 
tion; in  the  magistracy,  not  a  mere  slavish  creature  of  the  sovereign  will 
of  the  people ;  but  a  divine  oi'dinance  for  the  administration  of  eternal 
justice,  which  punishes  evil  and  rewards  good ;  for  upholding  the  majesty 
of  law;  for  maintaining  order  and  security  both  of  person  and  of  pro- 
perty; and  for  promoting  the  public  weal  (Rom.  13  :  1-5).  The  state 
is  moral  society  resting  on  law;  the  church,  the  same  resting  on  the 
gospel.  The  one  is  necessarily  limited  and  national;  the  other,  catholic 
and  universal.  The  former  looks  to  temporal  welfare;  the  latter,  to 
eternal.  But  each  promotes  and  protects  the  other.  The  state  in  a 
measure  trains  for  the  church;  as  the  law  is  a  schoolmaster  to  bring  to 
Christ.  As  a  legal  institution  it  remains  absolutely  necessary,  until  the 
law  become  in  all  men  the  inward  power  of  love,  and  outward  constraint 
become  needless. 

'  Compare  Matt.  22  :  15-22.  Lu.  12  :  13,  14.  22  :  25,  26.  Jno.  6  :  15.  8  :  11. 
18  :  36,  37. 


464  §    115.       CIVTL    KSD   NATIONAL   LIFE.  [ll.  BOOK. 

As  to  the  particular  form  of  government  for  a  state  the  apostles  give 
no  directions.  As  all  power  and  authority  come  from  God,  so  also  does 
the  power  of  the  civil  government,'  be  it  an  absolute  or  a  limited 
monarchy  or  a  republic,  be  it  an  aristocracy  or  a  democracy.  In  virtue 
of  its  elevation  above  the  temporal  and  earthly,  Christianity  may  exist 
under  all  forms  of  civil  government,  and  will  always  favor  that  which 
most  corresponds  to  the  historical  relations  and  wants  of  a  nation,  and 
which  is,  therefore,  relatively  the  best;  Of  course,  however,  in  this 
point  also,  it  tends  steadily  to  improvement  and  to  the  highest  possible 
perfection;  to  the  abolition  of  hurtful  laws  and  institutions  and  the 
introduction  of  good;  to  an  organization,  under  which  the  power  is  judi- 
ciously distributed,  the  rights  of  the  individual  as  well  as  of  the  com- 
monwealth best  preserved,  and  the  moral  ends  of  the  race  most  effi- 
ciently promoted  and  most  surely  attained.  The  spirit  of  the  gospel 
can,  therefore,  permanently  tolerate  neither  absolute  despotism,  which 
checks  the  free  growth  of  the  intellectual  and  moral  powers  of  the 
people,  and  subjects  them  to  the  arbitrary  will  of  a  mortal,  nor  the  rude 
dominion  of  the  mob,  which  shatters  the  foundations  of  public  order  and 
security,  and  ends  at  last  in  anarchy  and  barbarism.  Between  these 
two  extremes  there  are  various  forms  of  government,  under  which  the 
church  may,  and  actually  does,  thrive.  Nay,  even  oppression  and  per- 
secution on  the  part  of  the  reigning  secular  power  may  be  favorable  to 
her  in  a  moral  point  of  view,  as  the  history  of  the  first  three  centuries, 
the  classical  age  of  Christian  martyrdom,  sufficiently  shows.  But  this  is 
certainly  not  the  normal  state  of  things.  The  least  that  the  church 
may  and  must  demand  of  the  state,  is  to  be  tolerated  and  to  enjoy  the 
protection  of  the  laws. 

The  above  conception  of  the  magistrate  shows  his  duty  to  rule  not 
arbitrarily  and  despotically,  but  in  the  name  of  God  and  for  the  good  of 
his  subjects;  to  maintain  right  and  law,  humbly  mindful  of  his  heavy 
responsibility  to  the  supreme  power  in  heaven.  For  rulers  stand  not  over, 
but  under,  the  law,  and  only  when  they  exercise  their  office  as  servants 
of  God  (Rom.  13  :  4),  can  they  be  in  the  noblest  sense  also  the  servants 
of  the  people  and  promote  their  true  welfare.  Tyrants  and  ambitious 
demagogues  at  last  ruin  both  themselves  and  those  they  rule.  The  duty 
of  subjects  is  obedience.     This  is  enjoined  with  special  emphasis  by  Paul 

^  Rom.  13  :  1.  Oh  yUg  eotlv  t^ovala  el  pi  uivb  d-eov,  al  Se  ovaai  {t^ovaiai)  vrro 
3Eoi  TETajfiivaL  eIglv.  Into  the  question  whether  a  revolutionary  administration, 
resting  on  usurpation,  is  of  divine  origin  and  authority,  Paul  does  not  here  enter. 
Yet  such  a  government  is  certainly  not  excepted  (comp.  1  Pet.  2  :  13)  and  can  like- 
wise claim  obedience,  provided  it  be  actually  established  by  the  overthrow  of  the 
former  regime  and  by  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  accomplish  the  end  of  government, 
the  administration  of  law  and  justice,  v.  3,  4.  and  6. 


LIFE.]  §  115.       CIVIL    AND    NATIONAL    LIFE.  465 

aiid  Peter '  ou  accouut  of  the  rebellious  spirit  of  the  Jews,''  which  might 
easily  communicate  itself  to  the  Jewish  Christians,  particularly  under  so 
tyrannical  an  administration  as  that  of  the  emperor  Nero.  In  such 
cases  men  are  very  likely  to  confound  the  person  with  the  office,  and  sum- 
marily to  repudiate  the  latter  with  the  former;  whereas  the  office  remains 
divine  and  sacred,  even  though  the  temporary  holder  of  it  do  the 
opposite  of  what  it  requires. 

But  of  course  the  apostles  did  not  require  a  blind,  slavish  subjection 
to  any  man,  however  high  his  position.     They  enjoined  subjection  "  for 
the  Lord's  sake,"  and  "  for  conscience  sake."^     Fawning  is  unchristian 
and  unworthy  of  a  free  man.     With  what  dignity  and  noble  self-respect 
did  Christ  stand  as  King  of  truth  before  Caiaphas  and  Pilate;  and  Paul, 
as  the  apostle  of  the  risen  Saviour  before  the  Sanhedrim,  before  Felix, 
Festus,  and  Agi'ippa,  and  finally  before  the  Roman  emperor!     Again, 
the  subjection  here  required  is  not  absolute  and  unlimited.     In  obeying 
the  constituted  authorities — thus  runs  the  exhortation,  Rom.  13 — a  man 
should,  properly  speaking,  obey  God  only,  whose  minister  the  magistrate 
is,  and  whose  sword  he  bears.     And   hence  obedience  to  an   earthly 
ruler  must  be  measured  and  limited  by  the  obligation  to  the  heavenly; 
as  is  hinted  by  the  significant  collocation:  "Render  unto   Cajsar  the 
things  which  are  Caesar's;   and  unto   God  the   things  that  are  God's 
(Matt.  22  :  21).     When,   therefore,  the   temporal  authority  commands 
what  is  contrary  to  the  divine  will,   irreligious,   and  immoral,  or  even 
when  it  violates  the  general  rights  and  honor  of  the  body  politic,  it 
comes  into  conflict  with  itself  and  with  the  law,  to  which  it,  as  well  as 
the  humblest  citizen,  owes  allegiance.     It  ceases  to  be  God's  minister, 
and  loses  all  claim  to  regard.     It  is  then  the  duty  of  the   Christian  to 
refuse  to  obey,  and  that  in  the  way  of  obedience  to  God,  and  "  for  con- 
science sake,"  according  to  Peter's  maxim:  "We  ought  to  obey  God 
rather  than  men  (Acts  5  :  29.     Comp.  4  :  19).     The  apostles  would  be 
forbidden  to  confess  the   faith  and  preach  the  gospel  neither  by  the 
Jewish  nor  the  Roman  authorities,   and  preferred  imprisonment,  exile, 
and  death,  to  acting  against  their  conscience.*     Yet  in  such  cases  the 
Christian  resorts  not  to  violent  measures  of  resistance  and   rebellion, 
which  are  under  any  circumstances  morally  wrong,  but  to  the  spiritual 
weapons  of  the  word,  faith,  prayer  (comp.  1  Tim.  2:  2),  and  patience. 
"Though  we  walk  in  the  flesh,"  says  Paul  (2  Cor.  10:  3  sq.),  "we  do 

*  Rom.  13  :  1.     Tit.  3:1.     1  Pet.  2  :  13-17. 

*  Who,  on    this  account,   were   banished   from    Rome    under    Claudius.      Comp. 
Neander :  Apost.  Gesch.  I.  p.  461,  and  Tholuck,  on  Rom.  13  :  1  (p.  647). 

"  1  Pet.  2  :  13.     Rom.  13  :  5. 

*  Acts  4:  20.     5  :  18,  20  sqq.,  28  sqq.     7  :  2  sqq.      16:22.      17  :  6  sqq.      c.  22-26. 
2  Tim.  4  :  17. 

30 


4:QQ  §  115.       CIVIL    AND    NATIONAL    LIFE.  [n.  BOOK. 

not  war  after  the  flesh.  For  the  weapons  of  our  warfare  are  not  carnal, 
but  mig-hty  through  God."  Martyrdom  is  a  far  nobler  heroism  than 
resistance  with  fire  and  sword,  and  leads  in  the  end  to  a  purer  and  more 
lasting  victory.  Undoubtedly,  there  are  sometimes  revolutions,'  in 
which  truly  pious  men  engage  as  members  of  the  body  politic,  from 
motives  of  patriotism  and  religion,''  and  which  may  be  justified,  at  least 
to  some  extent,  on  Christian  principles;  that  is,  so  far  as  the  govern- 
ment itself  has  first  trampled  upon  all  law  and  right,  has  set  itself 
against  the  general  good,  and  has  spurned  all  the  lawful  measures  of  the 
people  for  redress.  Such  rare  cases,  however,  are  to  be  counted  anoma- 
lies and  necessary  evils.  They  are  the  last  desperate  efforts  of  nations 
to  get  rid  of  irremediable  diseases;  thunder  storms  in  the  pestilential 
atmosphere  of  society;  volcanic  eruptions  of  the  natural  life  of  history, 
which  become  impossible  as  fast  as  the  spirit  of  Christianity  works  itself 
into  civil  and  national  life.  It  remains  the  duty  of  Christians  in  the 
most  trying  state  of  political  affairs,  to  bear  as  long  as  is  at  all  possible; 
to  avoid  war  and  bloodshed;  rather  to  suffer,  than  to  do,  injustice;  and 
to  confine  themselves  to  moral  and  spiritual  means  of  resistance,  which 
are  generally  slower,  indeed,  but  always  surer.  They  should  bear  in 
mind  that  our  Lord  and  his  apostles,  in  the  days  of  a  Tiberius,  a 
Caligula,  a  Claudius,  a  Nero,  and  a  Domitian,  explicitly  enjoined  obedi- 
ence; and  that  a  bad  administration  may  be  also  the  rod  of  divine 
chastisement  to  a  nation.  Furthermore,  very  much  depends  undoubt- 
edly on  whether  this  and  that  individual  are  inwardly  qualified  and 
outwardly  situated  for  political  action;  and  here  it  is  impossible  to  judge 
all  by  the  same  rule.     What  would  be  censurable  here,  or  at  least  un- 

^  This  name,  however,  is  made  to  comprehend  many  acts,  which  have  in  reality 
nothing  rebellious  about  them  ;  as,  for  instance,  the  involuntary  withdrawal  of  a  people, 
under  general  indignation,  from  a  worthless  administration,  which  has  made  itself  ille- 
gitimate by  its  own  acts ;  or  the  voluntary,  but  orderly  emancipation  of  a  colony  rife 
for  self-government  from  the  unduly  prolonged  guardianship  of  the  mother  country, 
which  would  still  treat  the  adult  daughter  as  a  child.  To  such  revolutions  in  them- 
selves considered  (to  which  it  were  better  not  to  apply  this  name  at  ail)  there  can  of 
course  be  no  reasonable  objection. 

^  As  in  the  reformation  in  Scotland,  which  was  at  the  same  time  a  political  revo- 
lution; the  struggle  for  freedom  in  the  Netherlands;  the  Puritanic  revolution  under 
Cromwell,  and  the  North  American  under  Washington,  The  Reformed  theologians, 
particularly  in  England  and  America,  are  much  more  liberal  than  the  Lutheran  in  their 
opinion  of  revolutions,  and  in  all  their  political  views.  The  good  and  pious  Dr.  Thomas 
Arnold  vindicates  even  the  July  revolution  in  France  as  a  blessed  revolution,  without 
a  stain,  without  its  parallel  in  history,  and  extols  it  as  the  most  glorious  example  of 
the  quick  and  powerful  suppression  of  a  royal  insurrection  against  society,  which 
the  world  ever  saw.  See  his  letter  to  Cornish,  August,  1830.  Yet  the  revolution 
of  February,  1848,  and  the  dethronement  of  Louis  Philippe  would  probably  have  led 
bim  to  modify  his  judgment  considerably. 


I-IFE.]  §  115,      CIVIL   AND   NATIONAL   LITE.  467 

becoming,  in  a  preacher  of  the  gosjDe],  may  be  duty  for  a  statesman  or 
a  general. 

Finally,  upon  the  mutual  relations  of  nations  also  Christianity  has 
exerted  an  exceedingly  beneficent  influence.  All  know  with  what 
"  odium  generis  humani,"  with  what  spiritual  self-conceit,  the  Jews 
abhorred  all  Gentiles  ;  with  what  pride  of  culture  and  with  what  con- 
tempt the  Greeks  and  Romans  looked  down  upon  barbarians.  By  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  these  insurmountable  partition-walls  were 
demolished  as  by  a  thunder-bolt.  What  had  never  before  entered  into 
the  heart  of  man,— that  Jews  and  Gentiles  should  meet  as  brethren 
without  the  Gentiles  passing  through  the  door  of  circumcision  and  the 
whole  ceremonial  law, — was  through  faith  actually  accomplished  in 
Paul's  churches,  at  a  time  when  the  Roman  eagle  was  mercilessly  tread- 
ing under  foot  the  hardened  Jewish  nation  and  laying  its  sacred  things 
in  dust  and  ashes.  Antiquity  had  not  the  remotest  idea  of  a  universal 
religion,  which  by  the  fellowship  of  faith  and  love  should  annihilate  the 
greatest  distances  of  time  and  space,  and  bind  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  together  in  one  family  of  God.  This  colossal  idea  Christianity 
revealed,  and  in  the  apostolic  age  began  mightily  to  carry  out ;  not 
obliterating  national  distinctions,  but  recognizing  and  indulging  nations 
in  their  rights  ;  yet  at  the  same  time  truly  drawing  them  together  in  a 
higher  unity.  The  same  brotherly  love,  which  bound  together  the  mem- 
bers of  single  communities,  also  united  the  various  communities  in  one 
organism,  forming  the  mystical  body  of  the  Redeemer  and  presenting  a 
spiritual  temple  of  wonderful  symmetry  and  beauty.  Nor  is  this  unity 
limited  merely  to  the  inward,  invisible  life.  Besides  unity  of  spirit  Paul 
explicitly  requires  also  unity  of  body,  as  the  necessary  fruit  and  evidence 
of  the  former.'  It  must  be  admitted,  to  be  sure,  that  this  unity  did  not 
perfectly  appear  ;  that  it  was  variously  disturbed  by  the  after-workings 
of  the  Jewish  and  Graeco-Roman  national  characters,  and  still  more  by 
Pharisaical  and  afterwards  by  Gnostic  heretics.  Yet  it  constantly 
tended  towards  perfect  manifestation  in  real  life,  and  in  spite  of  all  hin- 
drances was  rapidly  growing  towards  full  manhood  in  Christ  (Eph.  2  : 
21.  4  :  13).  Whatever  modern  critics  may  say  of  the  dispute  be- 
tween Peter  and  Paul,  between  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christians,  all  the 
apostles  perfectly  agreed  in  their  main  principles.  They  were  the  per- 
sonal representatives  of  the  unity  of  the  whole  church,  and  all  wrought, 
each  with  his  peculiar  gift  and  in  his  own  way,  towards  the  same  end. 
Of  this  we  have  testimony  in  their  writings  ;  in  their  harmonious  action 
in  the  council  at  Jerusalem,  and  their  settlement  of  the  great  question 
•*  Comp.  Eph.  4:4:  "Ev  aw^a  Koi  ev  ■Kvev/ia ;  2  :  19-22 ;  and  particularly  1  Cor. 
12  :  13. 


468  §  115.    crvTL  aijd  national  life.  [n.  book. 

of  the  relation  of  the  Gentiles  to  the  gospel ;  in  the  continual  collec- 
tions made  by  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  in  his  Grecian  churches  for 
the  poor  Jewish  Christians  in  Palestine.  For  these  collections  were 
designed  by  no  means  merely  to  furnish  outward  aid,  but  to  attest 
practically,  and  to  promote,  the  fraternal  communion  between  the  two 
great  sections  of  the  church.-  Thus  could  Paul  write  with  truth  to  the 
Ephesians,  that  Christ,  our  peace,  has  by  his  atoning  work  broken  down 
the  wall  between  Jews  and  Gentiles,  abolished  the  enmity,  made  of  the 
two  one  new  man  in  himself,  and  reconciled  both  in  one  body  to  God 
(Eph.  2  :  14-22). — Rome,  with  all  her  spirit  of  conquest  and  her  won- 
derful governmental  talents,  could  erect  only  a  giant  body  without  a 
soul,  a  mechanical  conglomeration  of  nations,  which  has  long  ago  fallen 
to  pieces  ;  while  the  spiritual  edifice  of  the  Christian  church  still  stands 
unshaken,  and  is  continuing  and  will  continue  to  enlarge  itself,  until  it 
shall  have  wrought  all  nations  as  living  stones  into  its  walls. 

'  Gal.  2  :  10.     1  Cor.  16  :  3,  4.     2  Cor.  9  :  12-15.    Rom.  15  :  25-27. 


LIFE.]  §  116.     THE   CHAKISMS.       '  469 


CHAPTEE   II. 


SPIRITUAL  GIFTS. 


§  116.  Nature  and  Classification  of  the  Charisms 
This  power  of  the  Apostolic  church  to  transform  and  sanctify  all  the 
moral  relations  of  life  had  its  ground  in  special  gifts  of  divine  grace, 
with  which  that  church  was  endowed.  These  wrought  together  in 
organic  harmony  for  the  inward  edification  of  the  body  of  Christ  and 
for  the  conversion  of  the  world  without.  They  formed,  as  it  were,  the 
sparkling  bridal  ornament  of  this  first  creative  epoch  of  Christianity. 
Paul  treats  of  them  particularly  in  the  twelfth  and  fourteenth  chapters  of 
his  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians. 

By  the  expression  spiritual  gift  or  gift  of  grace,  x^?'-'^f^°'>  ive^yrifia, 
the  apostle  means  "  a  revelation  of  the  Spirit  for  the  common  good  ;'" 
that  is,  not  faith  in  general,  which  constitutes  the  essence  of  the  whole 
Christian  disposition,  but  a  particular  energy  and  utterance  of  the 
believer's  life,  prompted  and  guided  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  for  the  edifi- 
cation of  the  church  ;  the  predominant  religious  qualification,  the  pecu- 
liar divine  talent  of  the  individual,  by  which  he  is  to  perform  his 
function,  as  an  organic  member,  in  the  vital  action  of  the  whole,  and 
promote  its  growth.  It  is,  therefore,  as  the  name  itself  implies,  some- 
thing supernaturally  wrought,  and  bestowed  by  free  grace  (comp.  1  Cor. 
12  :  11)  ;  yet  it  forms  itself,  like  Christianity  in  general,  upon  the 
natural  basis  prepared  for  it  in  the  native  intellectual  and  moral  capa- 
cities of  the  man,  which  are  in  fact  themselves  gifts  of  Grod.  These 
natural  qualities  it  baptizes  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire  and 
rouses  to  higher  and  freer  activity.  The  charisms  are  many,  corres- 
ponding to  the  various  faculties  of  the  soul  and  the  needs  of  the  body 
of  Christ  ;  and  in  this  very  abundance  and  diversity  of  gifts  are  revealed 
the  riches  of  divine  grace  {iTotKi?,r] xu^ic  -^eov,  1  Pet.  4  :  10).     As,  how- 

•'  ^avspufftg  Tov  m'ev/xaro^  Trpof  to  avu<l>e<fOv,  1  Cor.  12  :  7 ;  Trpdf  t^v  oUodofi^v  rr/g 
^KKltjaiag,  14  :  12,  comp.  Eph.  4:12. 


470  §  1^6-       NATUKE   AND    CLASSIFICATION  ["•  BOOK. 

ever,  they  all  flow  from  the  same  source,  are  wrought  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  are  gifts  of  free  grace  ;  so  they  all  subserve  the  same  end, 
the  edification  of  the  body  of  Christ.  Hence  the  apostle  applies  to 
them  the  beautiful  simile  of  the  bodily  organism,  the  harmonious  co- 
operation of  different  members.'  To  this  practical  design  the  term 
administrations,  or  ministry,''  no  doubt  refers.  Every  one  has  "  his 
proper  gift,"  which  best  corresponds  to  his  natural  peculiarity  and  is 
indispensable  for  his  sphere  of  activity.^  But  several  charisms  may  also 
be  united  in  one  individual.  This  was  the  case  particularly  with  the 
apostles,  whose  office  in  fact  originally  included  all  other  spiritual  ofiBces 
and  their  functions,  even  tp  the  diaconate  (comp.  Acts  4  :  35,  37.  6  : 
2).  It  is  true  they  all  had  not  these  gifts  in  equal  measure.  John 
seems  to  have  possessed  especially  the  charisms  of  love,  profound  know- 
ledge, and  prophecy  ;  Peter,  those  of  church  government  and  discipline, 
miracles,  and  discernraent  of  spirits  (comp.  Acts  5  :  1  sqq.)  ;  James, 
those  of  the  faithful  episcopal  superintendence  of  a  congregation,  and 
silent,  patient  service  at  the  altar.  Most  variously  endowed  in  this 
respect  was  St.  Paul,  eminent  alike  in  knowing  and  in  setting  forth 
divine  mysteries  ;  fitted  both  for  the  labors  of  a  pioneer,  and  for  pre- 
serving and  confirming  established  order  ;  at  home  among  visions  and 
revelations  ;  excelling  all  the  Corinthians  in  the  gift  of  tongues  (1  Cor. 
14  :  18)  ;  and  accredited  among  them  by  signs  and  wonders  (2  Cor. 
12  :  12). 

The  greatest  movements  in  the  history  of  the  world  always  proceed 
from  individuals  uncommonly  gifted,  in  whom  the  scattered  mental 
energies  of  their  age  are  harmoniously  concentrated.  Of  course,  how- 
ever, the  number  or  strength  of  the  charisms  establishes  no  merit  or 
preference  as  to  the  attainment  of  salvation.  For  this,  living  faith  in 
Christ  is  sufficient.  The  charisms  are  free  gifts  of  grace  ;  and  the  man 
is  responsible,  not  for  the  possession,  but  for  the  use  of  them.  Every 
spiritual  gift  is  liable  to  abuse.  Spiritual  knowledge  may  puff  up 
(1  Cor.  8:1).  The  gift  of  tongues  may  foster  vanity  and  the  dispo- 
sition to  monopolize  the  benefit  of  worship  in  self-edifying  rapture  (14  : 
2  sqq.).  And  every  gift  is  attended  with  heavy  responsibility.  Hence 
the  apostle's  earnest  commendation  of  love,  which  alone  would  prevent 
such  abuse  of  other  gifts,  and  make  their  exercise  pleasing  to  God. 
The  value  of  the  gifts  varied ;  not  depending,  however,  as  many  of  the 
Corinthians  thought,  on  their  splendor  and  outward  effect,  but  on  their 

'  Rom.  12  :  4-6.     1  Cor.  12  :  12  sqq. 

*  AiaKovlai,  1  Cor.  12  :  5,  comp.  Eph.  4  :  12-     1  Pet.  4  :  10. 

»  1  Cor.  7  :  7.     12  :  11.     Rom.  12  :  6.     1  Pet.  4  :  10. 


LIFE.]  OF   THE   CHAKISMS.  471 

practical  utility  for  building  up  the  kingdom  of  God  (1  Cor.  12  :  31. 
14  :  3  sqq. ). 

This  extraordinary  operation  of  the  Spirit  showed  itself  first  in  thev 
apostles  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  the  birth-day  of  the  church.'  Thence 
it  followed  the  steps  of  the  heralds  of  the  gospel  as  a  holy  energy, 
awakening  in  every  susceptible  soul  a  depth  of  knowledge,  a  power  of 
will,  and  a  jubilee  of  heavenly  joy,  which  formed  a  glowing  contrast 
with  the  surrounding  paganism.  For  the  Lord  had  promised  (Mk.  16  : 
17,  18),  that  the  gifts  of  speaking  with  tongues,  casting  out  devils,  and 
healing,  should  be  not  confined  to  a  few,  but  bestowed  on  the  mass 
of  believers.  This  blooming  glory  of  the  infant  church  unfolded  itself, 
most  luxuriantly  among  the  intellectual,  excitable,  gifted  Greeks,  espe- 
cially in  the  Corinthian  church.  But  there  too  the  dangers  and  abuses 
attending  it  most  frequently  appeared.  The  usual  medium  of  communi- 
cating spiritual  gifts  was  the  laying  on  of  the  apoi^les'  hands  (Acts  8  : 
11.  19  :  6.  1  Tim.  4  :  14).  Yet  on  Cornelius  and  his  company  the 
Holy  Ghost  fell  immediately  after  the  simple  preaching  of  the  gospel, 
and  they  began  to  speak  with  tongues  and  prophesy,  to  the  great 
astonishment  of  the  Jewish-Christian  brethren,  before  Peter  had  bap- 
tized them  (Acts  10  :  44,  46). 

It  is  the  prevailing  view,  that  the  charisms,  some  of  them  at  least,  as 
those  of  miracles  and  tongues,  belong  not  essentially  and  permanently  to 
the  church,  but  were  merely  a  temporary  adventitious  efflorescence  of  the 
apostolic  period,  an  ornamental  appendage,  like  the  wedding-dress  of  a 
youthful  bride,  and  afterwards  disappeared  from  history,  giving  place  to 
the  regular  and   natural   kind  of  moral   and   religious   activity.^     The 

'  Some  of  these  gifts,  as  those  of  prophesy  and  miracles,  meet  us,  indeed,  even  in 
the  Old  Testament ;  and  before  the  resurrection  of  Christ  we  find  the  disciples  healing 
the  sick  and  casting  out  devils  (Matt.  10  :  8.  Mk.  6  :  13).  But  the  permanent  pos- 
session of  the  Holy  Ghost  as  the  Spirit  of  Christ  was  attached  to  his  glorification  and 
exaltation  to  the  right  hand  of  the  Father  (Jno.  7  :  39). 

^  So  among  the  ancients,  Chrysostom,  who  begins  his  twenty-ninth  homily  on  the 
epistle  to  the  Loiinthians  with  these  words:  Tovto  unav  to  ;t;wp/ov  afod^a  iarlv 
«(Ta0^f,  TTjv  ds  uaucpEiav  i]  t  Qv  ngaj/zdruv  uy  v  o  i  d  re  k  al  e  "kXs  rip  iq  ttoieI, 
Tuv  TOTE  fiiv  avfi'iiaivovTuv,  V  iiv  6h  o  v  y  i  v  o /iev  uv.  Among  moderns  compare, 
for  example,  Olshausen  (Comment.  III.  p.  683),  who  makes  the  charismatic  form  of 
the  Spirit's  operation  cease  with  the  third  century.  With  special  distinctness  this 
view  is  expressed  by  Trautmann  as  follows  (Die  Apostol.  Kirche.  1848,  p.  309) :  "As 
in  the  case  of  marriage  the  festivity  of  the  wedding-day  can  not  always  last,  any  more 
than  the  inspiration  of  the  first  love  when  the  seriousness  and  steady  activity  of  the 
common  pilgrimage  just  begun  comes  on  ;  as,  according  to  the  universal  order  of  nature, 
the  blossom  must  fall  away,  if  the  fruit  is  to  thrive — though,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
fruit  does  not  appear  without  the  preceding  blossom  ; — so  that  gush  of  heavenly 
powers  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  could  not,  must  not  continue  in  the  church.     It  could 


472  §  116.      NATURE    AND   CLASSIFICATON  ["•  BOOK. 

Irvingites,  on  the  contrary,  like  the  Montanists  of  the  second  century, 
look  upon  these  apostolic  gifts  and  offices  as  the  necessary  conditions  of 
a  healthy  state  of  the  church  at  any  time  ;  make  their  disappearance 
the  fault  of  Christianity  ;  and  hold  it  impossible  to  remedy  the  defects 
of  the  church  without  a  revival  of  the  charisms  and  the  apostolate. 
They  appeal  to  such  passages  as  1  Cor.  12  :  27-31.  Eph.  4  :  11-13, 
where  undue  emphasis  is  laid  on  "  till  ;"  and  to  1  Thess.  5:19,  20. 
1  Cor.  12  :  31.  14  :  1,  where  the  apostle  not  only  warns  Christians 
against  quenching  the  holy  fire  of  the  Spirit,  but  also  positively  re- 
quires them  to  strive  earnestly  after  His  miraculous  gifts.'  There  seems 
to  us  to  be  here  a  mixture  of  truth  and  error  on  both  sides.  In  these 
charisms  we  muse  distinguish  between  the  essence  and  the  temporary 
form.  The  first  is  permanent ;  the  second  has  disappeared,  yet  breaks 
out  at  times  sporadically,  though  not  with  the  same  strength  and  purity 
as  in  the  apostolic  period.  In  the  nature  of  the  case,  the  Holy  Ghost, 
when  first  entering  into  humanity,  came  with  peculiar  creative  power,  copi- 
ousness, and  freshness  ;  presented  a  striking  contrast  to  the  mass  of  the 
unchristian  world  ;  and  by  this  very  exhibition  of  what  was  extraordi- 
nary and  miraculous  exerted  a  mighty  attraction  upon  the  world,  without 
which  it  could  never  have  been  conquered.  Christianity,  however,  aims 
to  incorporate  herself  in  the  life  of  humanity,  enter  into  all  its  conditions 
and  spheres  of  activity  as  the  ruling  principle,  and  thus  to  become  the 
second,  higher  nature.  As  it  raises  the  natural  more  and  more  into  the 
sphere  of  the  Spirit,  so  in  this  very  process  it  makes  the  supernatural 
more  and  more  natural.  These  are  but  two  aspects  of  one  and  the 
same   operation.     Accordingly  we  find,   that  as  fast  as   the   reigning 

not, — because  the  earthly  human  nature  is  not  able  constantly  to  bear  the  bliss  of  ecstasy 
and  such  mighty  streams  of  power  from  above,  as  is  shown  by  the  example  of  the 
three  chosen  disciples  on  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration.  It  must  not, — because  the 
continuance  of  the  blossom  would  have  hindered  the  development  of  the  fruit.  The 
splendor  of  these  higher  powers  would  unavoidably  have  fixed  the  eye  and  the  heart 
too  much  on  externals,  and  the  proper  object  and  work  of  faith,  the  inward  conquest 
of  the  world,  would  have  been  neglected." 

'  So  Thiersch,  the  (only)  scientific  theologian  of  the  Irvingite  community,  in  his 
Vorlcsnngen  iibcr  Katholicismus  und  Protestantismiis.  I.  80  (2nd  ed.) ;  comp.  my  articles 
(in  Irvingtsiii  and  the r/iunh  question  in  the  '"  I'leutsche  Kirchenfreund,"  Vol.  III.,  Nos. 
2,  3.  5  and  6,  particularly  p.  223  sqq. — The  Mormons  too,  or  ''Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
of  Latter-Day  Saints,"'  whose  rise  (April  6,  1830)  was  almost  simultaneous  with  the 
appearance  of  Irvingism  in  England,  notwithstanding  their  radical  difference  in  spirit 
and  conduct,  likewise  claim  to  possess  all  the  offices  and  spiritual  gifts  of  the  apostolic 
church.  Their  founder,  Joseph  Smith,  kys  down,  among  other  articles  of  faith  :  "  We 
believe  in  the  same  organization  that  existed  in  the  primitive  church,  viz.,  apostles, 
prophets,  pastors,  teachers,  evangelists,  &c.  We  believe  in  the  gift  of  tongues,  pro- 
phesy, revelation,  visions,  healing,  interpretation  of  tongues,"  &c.  (Hist,  of  all  the 
Relig.  Denominations  in  the  U.  S.,  p.  348,  2nd  ed.). 


LIFE.]  OF   TKE   CHAKISMS.  473 

power  of  heathenism  is  broken,  those  charisms,  which  exhibited  most  of 
the  miraculous,  become  less  frequent  and  after  the  fourth  century  almost 
entirely  disappear.  This  is  not  owing  to  a  fault  of  Christianity  ;  for  at 
that  very  time  the  church  produced  some  of  her  greatest  teachers,  her 
Athanasius  and  her  Ambrose,  her  Chrysostom  and  her  Augustine.  It  is 
rather  a  result  of  its  victory  over  the  world.  Spiritual  gifts,  however, 
did  not  then  fully  and  forever  disappear.  For  in  times  of  great  awaken- 
ing and  of  the  powerful  descent  of  the  Spirit,  in  the  creative  epochs  of 
the  church,  we  now  and  then  observe  phenomena  quite  similar  to  those 
of  the  first  century,  along  with  the  corresponding  dangers  and  abuses 
and  even  Satanic  imitations  and  caricatures.  These  manifestations  then 
gradually  cease  again  according  to  the  law  of  the  development  of  a  new 
principle  as  just  stated.  Such  facts  of  experience  may  serve  to  confirm 
and  illustrate  the  phenomena  of  the  apostolic  age.  In  judging  of  them, 
moreover,  particularly  of  the  mass  of  legends  of  the  Roman  church, 
which  still  lays  claim  to  the  perpetual  possession  of  the  gift  of  miracles, 
we  must  proceed  with  the  greatest  caution  and  critical  discrimination. 
In  view  of  the  over-valuation  of  charisms  by  the  Montanists  and  Irving- 
ites,  we  must  never  forget,  that  Paul  puts  those  which  most  shun  free 
inspection,  and  most  rarely  appear,  as  the  gift  of  tongues,  far  beneath 
the  others,  which  pertain  to  the  regular  vital  action  of  the  church,  and 
are  at  all  times  present  in  larger  or  smaller  measure,  as  the  gifts  of  wis- 
dom, of  knowledge,  of  teaching,  of  trying  spirits,  of  government,  and, 
above  all,  of  love,  that  greatest,  most  valualile,  most  useful,  and  most 
enduring  of  all  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  (1  Cor.  13). 

Finally,  as  to  the  classification  of  the  charisms.  They  have  often  been 
divided  into  extraordinary  or  supernatural  in  the  strict  sense,  and  ordi- 
nary or  natural.'  But  this  is  improper,  for,  on  the  one  hand,  they  all 
rest  on  a  natural  basis,  even  the  gift  of  miracles  (uj^on  the  dominion  of 
mind  over  body,  of  will  over  matter),  and,  on  the  other,  they  are  all 
supernatural.  St.  Paul  derives  them  all  from  one  and  the  same  Spirit, 
and  it  is  only  their  supernatural,  divine  element,  that  makes  them 
charisms.  Nor,  according  to  what  has  been  already  said,  can  the  divi- 
sion into  permanent,  or  those  which  belong  to  the  church  at  all  times, 
and  transitory,  or  such  as  are  confined  to  the  apostolic  period,  be 
strictly  carried  out.  We,  therefore,  propose  a  psychological  classifi- 
cation, on  the  basis  of  the  three  prinwry  faculties  of  the  soul;  they  all 
being  capable  and  in  need  of  sanctlficatiou,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  in  fact 
leaving  none  of  them  untouched,  but  turning  them  all  to  the  edification 
of  the  church.     With  this  corresponds  also  the  classification  according 

'  By  Neander,  also  by  Conybeare  and  Howson,  the  Life  and  Epistles  of  St.  Paul 
(London,  1853),  1.  p.  459. 


474:  §  l^T.       GIFTS    OF    FEELING.  ["•  BOOK. 

to  the  different  hranc/ies  of  the  church-life,  in  which  the  activity  of  one  or 
the  other  of  these  faculties  thus  supenmturally  elevated  predominates. 
This  would  give  us  three  classes  of  charisms  :  ( 1 )  Those  which  relate 
especially  to  feeling  and  worship ;  (2)  Those  which  relate  to  Knowledge 
and  theology;  (3)  Those  which  relate  to  will  and  church  government. 
To  the  gifts  of  feeling  belong  speaking  with  tongues,  interpretation  of 
tongues,  and  inspired  prophetic  discourse  ;  to  the  theoretical  class,  or 
gifts  of  intellect,  belong  the  charisms  of  wisdom  and  of  knowledge,  of 
teaching  and  of  discerning  spirits  ;  to  the  practical  class,  or  gifts  of  will, 
the  charisms  of  ministration,  of  government,  and  of  miracles.  Faith 
lies  back  of  all,  as  the  motive  power,  taking  up  the  whole  man  and 
bringing  all  his  faculties  into  contact  with  the  divine  Spirit  and  under 
His  influence  and  control. 

§  m.    Gifts  of  Feeling. 

The  gifts  of  elevated  religious  feeling,  which  manifest  themselves  in 
divine  worship,  are  : 

1.  Speaking  with  tongues.  This  is  an  abbreviation  for  the  original, 
complete  expression,  "speaking  with  new"  (divinely suggested)  or  "with 
other"  (than  the  usual)  "  tongues"  (i.  e.  languages),  comp.  Mk.  16  :  11. 
Acts  2:4.  To  what  we  have  already  said  (§  55)  respecting  this 
remarkable  manifestation,  we  here  add  the  following  observations  ;  con- 
fining ourselves,  however,  to  the  speaking  with  tongues  in  the  churches 
founded  by  Paul.  With  this  the  phenomenon  of  Pentecost  was  closely 
allied,  indeed,  but  in  the  mode  of  expression,  and  partly  also  in  the 
object,  by  no  means  identical.  According  to  the  older  and  still  very  pre- 
valent view,  the  speakmg  with  tongues,  even  that  mentioned  by  Paul, 
would  mean  speaking  in  foreign  languages  not  learned  by  the  apostles  in 
the  natural  way, — languages,  with  which  first  they  themselves  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  and  afterwards  other  believers,  were  suddenly  en- 
dowed for  the  more  rapid  spread  of  the  gospel.  But  here  arise  insuper- 
able difficulties,  {a)  The  Greek,  which  had  become,  since  the  conquests 
of  Alexander  the  Great,  not  without  the  ordering  of  Providence,  the 
prevailing  written  and  spoken  language  even  of  the  western  countries 
of  Asia,  was  sufiicient  for  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  in  almost  all 
parts  of  the  Roman  empire,  at  least  in  the  cities  ;  and  in  this  empire, 
which  embraced  the  whole  civilized  w^orld,  Christianity  must  first  of  all 
gain  firm  foothold,  in  order  to  become  at  all  a  power  in  history.  To  it, 
therefore,  the  leading  apostles  confined  their  labors  ;  and  in  the  Greek 
language,  the  most  beautiful  in  the  world,  they  composed  all  their  writ- 
ings, even  when  they  wrote,  like  James,  in  Palestine  and  for  Jewish 
Christians,  or,  like  Paul,  to  the  Romans  or  at  Rome,     {h)  It  is  the 


LIFE.]  8  117.       GIFTS    OF   FEELING. 


r<0 


mamicv  of  the  Holy  Ghost  not  to  exempt  His  organs  from  the  natural 
difficulties  connected  with  their  work  ;  but  rather  to  leave  these  difficul- 
ties as  perpetual  means  of  moral  training,  occasions  for  practising  self- 
denial,  patience,  and  perseverance.  And  in  fact,  in  the  case  of  the 
missionaries  to  the  barbarian  nations,  in  which,  by  the  way,  the  gospel 
got  no  firm  foothold  in  the  first  century,  if  He  has  even  lightened.  He 
has  hardly  quite  obviated,  the  labor  of  learning  the  barbarous  lan- 
guages, (c)  We  find  hints,  that  the  apostles  in  truth  did  not  under- 
stand all  languages.  Thus  Paul  and  Barnabas  seem  to  have  been 
ignorant  of  the  Lycaoniau  tongue  ;  for  they  discovered  the  idolatrous 
intentions  of  the  inhabitants  of  Lystra,  not  from  their  conversation,  but 
only  from  their  preparations  for  sacrifice  (Acts  14  :  11-14).  And  as 
to  Peter,  a  primitive  and  reliable  tradition  describes  the  evangelist 
Mark  as  his  interpreter,  with  reference  perhaps  also  to  the  Latin.'  (d) 
In  general,  it  is  impossible  to  prove,  that  the  speaking  with  tongues  had 
any  close  connection  with  the  missionary  work.  Otherwise,  to  wha^ 
purpose  would  Cornelius  have  spoken  with  tongues  before  Peter  (Acts 
10  :  46),  the  disciples  of  John  before  Paul  (19  :  6),  and  the  Corinthians 
in  their  congregational  meetings,  and  not  rather  before  the  unconverted  ? 
(e)  Paul  makes  glossolaly,  1  Cor.  14  :  14-19,  antithetic,  not  to  the 
mother  tongue,  but,  as  the  language  of  the  Spirit  {irvev/ia),  to  the  lan- 
guage of  the  understanding  (vovc)  and  of  every-day  life,  whether 
Hebrew,  Grreek,  or  Latin.  Nor,  had  it  been  a  speaking  in  foreign  lan- 
guages, would  he  have  compared  it  to  the  indistinct  tones  of  the  harp 
or  the  trumpet,  and  declared  it  something  unintelligible  to  all  the 
hearers  without  the  gift  of  interpretation  ;  for  in  a  large  assembly  there 
must  have  been  at  least  some  acquainted  with  the  tongues  spoken. 
The  speaking  with  tongues,  therefore,  was  unintelligible,  because  it 
varied,  not  from  the  vernacular,  but  from  all  tongues,  even  the  bar- 
barian ;  and,  by  his  very  comparison  of  it  with  the  latter,  the  apostle  at 
the  same  time  distinguishes  it  from  them  (14:11).  (/)  Finally,  the  oldest 
and  original  phrase,  as  used  by  our  Lord  himself  (Mk.  16  :  IT)  :  "to 
speak  with  new  tongues,"  seems  of  itself  to  point  not  to  foreign  dialects 
— ^for  these  were  not  new, — but  to  a  language  different  from  all  dialects 
in  use,  a  language  of  the  new  Spirit  poured  out  upon  the  disciples. 

If  now,  after  all,  the  orthodox  view  has  in  the  most  natural  sense  of 
the  second  chapter  of  Acts,  v.  6-11,  strong,  and  indeed  its  only,  su}> 
port,  we  must  regard  the  peculiar  form  in  the  first  creative  appearance 

'  Papias,  in  Euseb.  H.  E.  III.  39  :  Mu^/cof  filv  ig/jt7]VEVTrjg  nergov  yevo/iei'o^,  etc. 
Tertullian:  jldv.  Marc.  IV.  5:  "Cujus  (Petri)  interpres  Marcus"  Irenaeus :  Mv. 
hacr.  III.  1  (in  Euseb.  V.  8)  :  Mtzp/cof  6  fia-&riT^g  Kal  ip]u.7]vevTTlc  Ilerpoi',  etc.  So 
Origen,  Jerome,  and  others. 


476  §  117.       GIFTS    OF   FEELING.  ["•  BOOK. 

of  this  gift  on  the  birth-day  of  the  church,  not  as  the  rule,  but  as  an 
exception  ;  and  to  explain  the  apostles'  mysterious  (and  certainly  but 
temporary)  grasping  of  the  languages  of  the  assembled  multitude 
(which  were,  however,  almost  all  dialects  of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek), 
we  must  suppose  them  to  have  been  in  such  a  psychological  state,  that 
they,  in  the  first  place,  did  not  speak  in  languages  not  represented  there 
(Chinese,  Celtic,  German,  etc.),  and,  in  the  second  place,  were  under- 
stood only  by  the  susceptible  hearers,  being  regarded  by  the  ungodly  as 
drunken.'  In  all  other  passages,  on  the  contrary,  where  this  spiritual 
gift  is  spoken  of;*  nothing  requires  us  to  understand  by  it  a  miraculous 
communication  and  use  of  the  languages  of  foreign  nations. 

Speaking  with  tongues,  as  described  from  life  by  Paul,  himself  a  mas- 
ter in  it,  is  rather  an  involuntary,  psalmodic,  praying  or  singing  in  « 
state  of  spiritual  ecstasy  and  of  the  deepest  absorption  in  the  mysteries  of 
the  divine  life,  when  the  human  mind  loses  its  self-control,  and  becomes  a 
more  or  less  passive  organ  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  an  instrument,  as  it  were, 
upon  which  He  plays  His  heavenly  melodies.  Primarily,  therefore,  it 
has  nothing  to  do  with  the  outward  missionary  work.  It  is  an  inward 
act  of  worship,  an  ecstatic  dialogue  of  the  soul  with  God  in  a  peculiar 
language,  inspired  immediately  by  the  Spirit,  elevated,  but  obscure  and 
desultory,  admitting  of  a  certain  variety  of  form  according  to  the 
character  of  the  matter  {-KgoaEvxea'&aL  or  ipd'klEiv),  and  perhaps  according 
to  the  speaker's  mother  tongue  and  the  degree  of  his  excitement.'  In 
precisely  the  same  sense  the  apostle  uses  the  phrase  :  "to  speak  in  the 
Spirit,  or  by  the  Spirit,"*  and  distinguishes  this  from  the  ordinary 
speaking,  which  proceeds  from  and  is  mediated  by  the  understanding, 
the  self-controlling,  thinking,  and  reflecting  consciousness  {vov^).  Yehe- 
mently  borne  along  by  the  Spirit,  forgetting  the  world  and  himself, 
enraptured  in  the  immediate  enjoyment  of  the  Deity,  the  speaker  with 
tongues  broke  forth  in  a  communication  of.  divine  mysteries,  or  a  song 
of  praise  for  the  wonderful  works  of  eternal  Love.'     But  instead  of 

*  The  great  condensation  of  Luke's  narrative  suggests  the  possibility  that  he  has 
omitted  to  record  the  appearance,  in  itself  highly  probable,  of  other  kindred  gifts  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost ;  and  that  it  was  not  the  speaking  with  tongues  itself,  but  per- 
haps the  interpretation  of  them  and  \\\e prophetic  discourses  of  the  apostles,  which  took 
place  in  the  various  (Hebrew  and  Greek)  dialects  of  those  present.  For  according  to 
Paul's  representation  the  speaking  with  tongues  was  utterly  unintelligible  to  the  un- 
initiated, and  even  to  the  congregation,  without  an  interpreter. 

^  Acts  10  :  46.     19  :  6,  and  in  the  12th  and  14th  chaps,  of  1  Corinthians. 

°  Hence  the  plural  jlwaaai,  and  the  expression  yevrj  yluaaCiv,  1  Cor.  12  :  10,  28. 

*  TlvEviiari,  XaXelv  /ivar/j^ia,  I  <  or  14:2;  Trpocreii^^ffO'i^at,  evTioytlv  r^  nvEV/iari,  v. 
15  and  16.     The  dative  here  denotes  the  me  ins. 

*  1  Cor.  14  :  14-16.     Comp.  Acts  2:11.     10  :  46. 


LIFE.]  §  IIT.       GIFTS    OF    FEELING.  477 

edifying  the  congregation,  he  edified  only  himself,  unless  either  he  or 
another  translated  what  he  said  from  this  celestial  language  to  that  of 
every-day  life  (1  Cor.  14  :  2  sqq.).  No  one,  who  was  not  himself  in 
ecstasy,  could  understand  those  lofty,  solemn,  mysterious  tones,  sound- 
ing, as  it  were,  from  the  angel-world.  To  the  uninitiated  they  were  like 
the  undistiuguishable  sounds  of  a  musical  instrument,  or  of  a  barbarous 
language,  or,  it  might  be,  of  a  maniac,'  especially  if  many  thus  con- 
versed with  God  at  once  (v.  23).  To  the  unbeliever  this  spiritual  lan- 
guage was  at  best  a  dumb  sign  (v.  22,  elg  cnneiov),  suggesting  to  him  the 
presence  of  a  supernatural  power  and  leading  him  to  serious  reflection. 
But  the  main  object  was  the  edification  of  the  speaker  himself  (ovk 

uv&guTTOic  ?ia2.eZ,   d/l/lu  rcj  i?etj,  V.    2  ;    tavrbv  oiKodofiel,  V.    4).      Hence    Paul 

gives  the  preference  to  tlie  gift  of  prophecy,  which  addressed  itself 
directly  and  intelligibly  to  the  congregation ;  whereas  the  Corinthians 
were  disposed  to  overrate  the  gift  of  tongues,  as  it  made  a  greater  show 
and  undoubtedly  afforded  the  speaker  himself  peculiar  enjoyment.  It 
easily  led,  however,  to  a  refined  egoism  and  indulgence  in  a  spiritual 
intoxication  of  feeling.  To  prevent  abuse  as  much  as  possible,  the 
apostle  directs  that  the  congregation  should  not  all  speak  with  tongues 
confusedly  together,  but  at  most  three  on  one  occasion,  and  they  one 
after  another  in  proper  order,  and  that  one  should  always  interpret  the 
ecstatic  prayers  and  doxologies  for  the  benefit  of  the  congregation. 
And  if  no  one  was  present  with  the  gift  of  interpretation,  the  speaker 
with  tongues  was  not  to  express  himself  publicly  at  all,  but  to  commu- 
nicate silently  with  God  (v.  27,  28).  From  this  it  appears,  that  the 
speaker  with  tongues,  though  he  had  not  absolute  control  of  his  gift, 
could  yet  check  the  impulse  of  the  Spirit,  or  at  least  refrain  from  audi- 
bly giving  vent  to  it.° 

2.  To  the  gift  of  tongues  is  immediately  attached  that  of  interpretation 
{kgfinveiaylotcauv,  1  Cor.  12  :  10,  36.  14  :  5,  13,  26-28).  This,  so  far 
as  it  calls  into  requisition  the  thinking  faculty,  might  be  reckoned  also 
to  the  second  class.  It  is  the  gift  of  translating  the  language  of  ecstasy 
or  of  the  Spirit  (nvevina),  into  the  language  of  the  ordinary  conscious- 
ness or  reflective  understanding   {vovg),  and  bringing  it  down  to  the 

'  Perhaps  with  reference  to  the  divine  fiavta,  the  hdovaiaafioQ  of  Pythia  in  giving 
out  oracles,  which  certainly  forms  a  parallel  in  Heathendonti  to  the  Christian  glossolaly. 
In  the  ecstatic  demonstrations  of  Montanism  there  was  a  confusion  of  natural  and 
supernatural,  heathen  and  Christian,  elements.  - 

*  The  liturgical  prayers  (such  as  the  Gloria  in  excelsis,  the  Te  Deum),  spiritual 
songs,  and  chorals  of  the  church  might  be  regarded  as  in  some  measme  a  compensation 
for  speaking  with  tongues.  Respecting  the  ecstatic  discourses  and  exuortations  in  the 
Irvingite  congregations  see  the  statement  of  Hohl,  §  55,  and  the  pamphlet  of  the 
"evangelist"  Bohm  :  Reden  mit  Zuns^en  und  Weissagcn,  etc.     Berlin.     1848. 


478  §  117.       GIFTS    OF   FEELING.  [n.  BOOK. 

compreliension  of  the  whole  congregation.*  For  this  reason  Paul 
requires  this  gift  as  the  complement  to  that  of  tongues  ;  as  by  it  alone 
the  latter  is  made  edifying  to  the  hearers  and  conducive  to  the  general 
good.  Wieseler  thinks  '■'  that  these  two  charisms  always  went  together, 
and  that  the  speaker  with  tongues  was  always  his  own  interpreter.  The 
passages,  14  :  2,  4,  16,  are  not,  however,  conclusive  for  this  ;  while  12  : 

10  {i  T  i  pc)  6i  yevT]  yluaauv,  u  A  /I  o  6e  ipfiTjveia  -yTiuaauv),  is  rather   against  it. 

This  may,  indeed,  have  been  the  rule  ;  and  from  14  :  5,  13  it  would 
seem,  that  the  speaker  with  tongues,  when  he  returned  from  the  state 
of  ecstasy  into  that  of  sober  reflection,  himself  interpreted  what  he  had 
seen  and  enjoyed,  for  the  edification  of  the  assembly.  According  to  14  : 
28,  however,  there  were  also  speakers  with  tongues  who  could  not  inter- 
pret, and  who,  therefore,  were  advised  to  keep  silence  in  the  assembly. 

3.  Closely  allied  to  the  gift  of  tongues  is  that  of  prophecy  {x<^?^'^f^<^ 
wgofnrem,  I  CoT.  12  :  10,  29.  14  :  1  sqq.  1  Thess.  5  :  20.  1  Tim.  1  : 
18.  4  :  14).  It  commonly  appeared  at  the  same  time  and  in  imme- 
diate connection  with  the  gift  of  tongues  (Acts  19  :  6).  This  too  is 
an  elevated  utterance,  under  the  influence  of  divine  illumination  and 
revelation,  but  not  in  proper  ecstasy.  The  speaker's  self-consciousness 
is  in  perfect  exercise,  and  his  address  has  direct  reference  to  the  awaken- 
ing, exhorting,  and  encouraging  of  the  congregation,  without  needing  to 
be  interpreted.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  apostle  places  prophecy 
above  speaking  with  tongues  (1  Cor.  14  :  1-5).  On  the  other  hand, 
this  gift  is  akin  to  that  of  teaching  {xdpia/ia  6tdaaKa?i[ag)  ;  but  proceeds 
less  from  calmly-working  thought  and  more  from  intuition  and  deeply- 
agitated  feeling,  addresses  the  affections,  and  tends  more  to  excite  and 
carry  away  the  hearers.  Paul,  therefore,  places  prophets  also  before 
teachers  (Eph.  4:11.     1  Cor.  12  :  28). 

As  to  the  matter  of  the  prophetic  discourses  ;  by  prophecy  in  the 
strict  sense,  it  is  true,  we  understand  the  prediction  of  future  events, 
directly  or  indirectly  connected  with  the  kingdom  of  God.  So  the 
"prophet,"  Agabus,  in  the  church  at  Antioch,  foretold  the  Palestinian 
famine  of  the  year  44,  that  the  Antiochian  Christians  might  make  timely 
provision  for  their  suffering  brethren  (Acts  11  :  28).  So,  as  Paul  was 
going  for  the  last  time  to  Jerusalem,  his  arrest  was  repeatedly  predicted 
to  him  on  his  way,  and  finally  in  Caesare*a  by  the  prophesying  daughters 

^  According  to  the  popular  view  of  glossolaly,  the  gift  of  interpretation  would  con- 
sist rather  in  the  ability  to  translate  from  foreign  languages  into  the  mother  tongue. 
But  this  power,  just  as  the  knowletlge  of  foreign  languages,  may  be  acquired  in  an 
altogether  natural  way  (and  many  an  infidel  has  been  far  more  proficient  in  it  than 
any  of  the  apostles);  whereas  to  constitute  a  charism  the  supernatuial  aid  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  indispensable. 

■■'  "  Theol.  Studicn  unU  Kritiken,'"  1838,  p-  719  sqq. 


LIFE.]  §    117.      GIFTS   OF   FEELING.  4Y9 

of  Philip,  and  by  the  same  Agabus  in  a  symbolical  action  (20  :  23. 
21  :  4,  11).  So,  again,  prophets  foretold  the  rise  of  dangerous  error- 
ists  ;  the  appearance  of  Antichrist  and  his  work  ;  the  second  coming  of 
the  Lord  ;  and  the  fate  of  those  whom  he  will  find  alive.'  Here  belongs, 
also,  the  nomination  of  an  individual  for  a  particular  office  or  duty  in 
the  kingdom  of  God.  Thus  the  Spirit  by  the  prophetic  utterances  of 
the  congregation  called  Barnabas  and  Paul  to  the  work  of  the  Gentile 
mission  (Acts  13  :  1,  2),  and  Timothy  to  be  an  evangelist.'''  But  the 
office  of  the  prophet  must  by  no  means  be  limited  to  this  even  in  the 
Old  Testament,  much  less  in  the  New.  It  was  the  prophet's  duty  to 
unveil,  not  only  the  future,  but  also  the  present ;  the  counsels  of  God, 
the  deep  meaning  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  _^the  secret  states  of  the 
human  heart,  the  abyss  of  sin,  and  the  glory  of  redeeming  grace. 
According  to  the  representation  of  Paul  in  the  fourteenth  chapter  of 
1  Corinthians,  the  prophetic  gift  showed  itself  generally  in  awakening 
and  comforting  discourses,  by  which  susceptible  Jews  and  Gentiles,  pre- 
sent at  the  worship  of  God,  were  powerfully  impressed,  rebuked,  and 
called  to  repentance,  and  believers  were  strengthened  and  animated 
anew  (v.  3,  4,  22-25,  31.  Acts  4  :  36).  For  the  spread  of  the  gos- 
pel, therefore,  for  evangelists  or  itinerant  missionaries,  this  gift  was 
specially  important.' 

But  along  with  the  true  prophets  there  were  also  false.  Together 
with  genuine,  divine  inspiration  appeared  also  a  mock  inspiration,  merely 
natural  or  perhaps  diabolical.  This  called  for  the  gift  of  discerning 
spirits,  of  which  we  are  soon  to  speak.  To  prevent  disorder  and  abuse, 
the  apostle  directs,  as  in  the  case  of  speaking  with  tongues,  that  the 
prophets  should  prophesy  not  all  at  once,  but  one  after  another,  that 
all  may  receive  instruction  and  exhortation  (1  Cor.  14  :  31).  He  also 
requires  that  the  spirits  of  the  prophets  be  subject  to  the  prophets  (v. 
32)  ;  that  is,  that  the  prophetical  excitement  and  inspiration  be  con- 
trolled and  regulated  by  reason  and  regard  for  the  wants  of  the 
church.  The  prophets,  therefore,  were  not  so-  much  like  mere  passive 
organs  as  the  speakers  with  tongues.     They  had  a  certain  freedom,  and 

'  2  Thess.  2  :  1-12.  1  Tim.  4  :  1  sqq.  1  Jno.  2  :  18  sqq.  2  Pet.  3  :  3,  and  the 
whole  Apocalypse. 

^  Acts  16:2  compared  with  1  Tim.  I  :  18.     4  :  14. 

'  Powerful  evangelists  and  revival-preachers^  as,  for  instance,  St.  Bernard  and  per- 
haps John  Wesley  and  Whitefield,  whose  words  struck  like  lightning  and  everywhere 
kindled  life,  we  might  call  prophets  in  this  more  general  sense.  To  profound  church- 
teachers,  also,  who  bring  out  the  hidden  trea.sures  of  the  holy  Scriptures,  and  with 
creative  inspiration  break  new  paths  for  theology  and  the  church,  this  term  may  be 
applied;  and  in  this  more  theoretical  aspect  the  charism  of  prophecy  belongs  at  the 
same  time  to  the  second  class  of  spiritual  gifts. 


480  §  118.     GIFTS    OF   KNOWLEDGE.  [n.  BOOK. 

hence  were  responsible  for  the  exercise  and  application  of  their  gift. 
Still  less  can  an  ordinary  preacher  excuse  any  extravagances  and  irregu- 
larities in  his  discourses  or  among  his  hearers  by  referring  them  to  the 
irresistible  impulse  of  the  Spirit. 

§  118.    Gifts  of  Knowledge. 
The  theoretical  charisms,  which  regard  chiefly  the  doctrine  and  the- 
ology of  the  church,  are  : 

1.  The  gifts  of  wisdom  and  of  knowledge  {iSyoc  <yo<piac  and  A6yof  yvuasut:, 
1  Cor.  12  :  8;  comp.  •Kvcvua  ao<piac,  Eph.  1  :  11).  The  two  are  evidently 
closely  allied,  and  denote  in  general  a  deep  insight  into  the  nature  and 
structure  of  the  divine  plan  of  redemption  and  the  whole  system  of  sav- 
ing doctrine.  But  as  the  apostle  gives  us  no  more  particular  infor- 
mation, it  is  hard  to  define  the  difference.  According  to  the  common 
view  (that  of  Neander,  for  instance,  and  Olshausen),  knowledge  refers 
to  theory,  wisdom  to  practice  ;  while  other  interpreters  (as  Bengel) 
reverse  this  relation  ;  and  passages  may  be  quoted  on  both  sides.'  Per- 
haps knowledge  is  more  intuitive  and  immediate,  without  regard  to 
form  ;  while  the  latter  takes  in  the  accessory  idea  of  dialectic  develop- 
ment and  artistic,  brilliant  discourse,  as,  for  example,  in  the  case  of 
Apollos.  This  view  enables  us  most  easily  to  explain  the  bad  sense  in 
which  Go^ia  is  used  in  the  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  with  reference 
to  the  desire  of  the  Greeks  for  wisdom  and  their  over-valuation  of  elo- 
quence and  beauty  of  style  (1:18  sqq.     2  :  1  sqq.)^ 

2.  The  gift  of  teaching  {SiSaaha/Ja,  Rom.  12  :  1,  6i6uaKa?.oi,  Eph.  4  : 
11.  1  Cor.  12  :  28  sq.).  The  current  view  makes  the  gift  of  teaching 
coincide  with  that  just  spoken  of ,  the  Z6}  og  ao^lac  and  the  I6yng  yruaeuq 
being  simply  two  branches  of  this  du'^aoKalla.^  It  is  true,  in  1  Cor.  12  : 
7-10,  where  the  several  charisms  are  enumerated,  6i6aaKaAu'i  is  not  sepa- 
rately mentioned.  But  the  gifts  of  helps  and  governments  (dvrarjipetf 
and  KvjSsqiriceic,  V.  28)  are  also  wanting  here.  The  catalogue  is,  there- 
fore, incomplete  ;  and  it  is  a  supposable  case,  that  the  same  person  may 
possess  a  very  high  degree  of  spiritual  knowledge  and  yet  very  little 
power  of  communication.  The  gift  of  teaching  always  includes,  indeed, 
the  gift  of  knowledge,  but  not  vice  versa.  The  distinguishing  feature 
of  this  gift,  therefore,  is  the  ability  to  unfold  tl  e  treasures  of  the  divine 

'  In  1  Cor.  1:17  sqq.  2  :  1  sqq.,  and  8  :  1  boih  are  evidently  theoretical,  while  on 
the  other  hand  in  Col.  1  :  9.  aocpia  in  distinction  from  ovveaig  ,  and  in  Rom.  2  :  20. 
15  :  14,  yvuGig.  are  used  in  the  practical  sense. 

*  Yet  in  1  Cor.  8  :  1  it  is  also  said  of  knowledge,  that  it  "  puffeth  up ;"  that  is,  if 
separated  from  love.     So  Paul,  1  Tim.  6  :  20,  speaks  of  a  tpevduvvfiog  yvCxng. 

"  So,  for  instance,  Neander,  jlpost.  Gesch.  I.  245  :  "  In  the  charism  ot  6i.6aGKa?iia  we 
find  again  the  distinction  of  what  are  termed  ?,6yoQ  ■}vu)aeug  and  Myor  ao^tag.^'' 


LIFE.]  §  119.       GIFTS    OF    WILL,  481 

word  and  of  Christian  experience  in  clear,  connected  discourse  for  the 
instruction  and  edification  of  the  congregation.  While  the  prophetic 
address,  in  the  glow  of  inspiration,  speaks  from  feeling  to  feeling  and 
aims  chiefly  to  rouse  and  re-animate  ;  the  didactic  discourse  is  ad- 
dressed, more  in  the  form  of  logical  exposition,  to  the  understanding, 
and  serves  for  the  advancement  and  perfecting  of  the  already  established 
church.  Hence  at  the  beginning  and  at  the  creative  epochs  of  the 
church,  in  the  work  of  missions,  and  in  seasons  of  powerful  revival, 
prophecy  comes  out  most  prominently.  In  times  of  quiet  stability,  on 
the  contrary,  and  of  regular  growth,  the  gift  of  teaching  predominates. 
Yet  neither  can  ever  be  dispensed  with  ;  both  ai*e  essential  qualifications 
for  every  minister. 

3.  The  gift  of  discerning  spirits  (diaKgiGeig  nvevfidruv,  1  Cor.  12  :  10. 
Comp.  14  :  29.  1  Thess.  5  :  19-21.  1  Jno.  4  :  1)  is  of  a  critical 
character,  concerned  primarily  with  distinguishing  true  prophets  from 
false,  divine  inspiration  from  human  or  perhaps  Satanic.  For  where  the 
powers  of  light  are  specially  active,  there  also,  according  to  the  law  of 
antagonisms,  the  powers  of  darkness  also  most  bestir  themselves. 
"  Where  God  builds  a  church, , Satan  builds  a  chapel  by  its  side."  So 
far  this  charism  bears  the  same  gelation  to  prophecy,  as  the  gift  of  in- 
terpretation to  that  of  tongues,  and  serves  as  an  effectual  corrective 
of  extravagances  and  abuses.  But  then  the  discerning  of  spirits  in  the 
wider  sense  denotes  in  general  the  power  of  keenly  discriminating 
between  the  truth  and  error,  which  might  be  mixed  together  in  the  dis- 
course of  a  genuine  prophet — for  none  but  the  apostles  have  any  claim 
to  infallibility, — as  also  the  power  of  judging  characters  and  discerning 
motives  hidden  from  the  common  eye.  So,  for  example,  by  this  gift 
Paul  saw  through  the  sorcerer,  Elymas  (Acts  13  :  8-11),  and  Peter 
detected  Simon  Magus  (8  :  20-23),  and  especially  the  hypocrites, 
Ananias  and  his  wife,  who  imagined  they  could  impose  on  the  Holy 
Ghost  dwelling  in  the  ajwstles  (5:1  sqq,).  This  sacred  criticism  is, 
therefore,  indispensable,  not  only  to  preserve  purity  of  doctrine,  but 
also  for  the  proper  administration  of  church  government  and  discipline. 
Nay,  every  Christian  should  exercise  it  in  a  certain  degree  ;  for  Paul 
enjoins  upon  the  congregation  without  distinction:  "Prove  all  things; 
hold  fast  that  which  is  good"  (1  Thess.  5  :  21). 

§  119.   Gifts  of  Will. 

The  practical  charisms,  which  have  special  reference  to  the  Christian 
life  and  church  government,  are  : 

1.  The  gift  of  outward  ministration  and  help  {avTil-^ipEig,  \  Cor.  12  :  28- 
dimovia,  Uom.  12  :  7.  Comp,  1  Pet.  4  :  11).  This  comprehends, 
31 


482  §  119.       GIFTS    OF   WILL.  [n.  BOOK. 

doubtless,  the  various  duties  of  the  office  of  deacon,  and  hence  above  all 
the  care  of  the  poor  and  the  sick,  the  silent  and  unassuming,  but  none 
the  less  necessary  and  honorable,  work  of  self-denying  love,  which  de- 
votes either  property  or,  what  is  more,  all  time  and  strength  to  the 
service  of  the  needy  in  the  church. 

2.  The  gift  of  church  government  and  care  of  souls  {Kvpe^v^aeLg,  guberna- 
tiones,  1  Gor.  12  :  28).  This  charism  is  needful  for  all  rulers  (ngoiardfievoi, 
Rom.  12:8)  and  pastors  {-noifiheg,  Eph.  4  :  11)  of  the  church,  or,  to 
use  their  official  title,  for  all  (presbyter-)  bishops,  whose  duty  it  is  to 
feed  the  flock  entrusted  to  them  by  the  Holy  Ghost  (comp.  Acts  20  : 
28.  1  Pet.  5:2).  But  it  was  needful  in  the  highest  degree  for  the 
apostles,  who  had  charge,  not  only  of  a  particular  congregation,  but  of 
the  whole  church.  For  the  more  extensive  and  varied  the  field  of  labor^ 
the  more  necessary  is  the  talent  for  organizing  and  the  genius  for  gov- 
erning. In  the  use  of  this  gift  there  is  great  temptation  to  ambition, 
hierarchical  arrogance,  and  tyranny  over  conscience,  of  which  so  many 
bishops,  patriarchs,  and  jiopes  have  been  guilty.  Hence  Peter  earnestly 
warns  the  elders  against  perverting  their  power  to  selfish  purposes 
{naTanvgLEVELv  Tuv  Klriguv),  and  holds  before  them  the  pattern  of  the  great 
Chief  Shepherd,  who  in  self-sacrificing  love  laid  down  his  life  for  the 
sheep  (IPet.  5:1-4). 

3.  The  gift  of  miracles  (;^;api(7^ara  la/zdruv,  1  Cor.  12  :  9,  28;  Swa/ietc, 
V.    28,    29;    also   eve^yTJ/iara    dvvcifituv,   V.  10,  Or  6vva/iig  aT]/u£lo)v    Kal   regdruv, 

Rom.  15  :  19.  Comp.  2  Cor.  12  :  12).  This  embraces  all  those  super- 
natural healings  of  bodily  infirmities  and  demoniacal  states,  all  those 
miraculous  signs,  which  the  apostles  and  apostolic  men,  like  Stephen 
(Acts  6:8),  wrought,  by  virtue  of  an  extraordinary  power  of  will,'  in 
the  name  of  Jesus  and  for  his  glory,  by  word,  prayer,  or  laying  on  of 
hands.  What  is  related  of  the  healing  power  of  Peter's  shadow  (Acts 
5:  15),  and  of  Paul's  handkerchiefs  and  aprons  (19:  12),  borders  on 
the  magical.  In  the  first  passage,  however,  Luke  gives  us  only  the  pop 
ular  idea,  leaving  it  undecided,  whether  this  was  well-founded,  or  sheer 
superstition.  At  any  rate  the  healing  power  cannot  have  lain  in  these 
mere  outward  things,  but  only  in  the  condescending  grace  of  God,  and 
must  have  been  mediated  somehow  by  the  will  of  the  worker  of  the 

'  This  is  doubtless  what  we  are  to  understand  by  iriaTic^  1  Cor.  12  :  9,  where  it  is 
mentioned  as  a  special  charism.  It  is  not  faith  in  general ;  for  this,  as  already  re- 
marked, lies  at  the  bottom  of  all  the  charisms.  as  the  principle  which  works  in  them. 
The  faith  here  in  view  is  an  extraordinary  degree  of  practical  moral  energy,  communi- 
cated by  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  which  reveals  itself  the  superiority  of  sanctified  w^ill  over 
nature.  It  is  the  fides  miraculosa,  the  faith  v\hich  removes  mountains  and  makes  the 
impossible  possible.     Comp.  1  Cor.  13  :  2  and  Matt  17  :  20. 


tlPE.J  §  120.      CHAEITT.  483 

miracle  and  the  faith  of  its  subject.  We  must  suppose  the  same  in  the 
analogous  case  of  the  healing  of  the  woman  with  an  issue  of  blood  by 
her  touching  the  hem  of  the  Saviour's  garment  (Matt.  9  :  20-22.  Mk. 
5  :  25-34.)  Between  the  miracles  ascribed  by  Luke  to  the  two  leading 
apostles,  as  wrought  by  them  or  for  them,  we  may  observe  a  certain 
parallelism.  Compare,  for  example,  the  healing  of  the  lame  man  at 
Jerusalem  by  Peter  (Acts  3  :  1  sqq.)  and  of  the  cripple  at  Lystra  by 
Paul  (14  :  8  sqq.);  the  rebuke  of  Simon  Magus  (8  :  20  sqq.)  and  of 
Elymas  (13  :  8  sqq.);  the  raising  of  Tabitha  from  the  dead  at  Joppa 
(9  :  40)  and  the  restoration  of  Eutychus  at  Troas  (20  :  9  sqq.);  finally, 
the  miraculous  liberation  of  Peter  (5  :  19.  12  :  1  sqq.)  and  that  of 
Paul  (16  :  23  sqq.). 

Miracles  were  outward  credentials  of  the  divine  mission  of  the  apostles 
and  their  doctrine  in  a  time  and  among  a  people,  which  could  be 
awakened  to  faith  only  by  such  sensible  means.  Hence  they  did  not 
appear  indiscriminately,  but  according  to  the  circumstances  and  necessi- 
ties of  each  particular  occasion.  In  the  exercise  of  the  gift  of  miracles 
the  apostles  never  suffered  themselves  to  be  guided  by  private,  per- 
sonal considerations,  but  solely  by  regard  for  the  glory  of  Christ  and  the 
advancement  of  his  kingdom.  When  Timothy  was  sick,  Paul  recom- 
mended a  natural  remedy  (1  Tim.  5  :  23),  and  he  left  Trophimus  sick  in 
Miletus  (2  Tim.  4  :  20.  Comp.  Phil.  2  :  26  sq.).  At  Athens,  where 
Heathenism  presented  itself  more  in  a  philosophical  form,  and  where  his 
Epicurean  and  Stoic  hearers,  in  their  skepticism,  would  probably  have 
sneered  at  miraculous  demonstrations  of  power  as  jugglery,  Paul  wrought 
no  mu'acles;  while  at  Ephesus,  the  centre  of  heathen  and  Jewish  magic 
and  sorcery,  he  wrought  many. 

§  120.    Charity. 

Valuable  and  splendid  as  are  all  these  gifts,  they  are  still  surpassed 
by  charity,  which  alone  puts  on  them  the  crown  of  perfection  (1  Cor. 
12  :  31 — 13  :  13).  By  this  we  are  to  understand,  not  a  mere  inclina- 
tion and  emotion,  however  pure,  or  natural  benevolence  and  philan- 
thropy, however  disinterested;  but  a  disposition  wrought  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  springing  from  the  consciousness  of  reconciliation;  a  vital  super- 
natural energy,  uniting  all  the  powers  of  the  soul  with  God,  the  essence 
of  all  love,  and  consecrating  them  to  the  service  of  his  kingdom. 
Without  this,  even  speaking  with  the  tongues  of  angels  were  but 
"  sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal."  Without  this,  the  boldest  pro- 
phecy, the  most  comprehensive  knowledge,  and  a  power  of  faith  which 
could  call  the  impossible  into  being,  have  no  abiding  worth  or  practical 
importance.     Without  this,  the  other  gifts  would  separate,  pass  into  the 


484  §  120.     CHARITY.  [n.  BOOK. 

service  of  ambition,  and  thus  rnin  themselves  and  the  whole  church. 
Without  this,  the  gift  of  tongues  fosters  vanity  and  enthusiasm;  know- 
ledge puffs  up  (1  Cor.  8  :  1-3);  and  the  gift  of  government  degenerates 
to  despotism.  As  faith  lies  at  the  bottom  of  all  the  charisms,  and  forms 
their  common  root;  so  also  love  is  properly  not  a  gift  by  itself,  but  the 
soul  of  all  gifts,  binding  them  together  like  the  members  of  a  body, 
making  them  work  in  and  for  each  other,  and  directing  them  to  the 
common  good.  It  maintains  the  unity  of  the  manifold  divine  powers, 
subordinates  everything  individual  and  personal  to  the  general,  and 
makes  it  subservient  to  the  interests  of  the  body  of  Christ. 

For  another  reason  love  transcends  all  the  other  gifts.  It  never 
ceases.  In  the  future  world  the  other  gifts  will  disappear,  at  least  in 
their  present  nature.  The  mysterious  tongues  will  cease  in  the  land, 
where  all  understand  them.  Prophecies  will  be  lost  in  their  fulfillment, 
like  the  aurora  in  the  noon.  Knowledge,  which  on  earth  is  but  partial, 
will  merge  in  immediate,  perfect  intuition.  Nay,  faith  itself  will  be  ex- 
changed for  sight,  and  hope  for  fruition.  But  love,  by  which  even  here 
we  have  fellowship  of  life  with  God  through  Christ,  remains  love.  It 
changes  not.  It  rises  not  out  of  its  element.  It  passes  not  into  another 
sphere.  It  only  deepens  and  expands.  It  can  never  gain  higher 
ground,  never  reach  another  and  better  form  of  union  with  God ;  but 
only  continues  to  grow  stronger,  fuller,  more  lively,  and  more  blissful 
(1  Cor.  13  :  8-13).' 

Hence  Paul  exhorts  the  Corinthians,  who  were  inclined  to  place  an 
undue  estimate  on  the  more  striking  and  showy  charisms,  to  strive  after 
charity  above  all,  as  the  greatest  and  most  precious  gift,  the  cardinal 
and  universal  Christian  virtue,  of  which  Heathenism  had  scarce  the 
faintest  notion.'*  And  he  commends  it  in  the  most  glowing  and  attrac- 
tive description  ever  uttered  by  tongue  of  man  or  angel, — in  lan- 
guage, which  comes  to  the  heart  with  perpetual  freshness,  like  music 
from  the  bowers  of  eternity,  and  is  of  itself  enough  to  put  beyond  all 
doubt  the  divinity  of  Christianity  and  its  infinite  superiority  to  all  other 
religions. — "  And  now  (in  the  present  earthly  life  of  Christians)  abideth 
faith,  hope,  charity,  these  three;  but  the  greatest  of  these  is  charity." 

*  "  Charity,''  says  Bishop  Warburton  somewhere,  "  regulates  and  perfects  all  the 
other  virtues,  and  is  in  itself  in  no  want  of  a  reformer," 

^  "  Heathenism,"  observes  Olshauseu  (Comment.  III.  p  69S),  "  did  not  get  beyond 
£()Uf.  It  knew  nothing  of  the  Christian  ayuwri.  In  the  Old  Testament  nothing  but 
stern  Ukt]  reigns.  Eros,  even  in  its  purest,  noblest  form,  is  but  the  result  of  want,  the 
longing  for  love,  springing  from  the  consciousness,  that  we  have  not  what  is  w^orth 
loving.  But  the  Christian  dydnri  is  the  streaming  forth  of  positive  love,  God  himself, 
dwelling  in  the  believer,  so  that  streams  of  living  water  flow  out  of  him  (Jno.  4  :  14)." 


LIFE.]  §  121.    rMPEEFECTIONS   OF   THE   APOSTOLIC   CHUKCH.  485 


CHAPTER  III. 

CHURCH  DISCIPLINE. 
§  121.  Imperfections  of  the  Apostolic  Church. 

Powerful  and  pure  as  was  the  oj^eration  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the 
first  Christian  communities,  the  ideal  of  the  church  was  by  no  means 
perfectly  realized.  To  the  church  and  her  individual  members  holiness 
is,  indeed,  explicitly  ascribed  as  an  essential  characteristic.  The  church 
is,  in  fact,  the  body  and  the  bride  of  the  Redeemer,  who  has  washed  her 
with  His  blood;  the  temple  and  organ  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  never 
leaves  himself  without  a  witness  in  her.  But  this  holiness  of  the  church 
is  not  complete  at  once.  It  is  growing,  progressive — as  are  also  her 
other  attributes  of  unity  and  catholicity — and  will  be  perfected  only  at 
the  second  coming  of  Christ.  This  is  unequivocally  implied  in  such 
passages  as  Eph.  4  :  12-16  and  5  :  26,  27.  And  this  continual  process 
of  sanctification  is  not  always  a  quiet,  unresisted  advancement  from  the 
lower  to  the  higher,  but  an  almost  incessant  conflict  with  remaining  sin, 
a  subduing  of  diseases  and  violent  disturbances,  a  surmounting  of  ob-. 
stacles  within  and  without.  We  must,  therefore,  though  without 
abstractly  separating  the  two,  still  observe  a  due  distinction  here 
between  the  principle  and  its  perfect  development,  between  the  ideal  of 
the  church  in  Christ  and  its  real  manifestation  among  men.  (Compare 
§  4  and  5.) 

Accordingly  the  apostles,  high  as  they  tower  above  ordinary  Chris- 
tians, never  lay  claim  to  sinless  perfection.  None  but  one  could  ask 
without  revolting  arrogance  and  in  the  well-grounded  consciousness  of 
absolute  holiness:  "  Which  of  you  convinceth  me  of  sin  ?'"  (Jno.  8  :  46.) 
James  teaches  of  himself  with  others  :  "  In  many  things  we  offend  all," 
and  declares  only  those  to  be  perfect,  who  offend  not  in  a  single  word 
(3  :  2);  which  certainly  can  hardly  be  said  of  any  man  this  side  the 

'  That  the  Saviour  in  this  passage  claims  actual  sinlessness  and  not  merely  freedom 
from  error,  is  shown  by  TJllmann  :  Bk  Suiicllosigkeit  Jesu,  p.  64  sqq.     (5th  ed.) 


486        §  121.       IMPEEFECTIUXS    OF   THE   APOSTOLIC    CHUKCH.       [n.  BOOK. 

grave.  Paul  confesses,  that  be  is  not  yet  perfect,  and  has  not  yet 
attained  the  goal,  but  follows  after  it,  forgetting  what  is  behind,  and 
reaching  forth  towards  what  lies  before  him  (Phil.  3  :  12-14);  that 
he  has  the  heavenly  treasure  in  an  earthen  vessel,  that  the  power  of 
God  may  be  made  manifest  in  his  w-eakness  (2  Cor.  4  :  1  sqq.);  that  he  ' 
mortifies  his  body  and  keeps  it  in  subjection,  lest,  having  preached  to 
others,  he  himself  should  be  a  cast-away  (1  Cor.  9  :  2*1).  He  lays  down 
the  general  rule,  that  w^e  must  enter  the  kingdom  of  God  through  much 
tribulation,  which  is  always  directly  or  indirectly  connected  with  sin 
(Acts  14  :  22);  that  we  are  saved,  indeed,  but  in  hope  (Rom.  8  :  24). 
For  his  personal  humiliation,  and  to  aid  him  in  his  struggle  against  the 
temptation  to  spiritual  pride,  there  was  given  him  a  painful  malady, 
further  unknown  to  us,  "a  thorn  in  the  flesh"  (2  Cor.  12  :  7).  John 
rebukes  all  assumption  of  sinlessness  in  mortal  man  as  self-deception  and 
falsehood.  "  If  we  say  that  we  have  no  sin,  we  deceive  ourselves  and 
the  truth  is  not  in  us.  If  we  confess  our  sins,  he  is  faithful  and  just  to 
forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  unrighteousness"  (1  Jno. 
1  :  8,  9). 

After  such  concessions,  we  cannot  wonder,  that  history,  at  once  to 
humble  and  to  encourage,  records  some,  though  few,  wrong  steps  in 
the  lives  of  these  holy  men  ;  showing,  that  they  were  men  like  ourselves, 
as  James  reminds  us  respecting  one  of  the  greatest  prophets  of  the  Old 
Testament  (5  :  17).  We  have  already  noticed  the  war  in  dispute  (the 
Trapo^vGjuoc)  between  Paul  and  Barnabas,  which  led  to  their  temporary 
separation  (Acts  15  :  36-39.  Comp.  §  70)  ;  Paul's  violent,  but  quickly 
checked  anger  at  the  high-priest  Ananias  (23  :  3  sqq.  Comp.  §  83);  the 
inconsistency  of  Peter  at  Antioch,  into  which  he  fell  under  the  momentary 
influence  of  his  natural  fear  of  man,  and  for  which  he  bore,  wuth  genuine 
Christian  humility,  the  heavy  charge  of  hypocrisy  from  a  younger, 
or  at  any  rate  much  later  called  apostle  (Gal.  2  :  11.     Comp.  §  70).' 

'  On  this  the  great  Augustine,  in  his  Commentary  on  Galatians,  makes  the  follow- 
ing excellent  remarks:  "The  one  who  suffered  himself  to  be  corrected,  appears  here 
still  more  worthy  of  admiration  and  harder  to  imitate,  than  the  one  who  corrected  him. 
For  it  is  easier  to  see  what  may  be  improved  in  others,  than  for  each  to  see  what 
needs  improvement  in  himself,  and  cheerfully  to  receive  correction  therein,  whether 
from  himself,  or,  what  is  still  harder,  from  another.  This  serves  as  a  grand  example 
of  humility  ;  and  the  doctrine  of  humility  is  the  most  important  in  the  Christian  system 
of  morals;  for  by  humility  love  is  preserved"  Comp.  Neander's  Kleine  Gelegen- 
heitsschriften,  p.  18.— The  generosity  and  forgiving  disposition  of  Peter  is  especially 
manifest  from  his  epistles  where  he  endorses  the  doctrines  preached  by  Paul,  and  after 
having  spoken  of  the  "  long  suffering  of  our  Lord,"  and  of  the  prospect  of  sinless  hap- 
piness in  the  world  to  come,  alludes  (2  Pet.  3  :  15,  16)  to  those  very  epistles  in  one  of 
which  his  own  censure  is  recorded,  and  calls  their  author  his  '•  beloved  brother  !" 


LIFE.]  I  121.       IMPERFECTIONS    OF   THE    APOSTOLIC    CIIUKCII.  487 

Of  course,  however,  these  were  only  transient  failings,  which  stimulated 
to  greater  fidelity  and  watchfulness.  For  the  general  distinction,  in  fact, 
between  the  regenerate  and  the  unregenerate  is,  not  that  the  former  are 
altogether  free  from  sin,  but  that,  if  in  unguarded  moments  they  stumble 
or  fall,  they  humble  themselves  before  God,  and  if  necessary  before  men; 
like  Peter,  they  go  out  and  weep  bitterly,  and  find  no  peace,  till  they 
obtain  forgiveness  from  the  Lord. 

If,  therefore,  even  the  apostles  did  not  rise  to  the  ideal  of  moral  per- 
fection, much  less  did  their  churches.  This  is  evident  from  every  part 
of  the  New  Testament,  which,  in  truth,  consists  largely  of  exhortations, 
warnings,  and  reproofs,  not  only  for  unbelievers,  but  also  for  believers. 
For  Christians  of  Jewish  extraction,  especially  for  such  as  had  been 
Pharisees,  it  was  very  hard  to  break  away  from  a.  certain  religious 
mechanism,  from  the  bondage  of  the  law  and  of  ceremonies,  and  to  rise 
from  narrow  particularism  into  the  sphere  of  evangelical  freedom.  Of 
this  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Acts  and  almost  all  Paul's  epistles  give 
ample  testimony.  And  then,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Gentile  Christians 
were  under  great  temptation  to  run  to  the  opposite  extreme  of  a  false, 
licentious  freedom.  In  the  Palestinian  congregations  we  frequently  find 
an  anxious,  slavish  piety,  uncharitable  prejudices  against  the  free  apostle 
of  the  Gentiles,  and  latterly,  at  the  writing  of  the  epistle  to  the 
Hebrews,  which  was  addressed  to  those  congregations  on  the  approach 
of  the  heavy  judgment  of  God  on  Jerusalem,  a  strong  tendency  to  for- 
mal apostasy  from  the  Christian  faith.  Many  of  the  Galatians,  deluded 
by  Pharisaical  false  teachers,  had  become  unfaithful  to  their  instructors 
and  benefactors,  "  fallen  from  grace,"  and  returned  to  "  the  weak  and 
beggarly  elements  of  the  world."  In  the  Corinthian  church  Paul  had 
to  censure  the  carnal  sectarian  spirit,  the  seeking  after  wisdom,  the  par- 
taking of  the  heathen  sacrificial  meals,  an  inclination  to  unchastity,  and 
a  scandalous  profanation  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  Ephesus,  Colosse,  and 
other  churches  of  Asia  Minor,  were  threatened  with  Judaistic  and 
Gnostic  heresies,  which  are  always  more  or  less  attended  with  practical 
errors.  John  found  it  necessary  to  lift  his  voice  in  those  regions,  not 
only  against  theoretical  antichrists,  who  had  gone  out  from  the  Christian 
communion,  but  also  against  lax  morality,  and  a  dangerous  confusion  of 
the  love  of  God  and  our  neighbor  with  the  love  of  the  world  and  of 
self.  And  when  he  wrote  his  apocalyptic  epistles  to  the  seven  churches, 
a  considerable  number  of  them  were  by  no  means  in  a  flourishing  state. 
Ephesus  had  left  her  first  love  and  was  required  earnestly  to  repent, 
lest  her  candlestick  should  be  removed.  In  Pergamus  many  had  been 
led  away  by  the  errors  of  the  Nicolaitans.  In  Thyatira  pagan  vices 
were  current.     Sardis  had  a   name  to   live,  but  was  dead.     And  in 


488  §    122.      NATURE   AND   OBJECT   OF   DISCIPLESTE.  [n.  BOOK. 

Laodicea  there  reigned  a  spiritual  satiety  and  lukewarm  indifference, 
worse  than  even  open  hatred  of  the  gospel  ;  so  that  the  Spirit  threat- 
ened to  "  spew  this  church  out  of  His  mouth,"  unless  it  should  repent. 

A  state  of  absolute  purity,  therefore,  has  never  yet  existed  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  church,  nor  can  be  attained  till  the  second  coming  of  Christ. 
Nay,  there  may  exist  in  the  earthly  and  unfolding  state  of  the  church 
the  grievous  sin  of  real  hypocrisy.  John  (1  Ep.  2  :  19)  expressly  dis- 
tinguishes an  inward,  and  a  merely  outward  fellowship  with  the  church. 
"  In  a  great  house,"  says  Paul  with  reference  to  two  pernicious  errorists, 
Hymeneus  and  Philetus,  "  there  are  not  only  vessels  of  gold  and  silver, 
but  also  of  wood  and  of  earth  ;  and  some  to  honor,  and  some  to  dis- 
honor" (2  Tim.  2  :  20).  And  the  Lord  alone  can  distinguish  with 
absolute  infallibility  the  true  and  the  false,  the  living  and  the  dead 
members  in  the  outward  organism  of  his  kingdom.  He  "  knoweth 
them  that  are  his"  (v.  19);  and  to  separate  entirely  the  tares  from  the 
wheat,  is  a  work  he  has  reserved  for  himself  at  the  harvest  (Matt. 
13  :  30). 

§  122.  Nature  and  Object  of  Discipline. 
If  now,  on  the  one  hand,  a  mixture  of  error  with  truth,  of  sin  with 
holiness,  is  unavoidable  in  the  actual  church,  and  yet,  on  the  other  hand, 
holiness  is  essential  to  her  idea  and  design  ;  there  arises  the  necessity 
of  discijpline,  without  which  no  well-ordered  society  of  any  kind  can 
stand.  By  the  exercise  of  admonition  and  discipline  the  church  ex- 
presses her  abhorrence  of  all  evil,  and  is  continually  purging  herself  of 
all  the  ungodly  elements  which  war  against  her  nature,  from  "  all  filthi- 
ness  of  the  flesh  and  spirit"  (Eph.  5  :  25-2t.  2  Cor.  7:1).  By  this 
means,  also,  she  formally  expels  from  her  communion  dangerous  errorists 
and  gross  sinners,  so  soon  as  they  are  known  as  such,  and  when  re- 
peated admonition,  first  private,  then  public,'  has  proved  of  no  avail  ; 
and  thus  she  restores  her  violated  dignity,  her  proper  character  as  the 
body  of  the  Lord.'^  Neglecting  discipline,  she  would  necessarily  come 
to  a  stand,  implicate  herself  in  the  sins  of  her  unworthy  members,  give 
free  scope  to  the  poison  in  her  own  organism,  and  thus  procure  her  own 
dissolution.  Relaxation  of  discipline  is  always  a  suspicious  symptom  ; 
while  the  strict  and  energetic  administration  of  it  bespeaks  moral 
earnestness  and  zeal  for  purification.  One  can  feel  no  repugnance, 
therefore,  to  the  stern  precepts  of  the  apostles  on  this  point.  John  for- 
bids even  saluting  a  willful  and  incorrigible  Gnostic  heretic  (2  Jno.  10  : 

*  Comp.  Matt.  18  :  15-18.     Lu,  17  :  3.     Tit.  3  :  10. 

'  Rom.  16  :  17.  2  Thess.  3  :  6-15.  1  Cor.  5  :  2,  6-13.  2  Cor.  6 :  14—7  :  1,  Eph. 
5  :  11.    2  Tim.  2  :  21.     2  Jno.  10,  11. 


LIFE.]  g  122.       NATUKE    AND   OBJECT    OF   DISCIPLINE.  489 

11),  Paul  prohibits  eating  with  a  fornicator,  a  ghitton,  an  idolator,  a 
railer,  a  drunkard,  or  an  extortioner,  who  still  calls  himself  a  brother, 
and  claims  the  privileges  of  the  church  (1  Cor.  5  :  9-12),  and  he 
peremptorily  requires  that  such  an  offender  be  put  out  of  the  Christian 
communion  (v.  13),  with  allusion  to  the  injunction  of  the  law  of  Moses.' 
Church  discipline  is,  therefore,  primarily  a  process  of  self -'purification 
in  the  church,  designed  for  the  restoration  and  maintenance  of  her 
essential  attribute  of  holiness.  But  it  necessarily  has  reference  also  to 
the  good  of  the  offender,  on  whom  it  is  exercised.  And  here  appears 
its  evangelical  element;  since  even  in  its  strongest  form,  the  anathema, 
it  has  in  view  not  punishment,  but  correcion,  the  reclaiming  of  the  soul, 
to  which  the  temporal  punishment  is  intended  to  serve  only  as  a  means. 
This  is  what  the  apostle  intends  by  delivering  a  backslider  "  unto  Satan 
for  the  destruction  of  the  flesh,  that  the  spirit  may  be  saved  in  the  day 
of  the  Lord  Jesus"  ( 1  Cor.  5:5).  In  this  much-mistaken  passage,  as 
in  the  book  of  Job  and  2  Cor.  12  :  *I,  Satan  is  conceived  as  a  servant 
of  God  in  the  wider  sense,  as  a  being  to  whom  power  is  committed  to 
send  upon  men  certain  bodily  chastisements  and  afflictions,  but  under 
the  oversight  and  for  the  ends  of  Providence.  So  in  the  case  before  us, 
Paul  expected,  that  God  by  means  of  the  prince  of  darkness  would 
bring  upon  the  excommunicated  fornicator  at  Corinth  some  heavy  trial, 
or  sudden  calamity,  but  that  this  punishment  might  arrest  the  sinful 
course  of  the  unfortunate  man,  drive  him  to  repentance,  and  result  in 
his  salvation  in  the  day  of  the  second  coming  of  Christ.  For  not  only 
in  the  Old  Testament,  but  also  in  the  New,  diseases  and  premature 
death  sometimes  appear  as  direct  visitations  from  God  for  certain  sins 
(1  Cor.  11  :  30.  Jas.  5  :  14-16).  In  precisely  the  same  way  the 
apostle  proceeds  with  Hymeneus  and  Philetus,  who  by  their  false  teach- 
ings had  brought  mischief  and  confusion  into  the  church.  These  also 
he  "delivered  unto  Satan"  by  excommunication,  "that  they  might 
learn  not  to  blaspheme"  (1  Tim.  1  :  20).  According  to  the  same  view 
we  shall  doubtless  have  to  understand  the  anathema  which  he  utters 
(Gal.  1:8)  upon  all  adulterators  of  the  one,  unchangeable  gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ,  neither  as  a  mere  outward  excommunication,  nor  as  an 
irrevocable,  final  sentence  of  damnation,  but  as  the  imprecation  of  some 
divine  judgment,  which,  as  a  last  desperate  remedy,  might  effect,  if  pos- 
sible, the  conversion  of  the  heretic.''     Thus  the  design  of  discipline,  in 

'  Deut.  17  :  7,  12.  19  :  19.  21  :  21.  The  admonition  of  the  offender  corresponds 
nearly  to  the  first  stage  of  the  Jewish  ban  (Niddui) ;  but  the  anathema  or  excommu- 
nication, to  the  Jewish  Cherem  or  Shammatha. 

^  This  view  throws  light  also  on  the  obscure  passage,  1  Pet.  3  :  19  20,  and  4  :  6, 
where  even  the  judgment  on  the  unbelieving  generation  in  the  time  of  Noah,  nay,  as 


490  §  123.       EXAMPLES.       THE    IIYPOCKITE    ANANIAS.         ["•  BOOK. 

regard  to  its  subject,  is  always  the  rescue  of  his  soul  by  means  of  the 
heavy  punishment  of  temporary  exclusion  from  all  the  benefits  of  sal- 
vation ; — as  in  fact,  generally  speaking,  it  is  the  office  of  the  church, 
not  to  destroy  but  to  edify  and  save  (2  Cor.  10  :  8.  13  :  10).  If  this 
end  is  gained,  as  it  was  in  the  case  of  the  Corinthian  offender,  the  sin- 
ner should  be  restored  to  the  Christian  communion  and  re-admitted  to 
the  enjoyment  of  its  privileges. 

A.S  to  the  administration  of  discipline  ;  this  should  be  performed  by 
the  whole  congregation  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  ;  and  even  the 
apostles  here  appear  only  as  the  organs  and  representatives  of  the 
whole  body.  Paul,  it  is  true,  in  his  absence  excommunicated  the  above- 
mentioned  offender  in  virtue  of  the  full  power  committed  to  him  by 
Christ;  but  he  was  united  in  spirit  with  the  believers  at  Corinth,  and, 
relying  on  their  concurrence,  he  pronounced  judgment  in  the  name  of  all 
(1  Cor.  5  :  3-5).  He  took  for  granted  that  the  whole  congregation 
would  look  upon  this  grievous  sin  in  the  midst  of  them  as  a  common 
misfortune,  and  would  in  solemn  assembly  formally  ratify  his  sentence. 
For  in  the  organic  unity  of  believers  the  honor  or  disgrace  of  one  mem- 
ber falls  upon  the  body  itself,  and  the  restoration  of  the  moral  dignity 
of  the  whole  requires,  therefore,  such  an  act  of  the  whole  body. 

§  123.  Examples.      The  Hypocrite  Ananias.      The   Corinthian   Offender. 

In  the  comparative  purity  of  the  apostolic  church  we  must  not  look 
for  many  acts  of  discipline.  But  those,  of  which  we  are  informed,  bear 
the  strongest  testimony  to  the  holy  vigilance  with  which  the  apostles 
guarded  the  spotlessness  of  the  bride  of  Christ. 

The  first  case  we  meet  with  in  the  church  of  Jerusalem  shortly  after 
it  was  founded  (Acts  5  :  1-10).  This  is  the  first  dark  shadow  which 
falls  upon  the  bright  picture  of  the  history  of  Christ's  kingdom.  The 
s"n  of  Ananias  and  his  wife  Sapphira  consisted  in  a  shameful  perversion 
of  the  community  of  goods  to  selfish  ends,  an  attempt  to  impose  by 
hypocrisy  on  the  Christian  community  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  dwelt 
in  it.  Ananias  sold  his  piece  of  ground,  but  in  concert  with  his  wife 
secretly  kept  back  part  of  the  proceeds,  laying  the  rest  at  the  apostles' 

we  must  almost  infer  from  4  :  6,  on  all  the  dwellers  in  the  realm  of  death  before 
Christ,  appears  as  but  a  transition  state,  after  which  follows  either  the  rescue  of  the 
soul  by  the  believing  reception  of  the  gospel  of  the  Redeemer,  or,  in  case  of  its  rejec- 
tion, the  proper  final  condemnation.  "  For,  for  this  cause  was  the  gospel  preached  also 
to  them  that  are  (bodily)  dead,  Iva  KQL&uai  [liv  Kara  uv&qutvovc  oaQnl,  ^dac  f5e  kutcI 
i?fdv  ■jivev/j.aTi,^^  which  perfectly  harmonizes  with  the  elg  oJ.e&qov  t?}c  cragKoc,  Iva  to 
TTVEvfia  au-d?),  1  Cor.  5  :  5.  Comp.  also  Thiersch  :  VorUsungen  ilber  Katholicismus  unJ 
Protestantismus^  I.  p.  89  sq. 


LIFE.]  §  123.     EXAMPLES.       THE    CORINTHIAN    OFFENDER.  491 

feet  iu  the  common  treasury.  This  was  worse  than  if  he  had  kept  all. 
For  he  wished  thus  to  have  the  appearance  of  a  love  which  sacrifices  all,  ■ 
while  yet  in  heart  he  worshipped  mammon.  He  wished  to  serve  two 
masters,  yet  seem  to  serve  but  one.  Peter,  by  the  gift  of  discerning 
spirits  (comp.  §  119),  saw  through  this  hypocrisy  and  called  it  a  lie  to 
God  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost.  Struck  by  the  rebuke  of  the  apostle  as 
by  a  thunder-bolt,  the  guilty  man  fell  dead  upon  the  earth.  Some  have 
referred  this  tragical  end  to  natural  causes,  perhaps  apoplexy  caused  by 
terror  and  remorse.  But  v.  9,  where  Peter  predicts  the  same  fate  to 
Sapphira,  of  itself  shows  plainly  that  we  have  here  to  suppose  a  mira 
culous  intervention  of  God.  The  Lord  made  the  apostle's  word  the 
medium  of  an  extraordinary  punishment.  The  same  divine  judgment 
fell  upon  his  accomplice,  Sapphira,  but  not  until  time  had  been  given 
for  conscience  to  reprove  her,  nor  until,  ignorant  of  the  fate  of  her 
husband,  she  had  aggravated  her  hypocrisy  by  a  deliberate  lie  Had 
she  penitently  confessed  the  deed,  she  would  undoubtedly  have  been 
spared.     Thus,  therefore,  fell  two  as  sacrifices  to  the  good  of  all' 

The  unusual  rigor  of  this  discipline  is  accounted  for  by  the  circum- 
stances. In  the  first  place,  the  example  of  this  hypocrisy,  unless  it  had 
met  exemplary  punishment,  would  have  poisoned  the  life  of  the  Christian 
community  at  the  outset  and  undermined  the  indispensable  authority  of 
the  apostles.  And  again,  Ananias  might  very  possibly  have  enjoyed,  in 
this  fair  season  of  first  love,  deeper  experiences  of  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  so  as  to  have  been  far  more  guilty  than  Simon  Magus 
(c.  8)  or  Elymas  (c.  13),  who  had  merely  come  into  outward  contact 
with  the  gospel,  and  were,  therefore,  more  mildly  dealt  with. 

The  second  example  occurred  at  Corinth  and  has  been  already  several 
times  touched  upon  (1  Cor.  5  :  1  sqq.).  A  member  of  the  church 
there  had  committed  a  scandal  almost  unheard  of  even  among  the 
heathen.  He  had  lived  in  incestuous  intercourse  with  his  step-mother, 
while  his  father  was  yet  living''  (comp.  2  Cor.  1  :  12).  When  Paul  to 
his  deep  grief  heard  of  it  in  Ephesus,  he  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  as  united  in  spirit  with  the  congregation,  though  bodily  absent, 
excluded  the  offender  from  the  church,  that  such  shocking  disgrace 
might  be  rolled  off  from  it,  and  that  the  backslider  might,  by  remorse 
and  the  sense  of  estrangement  from  God,  be  awakened  to  repentance, 
and  thus,  though  perhaps  rumed  in  the  body,  be  yet  saved  at  last  in 

*  "  Ut  poena  duorum  hominum,"  says  Jerome,  "  sit  doctrina  multorum" 
'  The  Mosaic  law  assigns  to  this  horrible  crime  the  penalty  of  death;  Lev.  20  :  11- 
comp.  18  :  8.     Deut.  22  :  30. 


492  §  123.      EXAMPLES.      THE   CORINTHIAN   OFFENDEK.       [n.  BOOK. 

the  great  day  of  final  decision.  Here  the  discipline  was  actually 
effectual.  For  from  2  Cor.  2  :  5-10  we  learn,  that  the  unfortunate 
man  was  pierced  with  remorse  and  brought  by  loss  of  the  gifts  of  grace 
to  the  brink  of  despair.  Hence  the  apostle  exhorts  the  congregation  to 
forgive  him  and  to  show  him  brotherly  love. 

Here  belong,  finally,  the  excommunication  by  the  same  apostle  of  the 
probably  Gnostic  errorists,  Hymeneus  and  Alexander,  who  denied  the 
resurrection  of  the  body  ;'  and  the  command  of  the  aged  John,  to  have' 
no  fellowship  whatever  with  those  who  deny  the  incarnation  of  the  Son 
of  God;  not  to  receive  them  into  the  house,  nor  even  to  salute  them 
(2  Jno.  10,  11).  Greeting  is  here  conceived  not  as  an  empty  form,  but 
(like  the  uaivdarjG-&e,  Matt.  5  :  4*1)  as  a  testimony  of  real  friendship,  by 
which  one  professes  his  fellowship  of  spirit  with  the  one  he  salutes  and 
makes  himself  partaker  of  his  works  (v.  11,  comp.  1  Tim.  5  :  22).  This 
severity  is  by  no  means  inconsistent  with  the  mild  character  of  John, 
but  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  his  holy  earnestness,  which  acknowledged ' 
only  a  love  rooted  in  the  divine  truth,  and  with  what  Irenaeus  relates  of 
his  interview  with  the  Gnostic,  Ceriuthus  (comp.  §  103).  It  must  be 
remembered,  that  he  is  here  speaking  not  of  Jews  or  Gentiles,  but  of 
apostate  Christians,  who  altogether  rejected  the  central  doctrine  of  the 
gospel,  under  the  pretence  of  apprehending  it  more  clearly  and  intellec- 
tually, and  thus  threatened  to  subvert  the  proper  foundation  of  the 
church  (comp.  1  Jno.  2  :  18  sqq.  4  :  3).  We  find  just  as  severe  ex- 
pressions in  Paul,  Phil.  3  :  2.  Gal.  1:8.  1  Cor.  16  :  22.  Without 
the  most  rigid  separation  of  truth  from  falsehood,  the  church,  especially 
in  that  day,  when  she  had  scarcely  gained  firm  footing  and  was  an 
object  of  violent  persecution,  would  soon  have  become  a  medley  of 
Christian  and  unchristian  elements,  and  in  the  end  the  sure  prey  of  the 
world. 

^  1  Tim.  1  :  20.     Comp.  2  Tim.  2  :  17,  where  Philetus  is  mentioned  along  ■wiih 
Hymeneus. 


BOOK    THIRD. 


GOVERNMENT  OF  THE   CHURCH. 


GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  CHURCH. 


CHAPTER   I. 

THE  CHRISTIAN  MINISTRY  IN  GENERAL. 

§  124.   Origin  and  Design  of  the  Spiritual  Office. 

Church  Government  has  its  foundation  in  the  Christian  Ministry, 
which  is  originally  identical  with  the  Apostolate  and  contains  the  germs 
of  all  other  church  offices. 

It  was  instituted,  not  by  men,  but  by  Christ  himself  in  person.  When 
our  Lord  was  about  to  leave  the  earth,  he  gave  his  disciples,  whom  he 
had  gathered  around  him  since  his  public  appearance  as  the  Messiah 
and  trained  by  a  three  years'  personal  intercourse,  a  commission  to  con- 
tinue his  divine  work  ;  to  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature  ;  and  to 
baptize  the  penitent  in  the  triune  name  of  the  Creator,  the  Redeemer, 
and  the  Sanctifier  of  mankind.  "  As  my  Father  hath  sent  me,  even  so 
send  I  you."  For  this  purpose  he  imparted  to  them  the  Holy  Ghost 
by  an  outward  act,  at  first  provisionally,  afterwards  in  much  richer 
measure  on  the  day  of  Pentecost :  "  And  when  he  had  said  this,  he 
breathed  on  them,  and  saith  unto  them,  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost." 
With  this  gift  he  joined  the  power  of  the  keys  ;  that  is,  full  power  in 
his  name  and  with  his  authority  to  open  or  shut  the  gates  of  heaven,  to 
proclaim  and  insure  to  the  penitent  the  remission  of  sins,  and  to  the 
impenitent ■  divine  judgment:  "Whose  soever  sins  ye  remit,  they  are 
remitted  unto  them,  and  whose  soever  sins  ye  retain,  they  are  retained."' 
Socinian  and  Rationalistic  interpreters  are  wrong  in  regarding  this  as  a 
special  gift,  attaching  only  to  the  persons  of  the  apostles  and  becoming 
extinct  at  their  death.  The  apostles  here  appear  as  representatives  of 
the  ministerial  office  in  general,  nay,  of  the  whole  community  of  believers, 

»  Jno.  20  :  21-23.     Comp.  Matt.  16  :  19.     18  :  IS.     28  :  18-20. 


496      §  124.    ORIGIN  AND  DESIGN    OF  THE  SPIKITUAL  OFFICE,    [ni.  BOOK. 

to  which  the  right  of  church  discipline  is  expressly  granted  (comp.  Matt. 
18  :  18,  with  v.  jLI); — just  as  the  promise  of  the  continual  presence  of 
the  Lord  reaches  beyond  the  apostolic  age  even  to  the  end  of  the  world 
(Matt.  28  :  18-20.  18  :  20).  The  ministry  of  reconciliation  is  as 
necessary  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  church,  as  it  was  for  its  establish- 
ment. Hence  Paul  says  of  it,  in  comparison  with  the  Old  Testament 
ministry  of  the  law  :  "If  that  which  was  done  away  was  glorious,  much 
more  that  which  remaineth  is  glorious"  (2  Cor.  3  :  11). 

The  design  of  the  Christian  ministry  is  none  other  than  that  of  the 
mission  of  >  Christ  himself, — the  redemption  of  the  world  from  sin  and 
error,  and  the  extension  and  completion  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  a 
kingdom  of  truth,  love,  holiness,  and  peace.  Apostles,  prophets,  evan- 
gelists, pastors,  and  teachers,  are  divinely  appointed,  "for  the  perfecting 
of  the  saints  for  the  work  of  the  ministry,'  for  the  edifying  of  the  body 
of  Christ ;  till  we  all  come  in  the  unity  of  the  faith,  and  of  the  know- 
ledge of  the  Son  of  God,  unto  a  perfect  man,  unto  the  measure  of  the 
stature  of  the  fullness  of  Christ"  (Eph.  4  :  11-13).  The  spiritual  office, 
or  the  ministry  (dcaKovla),  is  the  vehicle  of  the  powers  of  divine  grace  ; 
the  appointed  channel  for  conveying  the  blessings  of  the  gospel  to  man- 
kind ;  the  organ  through  which  the  Holy  Ghost  acts  upon  the  world, 
and  gradually  transforms  it  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  This  office  has 
various  names,  according  to  its  different  aspects  and  functions.  It  is 
termed  the  "mmistry  of  the  word"  {diaKovla  tov  Ibyuv,  Acts  6  :  4), 
because  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  is  its  first  business,  according  to  the 
final  commission  of  the  Saviour,  Matt.  28  :  19  sq.  Mk.  16  :  15.  It  is 
called  the  ministration  of  the  Spirit  {dianovia  tov  nvevfiaTog,  2  Cor.  3:8), 
which  gives  life,  in  distinction  from  the  Old  Testament  ministration  of 
the  letter,  which  kills  ;  the  "  ministration  of  righteousness"  {dim.  rrjg 
SmatoavvTjc,  V.  9),  wMch  comes  from  faith  in  the  Redeemer  and  avails  with 
God,  in  contrast  with  the  ministration  of  condemnation  proclaimed  by 
the  law;  the  "ministry  of  reconciliation"  {SiaK.  rJig  aaTallayfic,  2  Cor.  5  : 
18),  which  Christ  has  established  between  sinful  men  and  a  holy  God. 

From  this  we  see  the  immeasurable  importance,  dignity,  arduousness, 
and  responsibility  of  the  ministerial  calling.  This  office  is  the  main 
instrument  for  carrying  out  the  divine  plan  of  salvation,  and  from  it 
proceed  almost  all  motion  and  progress  in  the  church.  The  apostles, 
and  in  a  wider  view  all  ministers  of  the  gospel,  are  "the  salt  of  the 

*  AcaKovla  is  here  to  be  taken  in  its  wider  sense,  as  denoting  the  particular  vocation 
assigned  to  each  member  of  the  body  of  Christ,  for  which  he  was  to  be  fitted  by  the 
ikaKovta  in  the  narrower  sense,  the  ministry  of  apostles,  prophets,  &c.  Comp.,  on  this 
whole  passage,  Eph.  4  :  11-13,  the  instructive  and  thorough  exposition  of  Stier  in  his 
Comment,  zum  Eph.  Br.  II.  p.  96  sqq. 


GOVEENM.]    g  124.    ORIGIN  AND  DESIGN  OF  THE  SPIRITUAL  OFFICE.       497 

earth/'  which  preserves  humanity  from  putrefaction  and  gives  it  its 
proper  savor.  They  are  "  the  light  of  the  world,"  shedding  the  rays  of 
eternal  life  into  the  night  of  the  natural  heart  and  upon  all  the  rela- 
tions of  human  existence  (Matt.  5  :  13-16).  They  are  "laborers  toge- 
ther with  God"  (1  Cor.  3  :  9),  and  "stewards  of  the  mysteries  of 
God,"  which  they  should  faithfully  dispense,  and  of  which  they  must  one 
day  give  an  account  (1  Cor.  4:1.  Tit.  1:1.  1  Pet.  4  :  10).  They 
are  "ambassadors  for  Christ"  {inip  Xpc^rov  npeai3evo/iev),  who,  as  though 
God  himself  spoke  through  them,  pray  sinners  in  Christ's  stead  :  "Be 
ye  reconciled  to  God  !"  (2  Cor.  5  :  20.)  Since  the  Lord  himself  appears 
in  his  servants,  the  reception  or  rejection  of  them  is  the  same  as  a  recep- 
tion or  rejection  of  Christ;  the  one  is  attended  with  a  rich  blessing,  the 
other  with  a  heavy  curse.  "  He  that  receiveth  you,  receiveth  me;  and 
he  that  receiveth  me,  receiveth  him  that  sent  me.'" 

This  exalted  position,  however,  of  course  gives  the  Christian  minister  no 
ground  for  self-exaltation,  but  rather  incites  to  humility.  Even  a  Paul,  in 
view  of  the  glory  of  an  ofiSce,  which  is  to  believers  a  savor  of  life  unto  life, 
to  unbelievers,  of  death  unto  death,  exclaims  under  a  sense  of  his  own  un- 
worthiness  :  "Who  is  sufficient  for  these  things  ?"  (2  Cor.  2  :  16),  and  refers 
all  his  qualification  to  divine  grace  alone  (3  :  5,  6).  As  little  may  Christ's 
stewards  abuse  their  authority  by  lording  it  over  the  conscience  and  in- 
vading the  rights  of  the  congregation.  They  are  bound  rather  to  shine 
as  an  example  to  the  people  of  Christ  in  holy  living  (1  Pet.  5:3),  lest, 
having  preached  to  others,  they  themselves  be  cast  away  (1  Cor.  9  :  21). 
As  faithful  shepherds,  they  must  devote  themselves  in  the  most  self- 
sacrificing  love  to  the  welfare  of  the  flock  purchased  by  the  blood  of 
Christ  and  committed  to  them  by  the  Holy  Ghost  (Acts  20  :  28.  Comp. 
Jno.  10  :  12  sqq.);  ever  mindful,  that  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  great- 
ness and  rank  are  to  be  measured  on  the  scale  of  humility  and  love. 
"  Whosoever  will  be  great  among  you,"  says  our  Lord  to  his  disciples, 
"  let  him  be  your  minister  ;  and  whosoever  will  be  chief  among  you,  let 
him  be  your  servant"  (Matt.  20:  26-28.  Comp.  Luke  22:  26-30). 
For  their  office  is  in  fact  a  service,  as  the  original  Greek  term,  6iaKovta, 
implies.  Preachers  are,  primarily  and  in  the  highest  view,  servants  of 
God  and  of  Christ  (2  Cor.  6:4.  1  Cor.  3:5.  4  :  1);  but  for  this 
very  reason  also  properly  servants  of  the  congregation,  for  its  eternal 
welfare.  Thus  Paul  writes  to  the  Corinthians  :  "  We  preach  not  our- 
selves, but  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord  ;  and  ourselves  your  servants  for 
Jesus'  sake"  (2  Cor.  4  :  5.     Comp.  Col.  1  :  25). 

'  Matt.    10  :  40  sqq..  v.  15.      Jno.  13  :  20.      Comp,  Jno.  12  :  26.      17  :  23.      Matt. 
25  :  40. 

32 


498      §  125.     DEVELOPMENT   OF   THE  CnUECH  CONSTITUTION     ["I-  ^OOK. 

§  125.  Developrneni  of  the  Church  Constitution  from  the  Afostolate.    Officers 
of  the  Whole  Church  and  of  Particular  Congregations. 

We  have  already  remarked,  that  the  ministerial  office  was  originally 

one  and  the  same  with  the  apostolical.  But  as  the  church  outwardly 
and  inwardly  grew,  the  apostles  found  their  sphere  of  labor  so  enlarged, 
that  they  could  no  longer  attend  alone  to  all  the  duties  of  discipline  and 
public  worship,  and  were  compelled  to  resort  to  a  division  of  labor.  In 
this  way  arose  gradually,  as  the  wants  of  the  church  and  the  force  of 
circumstances  required,  the  several  offices,  which  have  their  common 
root  in  the  apostolate,  and  through  it  partake  in  various  degrees  of  its 
divine  origin,  its  powers,  its  privileges,  and  its  duties.  The  Lord  him- 
self gave  no  particular  directions  on  the  subject,  but  left  his  disciples  to 
the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Under  this  guidance  they  proceeded 
with  the  greatest  wisdom  and  consideration,  following  in  the  footsteps  of 
history  and  conforming  as  far  as  possible  to  the  existing  arrangements  of 
the  Jewish  synagogue.  Hence  the  church  was  at  first  regarded  merely 
as  a  sect  or  school  {al^eoL^,  Acts  24  :  5.  28  :  22)  among  other  sects, 
like  the  Pharisees  (15:  5.  26:5)  and  Sadducees  (5  :  17),  within  the 
greater  theocratic  communion.  Even  Paul,  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles, 
turned  first  to  the  synagogues  and  followed  the  order  of  their  customary 
forms,  till  he  and  his  disciples  were  thrust  out  of  them.'  We  must  here 
observe,  however,  that  the  analogy,  which  undeniably  exists  between  the 
constitution  of  the  apostolic  church  and  that  of  the  Jewish  synagogue, 
must  not  be  pedantically  pushed,  as  it  has  been  by  many,"  to  all  the 
offices  and  to  the  minutest  details.  It  holds  in  reality  only  in  the  con- 
stitution of  single  congregations — only,  therefore,  in  the  offices  of  pres- 
byter and  deacon  ;  and  even  here  we  must  not  overlook  those  differences, 
which  necessarily  grew  out  of  the  essential  dissimilarity  of  the  Christian 
and  the  Jewish  principles. 

In  fixing  the  number  and  division  of  the  church  offices  we  must  keep 
especially  in  view  the  passage  Eph.  4  :  11  sq.  :  "And  he  (Christ)  gave 
some,  apostles  ;  and  some,  prophets  ;  and  some,  evangelists  ;  and  some, 

'  Acts  13  :  5,  46.     14  :  1.     18  :  4-8.     19  :  8-10.     28  :  17-29. 

^  By  Campegius  Vitringa,  for  instance,  who  first  brought  out  this  analogy  profoundly 
and  fully  in  his  celebrated  work:  De  synagoga  vetere  libri  III.  1696.  Against  him 
Mosheim's  objections  in  his  Institutioncs  majores,  p.  1G8-171,  are  in  part  not  groundless. 
Compare  on  this  point  especially  Dr.  Richard  Rothe  (now  in  Bonn) :  Die  .dnfange  der 
christlichen  Kirche und  ihrer  Vofassung,  vol.  I.  1847,  p.  147  sqq.  This  is  undoubtedly 
the  most  learned  and  ingenious  work  of  modern  times  on  the  constitution  of  the 
primitive  church;  and,  in  spite  of  its  peculiar  and  almost  universally  disapproved  views 
of  the  relation  of  the  church  to  the  st^te  and  of  the  rise  of  episcopacy,  it  is  a  work  of 
permanent  value. 


GOVERNM.j  FROM   THE    APOSTOLATE.  499 

pastors  and  teachers  ;  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints  for  the  work  of 
the  ministry,  for  the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ."     In  the  parallel 
passage,  1  Cor.  12  :  28-30,  evangelists  are  left  out  and  in  their  stead 
workers  of  miracles  and  several  sjiiritual  gifts  are  mentioned  along  with 
apostles,  prophets,  and  teachers.     In  these  passages,  at  least  the  latter, 
Paul  is  speaking  primarily,  indeed,  as  the  context  plainly  shows,  of  the 
charisms  ;  yet  these  gifts  are  closely  related  to  the  offices,  forming  the 
divine  qualification  and  outfit  for  them,  their  inward  side,   as  it  were  ; 
though  the  gifts  might  also  manifest  themselves  out  of  the  offices.     Be- 
sides, the  apostle  does  not  intend  to  give  a  complete  catalogue  ;  for  he 
passes  over  the  deacons,'  whose  existence  is  certain  fi-om  the  Acts  and 
the  Pastoral  Epistles.     Adding  these  to  the  list,  and  understanding 
pastors  and  teachers  to  be  identical  with  one  another  *  and  with  those 
elsewhere  commonly  styled  presbyters  or  even  bishops,   we  have  five 
classes    of  'officers  ;    Apostles,    Prophets,    Evangelists,    Preshyter-bishops 
(uniting  the  functions  of  teaching  and  governing),  and  Deacons.     These 
offices  are  so  related  to  one  another,  that  the  higher  include  in  them- 
selves the  lower,  but  not  the  reverse.     The  apostles  (as  for  example, 
John,  the  author  of  the  Gospel,  the  Epistles,  and  the  Apocalypse)  were 
at  the  same  time  prophets,  evangelists,  pastors,  and  teachers,  and  at  first 
had  charge  even  of  the  business  of  the  deacons  (Acts  4  :  35,  37.    6  :  2). 
This  universal  official  character  belonged  in  the  highest  sense  to  Christ. 
He   is  expressly  called  Apostle    (Heb.   3:1),  Prophet   (Jno.  4  :  19. 
6  :  14.     7  :  40.     Lu.  7  :  16.     24  :  19.     Acts  3  :  22  sq.     7  :  37),  Evan- 
gelist {evayyeMaaTo,  Eph.  2  :  17);  calls  himself  the  Good  Shepherd  (Jno. 
10:11);    and   condescends,    notwithstanding   his   participation   in   the 
divine  government  of  the  world,  to  take  even  the  title  of  deacon  or  ser- 
vant (Lu.  22  :  27.     Comp.  Matt.  20  :  28.     Jno.  13  :  14.     Phil.  2  :  7). 
And  all  the  various  branches  of  the  spiritual  office  are   the  organs, 
through  which  Christ  himself  in  the  Holy  Ghost  continues  to  exercise 
on  earth  his  offices  of  prophet,  priest,  and  king. 

But  then  there  is  this  difference  among  these  offices,  that  the  first 
three  have  reference  to  the  whole  church,  while  those  of  presbyter  and 
deacon  relate  only  to  single  congregations.  This  gives  us  the  distinction 
of  clmrck  government  and  congregational  government,  which  Dr.  Rothe 

^  In  1  Cor.  12  :  28  they  are  alluded  to  by  the  term  dvTi?i.7}-ipeic,  which  denotes  the 
spiritual  gift  answering  to  the  office  of  deacon.     Comp.  above  §  119. 

'  As  may  be  justly  inferred  even  from  the  fact,  that  the  apostle  does  not  repeat  the 
Toijg  6e  before  6i6aaKu?MV(,  but  simply  puts  kqi.  Jerome  well  calls  attention  to  this  : 
"  Non  enim  ait,  alios  pastores  et  alios  magistros,  sed  alios  pastores  et  magistros,  ut  qui 
pastor  est,  esse  debeat  et  magister."  So  Bengel,  ad  loc. :  "Pastores  et  doctores  hie 
junguntur,  nam  pascunt  docendo  maxime,  tum  admonendo,  corripiendo,"  etc. 


500  §  126.       ELECTION    AND   ORDINATION   OF   OFFICEES.       [ni.  BOOK. 

especially  brings  out,  though  he  wrongly  puts  the  latter  before  the 
former.  The  whole  system  of  government  has  formed  itself  from  above 
downwards,  from  the  general  to  the  particular,  and  not  the  contrary. 
Even  under  the  old  dispensation  the  kingdom  of  God  consisted  not  of 
any  local  assembly  or  single  tribe,  but  of  the  tribes  collectively.  And 
this  conception  passed  over  directly  to  the  Christian  communion,  as  the 
true  spiritual  Israel  and  the  proper  succession  of  the  old  faith. ^  This 
was  made  up  of  all  in  every  nation,  who  were  separated  from  the  world 
by  divine  grace  and  called  to  eternal  life  (the  Ik?.£ktoi,  k?i1]toc  t^eov)  ;  and 
this  society  of  the  elect  {iKKlrjala  mv  -^eov)  was  distinguished  from  the 
ungodly  world  (the  koo/xoc),  as  were  the  chosen  people  of  the  ancient 
covenant  from  the  C'li^,  the  i^vrj,  the  nations  by  which  they  were  sur- 
rounded." The  apostles,  accordingly,  are  always  named  first,"  and  all 
the  other  offices  grow  out  of  theirs,  like  branches  from  a  common  stock. 
The  wide  view  of  the  church  as  the  total  of  believers,  the  whole  king- 
dom of  Christ  on  earth,  is  the  original  one  ;*  the  narrower  sense  of  the 
term,  in  which  it  denotes  a  particular  local  congregation,  as  the  church 
of  Corinth  or  of  Rome,  is  the  derived.*  This  appears  at  once  from  the 
passage,  where  the  term  iKKhjala  first  occurs,  and  that  too  in  the  mouth 
of  our  Lord  himself.  When  Christ  says  of  his  church,  "  the  gates  of 
hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it"  (Matt.  16  :  18),  we  are  obhged  to 
refer  this  to  the  church  in  the  complex  view,  since  it  is  this  alone  which 
is  indestructible;  whilst  single  congregations  and  even  large  districts, 
once  flourishing  seats  of  Christianity,  have  perished  entirely  or  are  now 
inwardly  dead  or  overrun  by  a  false  religion,  like  Mohammedanism.  In 
the  first  stage  of  Christianity  the  two  conceptions  properly  coincided,  tlie 
church  beiug  commensurate  with  the  congregation  at  Jerusalem,  and  the 
apostles,  therefore,  beiug  at  that  time  also  congregational  officers.  Yet 
their  mission  and  vocation  had  reference,  from  the  beginning,  to  the 
whole  human  family,  to  the  evangelizing  of  all  nations  (Matt.  28  :  19. 
Mk.  16  :  15.     Acts  1  :  8). 

§  126.  Election  and  Ordination  of  Officers. 

The  inward  call  to  the  spiritual  office,  and  the  necessary  furniture  of 
gifts,  can  come  only  from  the  Holy  Ghost.     Paul  reminds  the  Ephesian 

•Rom.  2:28  sq.     4  :  11  sq.,  16,  17.      9  :  6  sq.,  24  sq.     11:1-7.     Gal.  3  :  7,  26-29. 
4:26.     Col.  3:11. 

*  Comp.  Acts  2  :  47.      13  :  48.     1  Pet.  1  :  1,  2.      Jude  1.      Rom.  1  :  6,  7.      1  Cor. 
1  :  2.     Tit.  1  :  1,  &c. 

'  Eph.  2  :  20.     4:11.     1  Cor.  12  :  28  ;  npurov  UTroaToTiOvg,  v.  29,  &c. 

*  Comp.  such  passages  as  Matt.  16:18.     20  :  28.     1  Cor.  10  :  32.     12  :  28.     Eph. 
1  :  22  sq.     3  :  10.     5  :  25,  27,  32.     1  Tim.  3  :  15. 

'  Rothe  himself  allows  this,  p.  285. 


GOVERNM.]      g  126.       ELECTION   AKD    OEDINATION    OF    OFFICERS.  503 

elders  (Acts  20  :  28),  that  the  Holy  Ghost  had  clothed  them  with  tlie 
pastoral  office,  to  feed  the  church  of  God.  But  this  does  not  exclude 
the  coSperation  of  the  congregation.  True,  the  apostles  were  chosen 
directly  by  Christ,  as  instruments  for  laying  the  first  foundations  of  the 
church.  But  so  soon  as  there  was  a  community  of  believers,  nothing  was 
done  without  its  active  participation.  This  was  the  case  even  in  filling 
the  vacant  place  of  the  traitor,  after  our  Lord's  ascension  (Acts  1:15 
-26).  Peter  here  lays  before  the  whole  congregation  of  about  a  hun- 
dred and  twenty  souls  the  necessity  of  an  election,  to  complete  the 
sacred  number  twelve  ;  whereupon  not  merely  the  apostles,  but  the 
whole  body  of  disciples,  nominate  {iaTi]aav,  v.  23)  Joseph  Barsabas  and 
Matthias  as  candidates;  all  pray  to  be  informed  of  the  divine  will  (v. 
24);  all  cast  their  lots'  (v  26);  and  thus  Matthias  is  elected.  Much 
more  must  we  expect  the  general  rights  of  Christians  to  be  regarded  in 
the  choice  of  the  ordinary  congregational  officers.  When  the  first 
deacons  are  to  be  appointed  (Acts  6  :  1-6),  the  twelve  call  together 
the  multitude  of  the  disciples  {to  n?i7/-& og  tuv /ua^riTuv,  v.  2),  and  require 
them  to  make  a  choice;  the  latter  fall  in  with  the  proposition,  make 
their  own  choice  {ile^avro,  v.  5,  connected  with  the  -kuv  to  n/J^'&og  imme- 
diately preceding),  and  present  the  candidates  to  the  apostles,  not  for 
confirmation,  but  only  for  ordination  (v.  6).  As  to  the  presbyter- 
bishops, » Luke  informs  us  (Acts  14  :  23)  that  Paul  and  Barnabas 
appointed  them  to  office  in  the  newly-founded  congregations  by  taking 
the  vote  of  the  people;  thus  merely  presiding  over  the  choice.  Such,  at 
least,  is  the  original  and  usual  sense  of  x^i-poToveiv^  (comp.  2  Cor.  8  :  19). 
But  even  in  a  more  general  sense  (like  TrpoxeipoToveiv,  used  of  God,  Acts 
10  :  41),  it  does  not  exclude  the  cooperation  of  the  congregations  any 
more  than  Paul's  charge  to  Titus,  Tit.  1:5.'  For  in  the  natui-e  of  the 
case  the  apostles  and  their  delegates  had  the  best  judgment  and  the 
greatest  influence  in  these  elections.  Probably  in  young,  inexperienced 
congregations,  they  nominated  the  candidates  themselves,  simply  calling 
for  the  concurrence  of  the  new  converts.  But  assuredly  they  always 
regarded  in  this  matter  the  wishes  of  the  Christian  people,  as  may  be 
seen  from  the  direction  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  that  none  but  men  of 

'  Either  dice,  or  more  probably  small  tablets,  which  vs^ere  inscribed  vi'ith  the  name 
of  a  candidate  and  deposited  in  some  vessel.  By  this  mode  of  choice,  which,  as  is 
well  known,  the  Moravians  imitate  even  in  their  marriages  (though  not  so  generally 
of  late),  it  was  sought  to  preclude  all  human  will  and  place  the  decision  entirely  in 
the  hands  of  Providence. 

"  From  ;t;a^  and  recveiv,  to  stretch  out  the  hand;  hence,  manum  porrigcndo  suffragia 
dare.,  suffragiis  creare. 

^  Comp.  Rothe,  1.  c.  p.  150,  and  Neander,  Jp.  Gesch.  I.  p.  268. 


502  §  126.     ELECTION    AND   ORDESTATION    OF   OFTICEES.       ["T-  BOOK. 

blameless  reputation  should  be  chosen  to  these  dignities.^  The  formal 
right  of  the  congregation  to  an  active  concern  in  all  its  affairs  cannot  be 
questioned,  though  the  actual  exercise  of  this  right  is  conditioned  by  the 
degree  of  their  spiritual  maturity.  All  authority  and  power  comes, 
indeed,  from  God,  the  only  Sovereign,  and  from  the  Holy  Ghost,  the 
Ruler  and  Soul  of  the  church  ;  but  the  conveyance  of  it  to  a  particular 
individual  must  be  mediated,  even  for  the  sake  of  order,  by  some  sort 
of  human  agency.  And  why  may  not  the  divine  will  be  revealed 
through  the  ^body  of  Christians,  full  as  well  as  through  one  or  more 
individuals  ?  The  democratic  principle,  no  doubt,  has  its  dangers.  But 
these  are  found  to  the  same  extent,  only  in  other  forms,  in  monarchy 
and  aristocracy  ;  and  in  proportion  as  the  true  spirit  of  Christianity 
prevails,  they  disappear. 

This  view  of  the  way  of  appointing  congregational  officers  is  con- 
firmed by  the  testimony  of  the  apostolic  father,  Clement  of  Rome,  who 
says  explicitly  in  his  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  that  the  apostles 
appointed  bishops  and  deacons  "  with  the  concurrence  of  the  whole 
church."" 

After  the  election  followed  the  ordination,  or  the  solemn  induction 
into  office  by  prayer  and  the  laying  on  of  hands  (a  ceremony  borrowed 
from  Judaism,  comp.  Nu.  2t  :  18,  23),  the  symbol  and  medium  of  the 
communication  of  the  grace  prayed  for  and  necessary  for  the  office.  So  in 
the  ordination  of  the  deacons  (Acts  6:6:  Kal  npoGev^d/ievoi  kire^riKav 
avToic  Tuc  x^^^'c)-  It  was  natural  that  the  apostles  themselves  should 
perform  this  important  act,  where  they  were  present.  In  their  absence 
it  was  performed  by  their  delegates,  as  Timothy  and  Titus  ;  compare 
Tit.  1  :  5  and  1  Tim.  5  :  22,  where  Timothy  is  cautioned  against  Aasiily 
ordaining  anyone  {x^ipaQ  Taxeug  fir/Sevl  iTnTl-&ei) ,  lest  he  should  become  a 
partaker  of  other  men's  sins.  From  1  Tim.  4  :  14,  however,  it  appears, 
that  the  presbyter-bishops  also  might  ordain,  or  at  least  assist  in  tlie 
ceremony.  For  Paul  there  exhorts  his  disciple  not  to  neglect  the  gift, 
which  was  given  him  in  consequence  of  the  prophetic  utterances  of  the 

^  1  Tim.  3  :  2,  7,  10.  Tit.  1  :  6,  7.  Similar  to  this  was  the  way  of  choosing  the 
rulers  of  synagogues,  whose  solemn  induction  into  office  did  not  take  place  till  the 
congregation  had  given  their  assent. 

-  avvevthnriauaijr  t7/c  emcT^Tjaiac  ivaarjr,  Epist.  ad  Corinth.  I.  c.  44.  Even  Cyprian, 
in  the  third  century,  who  is  known  to  mark  an  epoch  in  the  development  of  hierarchy, 
says  of  the  choice  of  priests  :  "  Quod  et  ipsum  videmus  de  divina  auctoritate  descen- 
dere,  ut  sacerdos  plebc  pracscntc  sub  omnium  oculis  deligatur  et  dignus  atque  idoneus 
publico  judicio  ac  testimonio  comprobetur  .  .  .  .  ut  plebe  praesente  vel  detegantur 
malorum  crimina,  vel  bonorum  merita  praedicentur,  et  sit  ordinatio  justa  et  legitima, 
quae  omnium  svffragio  et  judicio  fuerit  examinata  {Ep.  68,  p.  US,  ed.  Bened.  I.  p.  118 
sq.,  ed.  Tauchn.) 


GOVERNS!.]  I    127.      SUPPORT   OF   THE  MESTISTET.  503 

congregation  (comp.  1  Tim.  1  :  18  and  Acts  16  :  2),  by  the  laying  on 
of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery  or  college  of  ciders  {tov  irpeal^vTsplov) . 
From  2  Tim.  1  :  6  it  would  seem,  indeed,  that  Paul  himself  was  present 
on  this  occasion  {did  riig  ETTL^eaeuc  tQv  x£tg<^v  ft  o  v)  ;  unless  we  adopt  the 
untenable  hypothesis  that  these  were  two  different  cases.'  But  at  all 
events  the  part  taken  by  the  presbyters  can  have  been  no  mere  empty 
ceremony,  any  more  than  the  participation  of  the  congregation  in  the 
choice  of  its  officers,  but  pre-supposes  a  right  and  a  power  lodged  in 
their  official  character  of  conveying  the  necessary  spiritual  gifts.  The 
laying  on  of  hands  on  Paul  by  Ananias  (probably  a  presbyter)  men- 
tioned Acts  9  :  l*r,  although  no  ordination  proper,  nor  confirmation 
(for  baptism  followed  afterwards),  was  the  means  not  only  to  restore 
his  sight,  but  also  "  to  fill  him  with  the  Holy  Ghost."  The  case  men- 
tioned Acts  13  :  3  was  a  special  inauguration  of  Paul  and  Barnabas  for 
the  great  missionary  work  amongst  the  Gentiles,  and  performed  by  the 
"prophets  and  teachers"  (v.  1)  of  the  congregation  at  Antioch. 

§  12*1.   Suppo)-t  of  the  Ministry. 

Respecting  the  maintenance  of  the  various  ecclesiastical  and  congre- 
gational officers,  our  Lord  himself  had  already  uttered  the  principle  : 
"  The  laborer  is  worthy  of  his  hire."''  But  he  had  previously  warned 
his  followers,  not  to  turn  the  work  of  preaching  into  a  common  trade 
(Matt.  10  :  8  sq.);  for  disinterestedness  is  one  of  the  most  needful  and 
beautiful  ornaments  of  him  who  proclaims  the  free,  unmerited  grace  of 
God,  and  exhorts  men  to  seek  first  of  all  the  everlasting  blessings  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  The  same  principle  is  laid  down  by  Paul  and  illus- 
trated by  several  apt  similitudes  ;  the  soldier  drawing  his  pay,  the  vine- 
dresser reaping  the  fruit  of  his  vineyard,  the  shepherd  living  on  the  milk 
of  his  flock.  So  the  minister  of  Christ,  whose  office  is  frequently  repre- 
sented by  these  figures,  has  a  just  claim  to  be  supported  by  the  church, 
for  which  he  labors  (1  Cor.  9  :  6-10);  especially  as  temporal  gifts  are 
after  all  but  a  poor  equivalent  for  spiritual  and  eternal  (v.  11).  "Do 
ye  not  know,"  continues  he,  enforcing  from  another  quarter  this  self- 
evident,  but  often-neglected  duty,  "  do  ye  not  know,  that  they  which 
minister  about  holy  things  live  of  the  things  of  the  temple  ?  and  they 
which  wait  at  the  altar  are  partakers  with  the  altar  ?  Even  so  hath 
the  Lord  ordained,  that  they  which  preach  the  gospel  should  live  of  the 
gospel"  (v.  13  sq.).  When  he  writes  to  Timothy  (1  Tim.  5  :11): 
"  Let  the  elders  that  rule  well  be  counted  Avorthy  of  double  honor,"  the 

^  As  Rothe  does,  1.  c.  p.  161,  note.  This  passage  is  discussed  at  some  length,  with 
reference  to  the  views  of  English  divines,  by  Dr.  Samuel  Miller :  Letters  concerning 
the  Constitution  and  Order  of  the  Christian  Ministry.     Philad.  1830.     2nd  ed.  p.  31  sqq. 

'  Matt.  10  :  10.     Lu.  10  :  7  sq.     Comp.  Lev.  19  :  13.     Deut.  24  :  14. 


504  §  127.      SUPPORT   OF   THE    MINISTRY.  [m-  BOOK. 

idea  of  remuneration  is  at  least  included  ;'  as  is  shown  by  the  nest 
verse,  where  he  quotes  the  above  expression  of  Christ  along  with  the 
Mosaic  precept  enjoining  mercy  to  animals  (Deut.  25  :  4):  "  Thou  shalt 
not  muzzle  the  ox  that  treadeth  out  the  corn," — in  other  words  (as  here 
applied),  show  thyself  grateful  towards  those  by  whose  hard  labor  thou 
art  served.  The  passage  also.  Gal.  6:6:  "  Let  him  that  is  taught  in 
the  word  communicate  unto  him  that  teacheth  in  all  good  things,"  con- 
tains according  to  the  usual  interpretation  an  injunction  to  liberality 
towards  the  teachers  of  the  gospel. 

But  the  same  apostle  is  equally  earnest,  on  the  other  hand,  in  warning 
ministers  against  the  love  of  filthy  lucre,  which  is  peculiarly  unbecoming 
in  them  and  almost  annihilates  their  moral  influence.  He  exhorts  them 
to  contentment,  hospitality,  and  disinterestedness.'''  He  himself  exhibited 
in  his  life  an  exalted  model  in  this  respect ;  earning  his  own  support  by 
his  trade  of  tent-making,  often  working  day  and  night,  that  he  might 
not  be  burdensome  to  the  churches,  which  doubtless  consisted  mostly  of 
persons  without  property;  that  he  might  procure  the  readier  access  for 
the  gospel;  and  might  stop  the  mouths  of  his  Jewish  adversaries,  who 
impeached  his  motives.^  Paul  could  say  without  exaggeration,  that 
through  the  power  of  Christ  strengthening  him  he  could  do  all  things, 
knowing  both  how  to  be  abased  and  how  to  be  exalted;  how  to  be  full, 
and  how  to  be  hungry  ;  how  to  abound,  and  how  to  suffer  need  (Phil. 
4  :  11-13).  Yet  in  the  case  of  the  church  at  Philippi,  whose  relation 
to  him  was  one  of  special  confidence  and  friendship,  he  made  an  excep- 
tion, and  sometimes  received  presents  from  it  (Phil.  4  :  16.  2  Cor.  11  • 
8).  For  though  his  earnings  might  have  been  enough  to  cover  the  cost 
of  his  own  living,  they  could  not  well  meet  the  expenses  of  his  frequent 
and  long  journeys,  on  which  he  had  usually  several  attendants,  once  as 
many  as  seven  (Acts  20  :  3,  4).  When  we  consider  these  numerous 
and  expensive  journeys  of  the  apostles  and  their  delegates,  to  spread 
the  gospel  and  to  maintain  and  promote  the  unity  of  the  Eastern  and 
Western  churches,  while  they  might  all  well  say  with  Peter  :  "  Silver 
and  gold  have  I  none"  (Acts  3:6);  and  when  we  remember  too,  with 
how  great  zeal  the  Christians  of  Macedonia,  for  instance,  notwithstand- 
ing their  poverty,  raised  collections  for  their  needy  brethren  in  Pales- 
tine ; — we  cannot  but  form  a  high  opinion  of  the  liberality  and  self- 
sacrificing  love  of  these  apostolic  congregations. 

"  Many  expositors  refer  TLjiJ/g  here  exclusively  to  remuneration,  and  translate  it  re- 
ivard. 

"Tit  1:11.     1  Tinn.  3  :  2  sq.     6:6-10.     Acts  20  :  34  sq. 

'  1  Thess.  2  :  5-10.  2  Thess.  3  :  7-9.  1  Cor  9  :  12,  15.  2  Cor.  11  :  7-10.  12  : 
11-18.     Phil.  4  :  15.     Acts  18:  3.     20  :  34  sqq. 


GOVEKNM.]  §  127.       SUPrOKT    OF   THE    MENISTRT.  506 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  however,  that  there  was  in  this  period  any- 
regular  and  fixed  salary  for  ministers.  Many,  like  Paul,  according  to 
the  custom  of  the  Rabbins,  may  have  continued  their  former  trades  in 
connection  with  their  new  calling,  and  may  have  thus  earned  a  part  or 
the  whole  of  their  subsistence.  At  all  events,  those,  who  had  the  right 
spirit,  contented  themselves  with  the  simple  necessaries  of  life.  So  long 
as  Christianity  was  not  recognized  by  the  state,  the  churches,  as  such, 
held  no  property.  Many  Christians,  especially  from  among  the  Jews, 
might  have  adhered  to  the  old  custom  of  paying  tithes  (decimae)  and 
first-fruits  (primitiae).  But  there  was  as  yet  no  law  about  it.'  All 
contributions  for  ecclesiastical  or  benevolent  purposes  were  free-will 
offerings,  regulated  according  to  ability  and  need.  Thus  we  read,  Acts 
11  :  29,  on  the  occasion  of  the  famine  in  Palestine  :  "  The  disciples  (at 
Antioch),  every  man  according  to  his  ability,  determined  to  send  relief 
unto  the  brethren,  which  dwelt  in  Judea."  So  in  the  case  of  the  subse- 
quent collections  for  the  poor  churches  in  Palestine,  Rom.  15  :  26. 
1  Cor.  16:1  sqq. ;  and  any  salary  for  the  preachers  of  the  gospel  would 
doubtless  be  raised  in  the  same  way,'  Assuredly  too  the  voluntary  sys- 
tem, where  it  really  merits  the  name  (for  many  of  our  so-called  volun- 
tary donations  are,  at  bottom,  very  involuntary,  and  proceed  much 
oftener  from  selfish  motives  than  from  pure  love  to  God  and  his  church), 
best  corresponds  with  the  spirit  of  the  gospel,  and  is  upon  the  whole 
most  advantageous  to  the  kingdom  of  God.  It  calls  forth  a  vast 
amount  of  individual  activity  and  personal  interest  in  church  affairs  ; 
whereas  the  support  of  the  clergy  by  the  state,  while  it  has  many 
advantages  and  may  in  some  countries  be  necessary  for  the  maintenance 
of  religion,  tends  naturally  to  turn  the  church  more  or  less  into  a  mere 
civil  institution,  to  make  its  ministers  too  dependent  upon  the  govern- 
ment, to  stunt  the  virtue  of  liberality,  and  to  depreciate  the  gospel  in 
the  eyes  of  the  people. 

But  where  the  church  is  thrown  for  her  support  so  entirely  upon  the 
free  love  and  gratitude  of  her  members  as  in  the  first  three  centuries, 
it  becomes  the  more  necessary,  if  her  operations  are  not  to  come  to  a 
stand,  that  she  should  recommend  some  fixed  system,  some  method  for 
giving,  by  which  each  one  may  impose  a  law  on  himself  corresponding  to 

'  Legal  enactments  in  regard  to  the  payment  of  tithes  are  not  met  with  in  the  church 
before  the  sixth  century.  But  long  before  this  Irenaeus  {Adv-  kacr.  IV.  8,  13,  18,  &c.) 
was  of  opinion,  that  the  Christians  should  pay  tithes  like  the  Jews,  so  as  not  to  be 
behind  them  in  liberality  and  piety.  So  Chrysostom,  Gregory  of  Nazianzen,  Hilary, 
Augustine,  and  other  church  fathers.  See  Augusti :  Handbuch  der  Christl.  Archdol. 
I.  p.  314;  also  Coleman  :  Ancient  Christianity  Exemplified,'^.  229. 

■•*  This  spontaneous  giving  Tertullian  presents  as  still  the  order  in  his  day  ;  "  Nemo 
compellitur,  sed  sponte  confert"  {Apolog.  c.  39). 


506        §  128.      RELATION   OF   OFFICERS   TO   THE   CHITRCHES.       [ni.  BOOK. 

liis  means  and  resources.  Such  was  the  simple  yet  most  judicious  regu- 
lation, which  Paul  made  with  reference  to  the  collections  for  the  poor  in 
the  churches  of  Galatia  and  Greece  ;  that  every  one  for  himself,  on  the 
first  day  of  the  week,  the  holy  day  of  the  Christians  (comp.  Acts  20  :  t. 
Rev.  1  :  10),  should  lay  by  a  part  of  his  earnings,^  and  so  keep  a  sepa- 
rate treasury  for  the  Lord  as  his  means  allowed  and  his  conscience 
dictated  (1  Cor.  16  :  1,  2).' 

§  128.  Relation  of  the   Officers  to  the    Congregations.     The    Universal 

Priesthood. 

Notwithstanding  the  divine  origin,  the  greatness  and  dignity  of  the 
ministerial  office,  there  was  not  designed  to  be  a  chasm  between  it  and 
the  people  an  opposition  of  clergy  and  laity  in  the  modern  sense.  This 
office  is  not,  indeed,  a  creature  of  the  congregation.  It  is  itself  the 
creative  beginning  of  the  church,  the  divinely  appointed  organ  of  her 
establishment  and  edification.  The  apostles  go  before  the  church,  not 
the  church  before  the  apostles.  Hence  they  not  merely  their  doctrine 
or  their  confession,  but  they  themselves,  as  living  persons,  in  their  union 
with  Christ,  and  as  organs  of  the  Holy  Ghost  are  called  the  founda- 
tion of  this  spiritual  edifice,  of  which  Jesus  Christ  is  at  once  the  archi- 
tect and  the  corner-stone,  binding  together  the  several  parts  and  repre- 
senting the  whole."  But  so  soon  as  the  gospel  had  taken  root  and  pro- 
duced a  Christian  community,  there  arose  a  relation  of  active  coopera- 
tion between  pastors  and  peojDle.  Though  the  pastors  retained  the 
control,  yet  they  always  exercised  it  in  the  spirit  of  brotherly  love,  and 
with  the  consciousness,  that  the  members  of  the  flock  stood  essentially  in 
the  same  relation  with  themselves  to  the  common  Head  and  chief  Shep- 
herd, Jesus  Christ ;  that  they  were  sanctified  by  the  same  spirit,  and  had 
an  equal  share  in  all  the  privileges  and  blessings  of  salvation.  Hence 
all  believers  without  exception  are  styled  "brethren,"*  and  "saints," 
separated  from  the  world  and  set  apart  to  the  service  of  the  Triune 
God.^     While,  on  the  one  hand,  the  churches  were  far  from  assuming 

'  6,  TL  evoSurai,  "  as  he  may  be  prospered,"  "  according  to  his  success  in  gaining,"  oi 
"  as  far  as  his  means  may  allow;"  comp.  Rom.  1  :  10.  Acts  11  :  29  :  Ka^dug  rjinoQelro 
TIC.     2  Cor.  8:12:   /cai?d  iuv  I'xy. 

''  On  this  the  venerable  Bengel  well  remarks  :  "  Consilium  facile.  Semel,  non  tarn 
multum  datur.  Si  quis  singulis  diebus  dominicis  aliquid  seorsum  posuit,  plus  collectiim 
fuit,  quam  quis  semel  dedisset." 

Rev.  21  :  14,  and  §  90  above. 

8:27.     12:13.    16:15.    1  Cor.  1  :  2.    6:2. 
19.     5  :  3.      6  :  18.     Col.  3  :  12.     Phil,  1  :  1. 
Heb.  13  :  24.     Rev.  13  :  10,  &c. 


*  Eph.  2  :  20.     Comp.  Matt.  16  : 

18. 

*  Comp.  §  114  above. 

*  Acts  9  :  32.     26  :  18.     Rom.  ]  : 

7. 

2  Cor.  1:1.     13  :  13.     Eph.  1  :  1. 

2  : 

4:21,22.     Tit.2:14.     1  Pet.  2  :  9, 

,10. 

GOVERNM.]  THE    UNIVERSAL    PEIESTHOOD.  507 

authority  over  their  leaders,  and  were  instructed  rather  to  yield  them 
afifectionate  obedience  (Heb.  13  :  IT.     1  Cor.  16  :  16);  the  leaders,  on 
their  part,  imposed  no  prescriptions  or  laws  on  the  churches,  which  the 
latter   themselves  did  not  sanction  by  their  own  free  approval.     The 
oflficers  formed  no  priestly  caste,  standing  between  God  and  the  people. 
The  New  Testament,  it  is  true,  owns  the  idea  of  the  priesthood  ;  but 
applies  it  expressly  to  all  true  Christians.     All  have  immediate  access  to 
Christ  by  faith,  and  should  daily  offer  Him  the  sacrifices  of  praise  and 
intercession.     In  virtue  of  their  union  with  Christ  {irgb^  bv  nQoaepxo/^evoi) , 
Peter  styles  his  readers  "  a  spiritual  house,  an  holy  priesthood  {lepd-EVfia 
ayiov),  to  offer  up  spiritual  sacrifices^  acceptableto  God  by  Jesus  Christ" 
(1  Pet.  2  :  4,  5.     Comp.   Rom.  12  :  1);  and  immediately  after  (v.  9) 
exclaims  to  them  :    "Ye  are  a  chosen  generation,  a  royal  priesthood 
{jiaaileiov  hqaTevfia)^   an  holy  nation,   a  peculiar  people  ;   that  ye  should 
show  forth  the  praises  of  him  who  hath  called  you  out  of  darkness  into 
his  marvellous  light."     The  same  high  character  was  assigned,  indeed, 
even  to  the  people  of  Israel  under  the  old  dispensation,  where,  neverthe- 
less, we  know  that  the  special  Aaronic  priesthood  was  joined  with  it 
(Ex.  19  :  6);  "Ye  shall  be  unto  me  a  kingdom  of  priests,  and  an  holy 
nation."     But  in  the  Old  Testament  this  was  rather  prophecy  and  pur- 
pose ;  in  the  New,  it  is  fulfillment  and  execution.     It  is   Christ  alone, 
who  has  "  washed  us  from  our  sins  in  his  own  blood,  and  hath  made  us 
kings  and  priests  unto  God  aud  his  Father"  (Rev.  1  :  5,  6).     The  New 
Testament  priesthood  as  far  transcends   the    Old,    as   Christianity   in 
general  outshines  Judaism.     This  is  profoundly  set  forth  especially  in  the 
epistle  to  the  Hebrews  (comp.  c.  t-10.     13  :  10,  15,  16).     The  term 
clergy  {ulTigoc),  which  in  ecclesiastical  terminology  denotes  the  ministe- 
rial order  in  distinction  from  the  laity,  is  applied  by  Peter  to  the  con- 
gregations (1  Pet.  5:3);  showing,  that  every  society  of  Christians  is 
regarded,  like  the  Levites  under  the  old  economy,  as  a  consecrated, 
peculiar  people  of  God.'     The  apostle  Paul  calls  upon  his  readers,  in 
virtue  of  their  priestly  character,  to  make  intercession  for  himself  and 
for  all  men   (2  Cor.  1  :  10,  11.      1  Tim.  2:1),   after  the  pattern  of 
Christ,    the   eternal  High  Priest  (Heb.  t  :  25.      Comp.   Lu.   22  :  32. 
Jno.  It  :  9,  20). 

It  is  by  this  universal  priesthood,  that  we  are  to  account  for  the 
liberty  of  teaching  and  the  particijpation  of  the  people  in  the  worship  aud 
government  of  the  church,  which  we  observe  in  the  apostolic  age. 

The  general  liberty  to  teach  was  a  prelusive  fulfillment  of  the  pro- 
phecy, that  in  the  days  of  the  Messiah  the  Spirit  should  be  poured  out 

'  Others  take  tuv  kTitjquv,  which  in  any  case  refers  to  the  people,  to  nnean  congrega- 
tions distributed  and  entrusted  to  the  pi-esbyters  by  Int  or  election. 


508       §  128,       KELATION    OF    OFFICEES   TO   THE    CHUKCHES.       ["I.  BOOK. 

upon  all  flesli,  even  to  servants  and  maids,  and  all  should  be  taught  of 
God.'  Accordingly  every  one,  whether  an  officer  or  not,  if  he  possessed 
the  requisite  charism,  might  speak  with  tongues,  pray,  teach,  and  pro- 
phesy in  the  assembly.  .For  spiritual  gifts  were  by  no  means  confined 
to  official  station.  This  freedom  appears  very  plainly  from  the  picture, 
which  Paul  draws,  of  the  meetings  for  public  worship  among  the  Corin- 
thians (1  Cor.  14  :  23-36).  Nay,  it  is  plain  from  v.  34  andc.  11  :  5,  that 
even  women,  forgetting  their  natural  place  and  mistaking  the  true  idea 
of  religious  equality,  prayed  and  prophesied  in  public.  From  1  Tim.  2  : 
12,  we  may  infer,  that  they  also  occasionally  taught  ;  else  the  apostle 
would  not  have  found  it  necessary  i^  forbid  their  teaching.' 

But  here  restriction  at  once  makes  its  appearance.  In  the  first  place, 
Paul  rebukes  in  general  all  abuse  of  the  liberty  of  teaching,  and  reminds 
the  Corinthians,  that  God  is  a  God  of  order  and  not  of  confusion. 
They  should,  therefore,  exercise  their  gifts,  not  all  at  once,  but  in  turn 
and  always  with  due  regard  to  the  edification  of  the  assembly.^  James 
also  chides  the  mania,  with  which  many  in  his  Jewish-Christian  con- 
gregations (where  acting  was  so  often  lost  sight  of  in  talking),  set  them- 
selves up  for  teachers  from  pure  vanity,  without  any  inward  call  ;  and 
to  this  he  adds  his  forcible  representation  of  the  sins  of  the  tongue 
(3  :  1  sqq.).  Thus  the  act  of  teaching,  though  not  restricted  to  any 
regular  office,  must  yet  be  joined  with  the  possession  of  the  necessary 
gifts  ;  and  these  must  be  used  in  humility  and  under  a  sense  of  increased 
responsibility. 

Then  secondly,  as  regards  the  female  sex  in  particular,  Paul  goes  still 
farther,  and  directly  forbids  women  taking  any  part  in  the  public  ser- 
vices of  the  church.*  This  seems  inconsistent,  indeed,  with  1  Cor.  11:5: 
"  Every  woman,  that  prayeth  or  prophesietk  with  her  head  uncovered, 
dishonoreth  her  head  ;"  and  to  this  passage  accordingly  the  Montanists, 

»  Joel  2  :  28  sq.  Is.  54  :  13.  Jer.  31  :  34.  Acts  2  :  17  sq.  Jno.  6  :  45.  Comp. 
1  Thess.  4:9.     1  Jno.  2  :  20,  21,  27. 

*  This  primitive  freedom  was  still  understood  by  an  ecclesiastical  writer  at  the  close 
of  the  fourth  century,  the  author  of  the  Commentary  on  Paul's  epistles,  found  among  the 
works  of  St.  Ambrose  (probably  the  Roman  deacon,  Hilary) .  Thus  he  says,  on  Eph. 
4  :  11  :  "  In  episcopo  omnes  ordines  sunt,  quia  primus  sacerdos  est,  hoc  est  princeps  est 
sacerdotum  et  propheta  et  evangelista  et  caetera  ad  implenda  officia  ecclesiae  in  minis- 
terio  fidelium.  Tamen  postquam  omnibus  locis  ecclesiae  sunt  constitutce  et  officia 
ordinata,  aliter  composita  res  est,  quam  coeperat.     Primum  enim  omnes  docebant  et  omnes 

baptizabant,  quibuscunque  diebus  vel  temporibus  fuisset  occasio Ut  ergo  cresceret 

plebs  et  multiplicaretur,  omnibus  inter  initia  concessum  est,  et  evangelizare  et  baptizare 
et  Scripturas  in  ecclesia  explanare,"  &c. 

*  1  Cor.  14  :  5,  12,  23-33.     Comp.  §  117  above. 

*  1  Cor.  14  :  34  sq.  1  Tim.  2  :  12.  In  the  synagogue  also  women  were  not  per- 
mitted to  speak ;  comp.  Wetstein  on  J  Cor.  14  :  34,  and  Vitringa :  Synag.  p.. 725. 


GOVERNM.]  THE   UNIVEESAL    PEIESTHOOD.  509 

Quakers,  and  other  sects  appeal  in  support  of  their  practice.  But  the 
apostle  is  here  simply  citing  the  fact,  which  undoubtedly  occurred  (comp. 
Acts  21  :  9),  without  approving  or  disapproving  it,  reservino-  his  cen- 
sure for  a  future  occasion  (c.  14)  ;  for  in  c.  11  he  has  nothing  to  do 
with  public  worship,  but  is  treating  of  the  custom  of  covering  the  head 
which  some  Christian  females  in  Corinth  affected  to  disregard,  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  prevailing  ideas  of  propriety,  as  though  all  outward  differ- 
ence between  the  sexes  had  been  abolished  by  Christ.  ISor  will  it  do 
to  make  a  distinction  here  between  public  teaching  and  public  praying 
and  prophesying  ;  to  say,  that  Paul's  prohibition  regards  only  the  first 
function  (the  proper  diddaKELv,  1  Tim.  2  :  12),  and  not  the  last  two, 
which  were  more  the  expression  of  elevated  feeling.  For,  not  to  men- 
tion, that  the  apostle  places  prophets  above  teachers  (Eph.  4:11.  1 
Cor.  12  :  28),  his  injunction  is  altogether  general,  1  Cor.  14  :  34,  that 
women  should  keep  silence  {aiyuruaav)  in  the  assembly,  and  not  speak 
(laleiv)',  and  this  whole  chapter  too  treats,  not  of  didactic  discourses, 
but  of  the  very  functions  of  speaking  with  tongues  and  prophesying. 
Every  public  act  of  this  kind  implies,  for  the  time  being,  a  superiority  of 
the  speaker  over  the  hearers,  and  is  also  contrary  to  true  feminine  deli- 
cacy. Christianity  has,  indeed,  vastly  improved  the  condition  of  woman. 
It  has  brought  the  highest  blessings  of  heaven  within  her  reach.'  But  it 
has  not,  in  so  doing,  abolished  the  divine  order  of  nature,  which  places 
her  in  subjection  to  man  (Gen.  3  :  16.  Eph.  5:  22),  and  restricts  her 
to  the  sphere  of  private  life.  Here,  in  the  quiet  circle  of  the  family, 
woman  has  the  freest  scope  for  the  display  of  the  fairest  virtues.  Here 
too  she  has  a  certain  right  to  rule.  And  here  she  is  bound,  not  only  to 
pray  diligently  herself,  but  also  to  teach  her  children  to  pray,  and  to 
lead  them  early  to  the  Saviour.'^ 

With  this  state  of  things  in  the  sphere  of  worship  corresponded  to  a 
great  extent  the  conduct  of  the  church  government.  The  presbyters 
were,  indeed,  the  regular  pastors  and  managers  of  the  affairs  of  the 
congregation  ;  but  they  shared  both  their  power  and  their  responsibility 
directly  or  indirectly  with  the  people.  In  the  first  place,  the  officers, 
and  also  delegates  for  special  purposes  (comp.  2  Cor.  8  :  18,  19.  Acts 
15  :  2),  were  taken  from  the  midst  of  the  congregation,  and  were  chosen 
by  the  people  themselves  or  at  least  with  their  consent,  as  we  have 

*  Gal.  3  :  28  :  ovk  kvL  ugaev  koI  -d/jTiV  ndvTE^  juQ.vfidg  elg  ears  iv  XqiotCj  Hrjaov. 
On  the  contrary  even  Aristotle  says  unequivocally,:  je^pov  i/  yvv?/  tov  dvSgog,  Magn. 
Ethic.  I,  34. 

*  Probably  also  the  prophesying  of  the  daughters  of  the  evangelist  Philip  in 
Caesarea  (Acts  21  :  9)  occurred  in  family  worship ;  unless  we  suppose  that  here  too 
was  something  which  Paul  would  have  censured  (comp.  Neander,  p.  257).  For  Luke 
simply  records  the  fact,  without  giving  any  opinion. 


510       §  128.       RELATION    OF    OFFICERS    TO    THE  CHUKCHES.        ["I-  BOOIi. 

already  shown  in  a  previous  section.  Tiien,  once  in  office,  they  were 
not  to  lord  it  over  the  flock,  but  to  shine  before  it  as  patterns  of  holy 
living  ;  to  serve  it  ;  to  control  it,  not  by  force  of  law,  but  through  its 
own  free  conviction  ;  and  to  pay  due  regard  to  its  rights  in  all  things 
(comp.  1  Pet.  5  :  1-5).  This  was  the  course  even  of  the  apostles 
themselves.  Almost  all  their  epistles,  with  their  instructions,  exhorta- 
tions, and  decisions  on  the  weightiest  points,  are  addressed,  not  to  the 
officers  alone,  but  to  the  whole  congregation.  In  matters  of  controversy 
it  seems  to  have  been  customary  (according  to  1  Cor.  6  :  5)  to  choose  a 
board  of  arbitrators  from  the  body  of  the  people  (comp.  Matt.  18  :  15- 
18).  Paul,  it  is  true,  excommunicated  the  incestuous  person  at  Corinth  ; 
but  only  as  united  in  spirit  with  the  Corinthian  Christians  {awax^evTuv 
vfiuv  Kcu  Tov  i/xov  Tivei/iarog,  1  Cor.  5  :  4),  SO  that  his  act  was  at  the  same 
time  theirs.  Nay,  even  in  controversies,  which  concerned  all  Christen- 
dom, the  apostles  did  not  decide  by  themselves,  but  called  the  congrega- 
tions, at  least  frequently,  into  consultation.  We  have  a  striking  example 
of  this  in  the  council  at  Jerusalem  for  settling  the  great  question  about 
the  binding  authority  of  the  Mosaic  law,  and  the  terms  on  which  the 
Gentiles  were  to  be  admitted  to  the  privileges  of  the  Gospel.*  Here 
the  apostles  assemble  with  the  elders  and  "  brethren  ;"  the  deliberations 
are  held  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  congregation  ;  Peter  urges  his  clear 
divine  vision  respecting  the  baptism  of  the  Gentiles,  not  as  a  command, 
but  simply  as  an  argument  (Acts  15  :  It  sqq.  ;  comp.  11:2  sqq.)  ;  the 
whole  assembly  joins  in  passing  the  final  resolution  ;*  and  the  written 
decree  of  the  council  goes  forth,  not  in  the  name  of  the  apostles  only, 
but  also  in  the  name  of  the  brethren  generally,  and  is  addressed  to  the 
collective  body  of  the  Gentile  Christians  in  Syria  and  Cilicia.' 

This  relation  between  the  officers  and  their  churches,  to  which  the  term 
democratic  is  sometimes,  though  not  in  strict  propriety,  applied,^  had  a  close 

'  Comp.  §  67-69  above. 

"^  C.  15 :  22  :  tote  ido^e  Tolg  dnoaroTiOig  kol  Tolg  TigeajivTegoiQ  avv  d2.y  Ty 
E  K  k7^7]  aia. 

'  V.  23  :  ol  dnoGToTiOL  kol  ol  ngEafS-vTEgoi  Kal  ol  dd  £X<{>ol   totq  .  ,  .  d6E7i.(poig,  etc. 

*  By  Dr.  R.  Rothe,  for  example,  1.  c.  p.  148,  and  passim.  We  disapprove  of  this  de- 
signation, because  it  is  taken  from  a  foreign  sphere,  that  of  politics,  and  may  be  easily 
misunderstood.  Strictly,  there  is  in  the  church  no  kind  of  dominion,  neither  demo- 
cracy, nor  aristocracy,  nor  monarchy  ;  all  is  service  {(haKovia)  .  The  Saviour  himself 
came  into  the  world,  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a 
ransom  for  many  (Matt.  20  :  28.  Lu.  22  :  27.  Jno.  13  :  14,  15  sq.  Phil.  2  :  6-8). 
Rothe  moreover  asserts  this  so-called  democratic  character  only  for  the  government  of 
congregations,  aiVid  not  {oT  that  of  the  church  as  a  whole.  This  last  he  rather  styles 
autocratic  (p.  310),  and  regards  as  having  assumed  the  episcopal  form  before  the  close 
of  the  apostolic  age,  soon  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  particularly  through  the  in- 


GOVEEXM.]  THE    UNIVEKSAL    PRIESTHOOD.  511 

connection  with  the  extraordinary  effusion  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  apos- 
tolic period,  and  was  thereby  secured  against  the  abuses  to  which  such 
a  form  of  government  is  liable,  where  the  mass  of  the  people  are  under 
the  dominion  of  ignorance  and  wild  passion.  We  see  mirrored  in  it,  to 
a  certain  extent,  the  ideal  state  of  things,  which  shall  come  to  pass, 
when  the  prophecy  of  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  upon  all  flesh  shall  be 
absolutely  fulfilled. 

We  must  now  take  a  more  detailed  view  of  the  several  offices  of  the 
apostolic  church,  beginning  with  those  that  look  towards  the  church  as  a 
whole  ;  since  this  idea  is  anterior  to  that  of  a  single  congregation, 
though  thfe  two  originally  coincide  as  to  extent,  in  the  mother  church  at 
Jerusalem. 

fluence  of  St.  John.  On  the  first  point,  however,  he  evidently  goes  too  far,  when,  for 
example,  he  says  (p.  153)  of  the  congregational  officers  :  "  They  were  "purely  functionaries 
of  society,  a  mere  magistratus  of  the  people,  whose  authority  flowed  from  no  other  source 
than  the  will  of  the  congregation  itself,  to  which  they  owed  their  election."  Against 
this  view  compare  what  we  have  already  said  (§  124)  on  the  divine  origin  of  all  church 
officers ;  and  in  part  the  work  of  the  Rev.  Charles  Rothe  (since  gone  over  to  the 
Irvingites),  entitled  :  Die  wahren  Grundlagen  der  christlichen  Kirchenverfassung,  1844. 
p.  3-33. 


512  §  129.      THE   APOSTOLATE.  fl"-  BOOK. 


CHAPTER  II. 

CHURCH  OFFICES. 

§  129.    The  Apostolate.     {Note  on  ike  Irvingites.) 

To  be  an  apostle,  the  man  must  have  been  an  eye  and  ear  witness  of 
the  main  facts  of  the  life  of  Jesus, — above  all  of  the  resurrection  (Acts 
1  :  22.  Comp.  1  Cor.  9  :  1), — and  called  by  Christ  in  person,  without 
any  human  intervention.  But  here  at  once  arises  a  difficulty  respecting 
Matthias  and  Paul,  who  did  not  come  into  the  original  college  until 
after  the  ascension.  Matthias,  indeed,  possessed  the  first  qualification 
(Acts  1  :  21,  22),  but  was  chosen  by  men  through  the  lot  ;  and  this  with- 
out any  special  divine  direction,  but  merely  upon  the  motion  of  the  pre- 
cipitate Peter,  who  thought  that  the  vacancy  in  the  sacred  number 
twelve,  occasioned  by  the  crime  of  Judas,  must  forthwith  be  filled,  with- 
out waiting  for  the  promised  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Paul,  on 
the  contrary,  had  not  known  Jesus  according  to  the  flesh  ;'  but  to  com- 
pensate for  this,  the  glorified  Saviour  appeared  to  him  in  visible  form  on 
the  way  to  Damascus  (1  Cor.  9:1.  15  :  8),  and  clothed  him  with  the 
commission  of  an  apostle  for  Gentiles  and  Jews.  Paul  lays  special 
emphasis  also  on  the  facts,  that  he  was  called  to  his  office,  not  through 
human  mediation,  but  immediately  by  the  Lord  himself ;  and  that  he 
had  received  his  gospel,  not  from  the  older  apostles,  but  by  the  reve- 
lation of  Jesus  Christ  (Gal.  1  :  1,  11  sqq.).  If  now,  however,  we  are 
still  to  hold  fast  the  necessity  and  symbolical  significance  of  the  number 
twelve,^  and  are  unwilling  to  confine  it  to  the  twelve  tribes  of  the  Jews, 

*  From  2  Cor.  5  :  16  some  commentators,  indeed,  would  infer  the  opposite;  but 
without  sufficient  ground.  At  all  events,  such  an  acquaintance  would  have  been  of  no 
use  to  Paul,  as  he  was  then  an  unbeliever,  and  must  have  counted  the  Saviour  either 
an  enthusiast  or  an  impostor. 

^  The  number  twelve  was  so  fixed,  that  the  apostles  are  often  called  simply  ol 
dudsKa  (Matt.  26  :  14,  47.  Jno.  6  :  67.  20  :  24,  etc.) ;  even  after  the  resurrection, 
when  the  college  was  no  longer  full  (]  Cor.  15  :  5).  The  church  has,  in  general, 
always  clung  to  this  original  number ;  though  with  some  exceptions.     The  Apostolical 


GOVERXM.]  §  1-29.     THE    APOSTOLATR.  513 

but  refer  it  to  all  Christendom,  the  true  spiritual  Israel  (as  in  fact  the 
foundation-stones  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem  itself  bear  the  names  of 
"the  twelve  apostles  of  the  Lamb,"  Rev.  21  :  14),  there  seems  to  be 
no  alternative,  but  to  pronounce  the  election  of  Matthias  a  well-meant 
yet  hasty  aiul  invalid  act,  and  to  substitute  Paul  for  him,  as  the  leg'- 
timate  apostle.  On  the  other  side  there  are  reasons  for  assigning  to  the 
free  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  a  position  altogether  peculiar  and  inde- 
pendent. He  never  represents  himself  as  one  of  the  twelve,  but  seems 
rather  to  distinguish  himself  from  them  as  one  born  out  of  due  time, 
occupying  a  similar  relation  to  the  Gentile  world,  as  the  older  ai,ostles 
did  to  the  Jewish.'  At  all  events  it  is  not  advisable  to  extend  the 
number  of  proper,  regular  apostles  beyond  Paul ;  though  there  were 
undeniably  several  more  apostolic  men.'* 

This  peculiar  personal  relation  of  the  apostles  to  Christ  suggests  to  us 

Constitutions,  falsely  ascribed  to  Clement  of  Rome,  speak  (1.  VIII.  c.  46)  of  thirteen 
apostles  {dEKa-Qelc  uwoaro/iOi),  counting  Paul  the  thirteenth.  They  also  distinguish 
James  of  Jerusalem,  the  brother  of  the  Lord,  from  the  younger  apostle  of  this  name, 
but  regard  him  as  a  man  of  apostolical  standing.  Eusebius,  in  his  commentary  on  Is. 
17  :  5  sq.  (in  Montfaucon,  Coll.  nova  patr.  II.  p.  422),  assumes  fourteen  apostles,  adding 
to  the  twelve  Paul  and  the  James  just  mentioned :  Aekg  kuI  reaaagag  TvoiTJaet.  tovc 
nuvrag  (dnoaToTiovg) ,  uv  dudeKa  filv  tovq  TrguTovg  uTT0(yT6?Mvg  slirocg  uv  elvai,  ovk 
iXdrru  6i  avruv  ttjv  ugen/v  Tlavlov,  Kat  avrov  kAt/tov  uTrnaroXov,  koI  tov  'laKu^ov 
yeyovtvai,  tov  d(5f  A^ov  toii  kvqiov,  etc. 

■  Comp.  §  63  above. 

'-  Especially  Barnabas,  one  of  the  two  candidates  for  the  vacant  place  of  Judas  ;  the 
person  who  first  introduced  Paul  to  the  older  apostles  (§  64)  ;  the  companion  of  Paul 
in  his  first  missionary  tour  (§  66) ;  and  afterwards  an  independent  laborer  (§  70), 
whose  name  is  always  mentioned  with  honor.  According  to  TertuUian  and  several 
modern  divines  (e.  g.  Ullmann,  Wieseler,  Thiersch)  he  was  the  author  of  the  epistle 
to  the  Hebrews.  Paul,  in  1  Cor.  9  :  6,  joins  him  with  himself;  though  he  is  here 
speaking  not  only  of  the  apostles,  but  also  of  the  brethren  of  the  Lord,  and  in  the 
superscriptions  of  several  of  his  epistles  he  honors  Timothy  also  with  the  same 
position.  In  Acts  Barnabas  is  at  first  put  before  Paul  (even  at  the  apostolic  council, 
L*)  :  12  ;  though  the  reverse  order  ap{)ears  previously,  13  :  43,  46,  50) ;  and  twice,  14:4. 
14,  he  shares  with  Paul  the  title  un6aTu?ML,  though  he  is  never  called  dwoaTulog  sepa- 
rately. The  Greek  and  Roman  churches  designate  him  as  apostle  in  iheir  martyro- 
logies. — In  other  places,  where  the  word  is  used  to  denote  mere  fellow-laborers  of  the 
apostles,  it  is  to  be  taken  in  its  wider  sense  of  messenger,  one  sent.  In  Phil.  2  :  2.') 
Epaphroditus  is  called  uTroffroXof,  as  the  delegate  of  the  Philippian  church.  So  the 
uTToaro/.oi,  Tuv  EKK?.Ti<yiuv,  2  Cor.  8  :  23,  are  delegates  of  particular  congregations. 
When  it  is  said  (Rom.  16  :  7)  of  the  Roman  missionaries,  Andronicus  and  Junias, 
otherwise  unknown  to  us  (some,  as  Chrysostom  and  Grotius,  take  'lovvlav  for  the 
accus.  of  'lovvta,  and  understand  by  it  the  wife  of  Andronicus),  that  they  were 
Mci^iioi  iv  Tolg  awodToloLg,  it  is  to  be  referred  to  the  good  credit  in  which  they  stood 
tcith  the  (proper)  apostles.  So  Beza,  Grotius,  Meyer,  and  others  of  the  best  commen- 
tators. 

33 


514  §129.      THE   APOSTOLATE.  [ill.  BOOK. 

the  nature  of  their  office  and  its  significance  for  the  church.  They  are 
the  representatives  and  vicegerents  of  Christ ;  the  bearers  and  infallible 
organs  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  the  founders  and  pillars  of  the  whole 
church.'  The  fact,  that  Peter  calls  himself  a  "  fellow-elder,'"  by  no 
means  proves  that  the  apostles  were  merely  presbyters,  and  therefore 
congregational  officers,  any  more  than  the  address  of  the  Roman  general 
to  his  soldiers  as  "  commilitones"  shows  that  they  were  both  of  the  same 
rank.  The  apostles  were,  indeed,  deacons  and  bishops  ;  but  they  were 
also  much  more.  Their  office  looked,  and  through  their  writings  still 
looks,  both  in  doctrine  and  in  discipline,  to  all  Christendom.  After  the 
Lord  withdrew  his  visible  presence  from  the  world,  they  formed  the 
highest  tribunal  of  appeal,  the  supreme,  all-sufficient  authority,  as  the 
inspired  interpreters  of  the  divine  economy  of  salvation  ;  and  to  this 
day  their  writings,  those  records  of  the  Christian  revelation  in  its  primi- 
tive purity  and  freshness,  remain  the  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 
So  far  as  doctrine  is  concerned,  the  apostles  could  challenge  for  their 
teaching  unconditional  obedience  ;  for  the  Spirit  of  God  gave  them 
mouth  and  wisdom,  and  spoke  through  them  in  an  infallible  manner  ;* 
and  it  is  not  at  all  to  be  imagined,  that  they  suffered  themselves  here  to 
be  corrected  or  interfered  with  in  any  point  by  the  congregations,  which 
in  fact  owed  to  them  their  very  existence.  Their  writings  are  addressed 
in  the  first  instance,  indeed,  to  particular  churches  or  persons,  but 
through  these  also  to  all  Christians  in  all  ages.  As  to  church  govern- 
ment and  discipline,  they  had  the  oversight  and  care  of  all  the  churches, 
as  Paul  himself  distinctly  says  (2  Cor.  11  :  28,  29)  :  "Beside  those 
things  that  are  without,  that  which  cometh  upon  me  daily,  the  care  of 
all  the  churches.  Who  is  weak,  and  I  am  not  weak  (by  sympathy  and 
common  interest)?  Who  is  offended,  and  I  burn  not ?"  When  Peter 
calls  himself  co-presbyter,  he  implies  also,  that,  though  absent  in  the 
body,  he  still  took  part  in  the  government  of  the  several  congregations, 
to  which  he  wrote  (1  Pet.  5:1).  The  nature  of  the  case  required, 
indeed,  that  the  apostles  in  their  missionary  work  should  take  different 
parts  of  the  vast  field.  Paul  made  it  his  rule  to  labor  in  regions  where 
none  of  his  colleagues  had  yet  preached  the  gospel  (Rom.  15  :  20  sq. 
2  Cor.  10  :  13-16);  and  according  to  the  agreement  made  at  the  apos- 
tolic council,  A.  D.  50,  he  and  Barnabas  gave  themselves  chiefly  to 
the  Gentiles  ;  while  James,  Peter,  and  John  went  to  the  Jews."     But 

*  Comp.  such  passages  as  Matt.  16  :  IS,  sq.     18:18.     Jno.20:22sq.     14:26-     16: 
13.     Acts  1:5.     2:4.     2  Cor.  5  :  20.     Eph.  2  :  20.     Gal.  2  :  9.     Rev.  21  :  14, 

"  avji-KQEajivTEooq,  1  Pet.  5  :  1.     Cornp.  2  Jno.  1  and  3  Jno.  1. 
=*  Matt.  10  :  19  sq.     Mk.  13  :  11.     Lu.  12  :  11  sq.     21  :  15. 

*  Gal.  2  :  7-9.     This  fact  perhaps  gave  rise  to  the  old  story,  that  the  apostles  at 


GOVERNM.]  §  129.     TETE    APOSTOLATE.  515 

this  destroyed  not  the  rightful  official  relation  of  each  to  the  entire  field. 
For  in  every  city  Paul  addressed  himself  first  to  the  Jews ;  Peter  wrote 
to  Paul's  churches  in  Asia  Minor,  which  consisted  mostly  of  Gentile 
Christians ;'  both  met  at  last,  according  to  unanimous  tradition,  in 
Rome,  where  they  doubtless  exercised  joint  oversight ;  and  after  their 
death  John  entered  into  the  labors  of  Paul  in  Asia  Minor. 

In  virtue  of  this  universal  vocation,  the  apostles  were  not  only  evan- 
gelists for  the  whole  unconverted  world  (Matt.  28  :  20),  but  at  the 
same  time  the  living  bonds  and  the  personal  representatives  of  the 
inward  and  outward  unity  of  the  churches  already  organized.'"'  The 
council  at  Jerusalem,  already  so  often  noticed,  is  the  most  perfect  out- 
ward exhibition  of  the  unity  of  the  apostolic  church,  and  at  the  same 
time  a  sanction  by  primitive  Christianity  of  the  synodical  form  of  govern- 
ment, in  which  all  orders  of  the  church  are  represented,  to  transact 
business  and  discuss  questions  of  general  concern,  and  to  give  final 
decisions. 

With  all  this  comprehensive  authority,  however,  with  all  their  personal 
independence  in  their  respective  spheres,  by  virtue  of  which  Paul,  for 
example,  once  even  rebuked  the  distinguished  apostle,  Peter,  much  his 
senior  in  office,"  the  apostles  still  regarded  themselves  always  as  a  colle-r 
giate  body,  and  exercised  their  power  as  organic  members  of  such  a 
body  and  under  a  sense  of  responsibility  to  it.  They  did  not  stand 
apart,  but  blended  their  several  gifts  and  peculiarities  into  a  complete, 
harmonious  whole.  And  as  they  were  thus  united  with  one  another,  so 
were  they  united  also  with  the  church,  whose  unity  they  personally 
represented.  We  have  already  seen  (§  128),  that,  with  all  the 
authority  committed  to  them  immediately  by  Christ,  they  never  forced 
any  measure  upon  the  churches,  but  administered  the  government  in 
active  sympathy  with  them,  and  by  their  full  consent.  Hence  the  sum- 
moning of  the  council  in  the  great  controversy  respecting  the  admission 
of  the  Gentiles  to  the  church,  that  the  decision  might  proceed  from  the 
whole  body.  They  demanded  no  acknowledgment  of  their  authority, 
which  did  not  rest  in  free  conviction  and  love  on  the  part  of  the  people  ; 
no  obedience  to  their  orders,  which  did  not  spring  from  the  actual  experi- 
encfe  of  the  power  of  divine  truth  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  themselves. 
From  all  tyranny  over  conscience,  from  all  arbitrary  hierarchical  despo- 

Jerusalem  divided  themselves  among  the  different  countries  of  the  earth.  Comp. 
Socrates  :  Hist.  Ecd.  I.  19.     Rufinus  :  H.  E.  I.  9,  and  Theodoret,  ad  Ps.  116. 

'  Comp.  4  91  above. 

*  Comp.  Rom.  16  :  16  :  "The  churches  of  Christ  salute  you."  1  Cor.  16  :  19  :  "The 
churches  of  Jsia  salute  you."     V.  20  :  "■  Mltke  brethren  greet  you."     Heb.  13  :  24,  etc. 

'  Comp.  §  70  above. 


516  §  129.       THE    APOSTOLATE.  [lU-  BOOE. 

tisrn,  they  were  infinitely  removed.  Tiiey  regarded  the  object  of  the 
church  as  one  to  be  attained,  not  Ijy  some  governing  and  others  being 
governed,  but  by  tlie  active  cooperation  and  mutual  fraternal  assistance 
of  all  uuder  the  common  Head,  the  Redeemer  of  the  whole  body  (Eph. 
4.  1  Cor.  12).  In  feeding  the  flock  they  had  the  highest  regard  to 
the  rights,  freedom,  and  dignity  of  the  humblest  soul  committed  to  their 
care.  In  every  believer,  even  in  a  poor  slave  like  Onesimus,  they  recog- 
nized a  member  of  the  same  body  and  a  beloved  brother  in  Christ.  lu 
the  whole  company  of  saints  they  sav/  a  family  of  free  children  of  God, 
a  holy  people  and  a  royal  priesthood,  to  show  forth  the  praises  of  Him 
who  had  called  them  out  of  darkness  into  his  marvellous  light  (1  Pet. 
2  :  5,  9). 

With  the  destination  of  the  apostles  for  the  whole  church  is  connected 
also  their  mode  of  life.  They  did  not  station  themselves  at  any  fixed 
point,  nor  confine  themselves  to  a  particular  diocese,  but  spent  almost 
all  their  time  in  tours  of  missionary  labor  and  of  visitation.  The  only 
exception  to  this  was  the  case  of  James  the  Just,  who,  for  all  that  we 
know  of  him,'  made  the  theocratic  capital  his  permanent  residence  ;  and 
for  this  reason  was  almost  always  styled  in  the  ancient  church  from 
the  time  of  Clemens  Alexandrinus,  the  first  hkhop  of  Jerusalem.^  Yet 
this  does  not  require  us  to  place  him  precisely  in  the  same  category  with 
the  proper  bishops  of  a  later  day.  He  stood  in  the  mother  church  as 
the  representative  of  the  apostolic  college,  and  acted  in  its  name.^  On 
him  devolved,  as  it  seems,  after  the  apostolic  council,  the  superintendence 
of  all  the  Jewish-Christian  churches  in  Palestine  and  the  surrounding 
countries  ;  and  his  epistle,  accordingly,  is  addressed  to  all  believing 
Israelites. 

Note. — The  discussion  of  the  interesting  question  lately  renewed  by  the  modern 
Montanists,  the  English  sect  of  Irvingites  (which  has  recently  spread  also  in  Ger- 
many and  the  United  States)  concerning  the  continuance  or  revival  of  the  apostoli- 

'  Comp.  Acts  12  :  17.     15  :  13-21.     21  :  18. 

"  See  the  quotations  from  the  fathers  in  R.  Rothe,  1.  c.  p.  264  sqq.  Indeed,  this  very 
position  of  James,  in  contrast  with  the  missionary  life  of  the  apostles  generally,  is 
one  of  the  arguments  against  his  identity  with  the  younger  apostle  of  this  name,  and 
in  favor  of  considering  him  merely  an  apostolical  man  (like  Barnabas),  whose  great 
credit  rested  partly  on  his  own  character  and  partly  on  his  relationship  to  the  Lord. 
Comp.  §  95  and  the  monograph  on  this  subject  there  referred  to. 

^  See  Rothe,  p.  267  sqq.,  and  the  statement  of  Hegesippus  in  Euseb.  II.  23,  at  the 
beginning  of  which  it  is  said  of  James  :  diadtxerac  de  t^v  EKK'Arjaiav  fieru  tuv 
iiTi  0  a-  oTiUv  ;  which  we  are  not  to  translate,  with  Jerome  ";ws<  Apostolos,''^  but  "  in 
connection  with  the  apostles."  Hegesippus  does  not  call  James  himself  bishop,  but 
applies  this  title  to  James'  successor,  Simeon,  the  son  of  Cleopas  and  kinsman  of  Jesus, 
in  Euseb.  IV.  22  :  fiETu  to  fiaiiTVQT/aai  'luKUjiov  tov  diKUiov  .  .  .  "Zofieibv  .  .  .  Ka^lara-ai 
i-LGKonoc,  uv  TtQot'&evTo  TcdvTfg,  uvra  dvEipidv  tov  Kvglov  devTEQOv, 


GOVERNM.]  g  129.       THE    APOSTOLATE.  '      517 

cal  office,  does  not  properly  fall  within  this  historical  sketch,  and  the  subject  can, 
therefore,  be  but  briefly  touched  upon  here  by  way  of  appendix.  AVe  may  apply 
to  this  case,  what  we  have  said  above  (|  116)  on  the  perpetuity  of  the  charisms. 
For  gifts  and  offices  are  closely  connected,  like  soul  and  body.  Here,  as  there, 
■  we  must  distinguish  between  form  and  essence.  The  apostles  occupy  in  several 
respects  a  position  altogether  peculiar,  in  which  none  can  rival  or  supplant  them, 
first  as  called  by  Christ  in  person,  without  human  intervention  ;  secondly,  as  the 
inspired  and  infallible  bearers  of  the  Christian  revelation;  thirdly,  as  the  found- 
ers of  the  church  ;  and  fourthly,  as  the  representatives  not  only  of  the  Jews,  or  of 
the  church  of  their  day,  but  of  all  Christendom.  As  the  Lord  himself  called  only 
twelve,  and  promised  them,  that  they  should  hereafter  sit  upon  twelve  thrones, 
judging  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel  (Matt.  19  :  28)  ;  so  also  the  last  book  of  the 
Bible  knows  of  but  "  twelve  apostles  of  the  Lamb,"  whose  names  are  written  on 
the  twelve  foundations  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem  (Rev.  21  :  14,  comp.  12  :  1,  the 
twelve  stars  on  the  crown  of  Christ's  bride).  Under  these  aspects  their  office  is 
intransmissible.  Accordingly  we  find  that  the  number  was  not  replenished  after 
the  death  of  any  one  (as  the  elder  James,  for  instance,  Acts  11  :  2)  ;  and  during 
the  last  ten  years  of  the  first  century  John  was  the  only  surviving  member  of  the 
original  college. — On  the  other  hand,  however,  we  may  very  properly  speak  of  an 
unbroken  continuation  of  the  apostolate.  For,  in  the  first  place,  the  apostles 
originally  appointed  by  our  Lord  still  live  and  work,  not  only  personally  in  the 
church  above,  which  stands  in  mystical  union  with  the  church  below,  but  also, 
through  their  normative  word  and  their  spirit,  in  the  church  militant  itself,  every 
day  and  every  hour  teaching,  encouraging,  exhorting,  strengthening,  and  comfort- 
ing. Then  secondly,  evert/  regularly  called  minister  (and  not  the  bishops  alone, 
according  to  the  Catholic  and  Anglican  doctrine)  is,  as  to  the  essential  charac- 
ter of  his  office,  in  the  wide  sense  a  successor  of  the  apostles  ;  since  he  also 
stands  as  an  ambassador  in  Christ's  stead,  and  in  his  name  and  as  his  organ 
administers  to  penitent  sinners  all  the  benefits  of  redemption  through  the  v.'ord 
and  sacraments,  which  are  to  this  day  a  savor  of  life  unto  life  or  of  death  unto 
death.  For  though  much  that  is  human  and  worldly  has  crept  into  the  whole 
administration  of  the  church,  yet,  in  the  language  of  the  pious  Rieger, "  the  blessed 
God  is  still  as  earnest  in  upholding  the  gospel  of  his  Son  at  this  day,  as  he  was  when 
it  was  first  preached ;  and  thei'efore  men  may  still  rejoice  as  much  as  they  might  at 
first  in  the  institution  of  the  ministerial  office ;  in  the  call  to  it,  the  qualifications  for 
it,  and  the  blessings  of  it."  Finally,  as  we  find  even  in  the  beginning  apostolical 
men,  such  as  Barnabas  and  James  the  Just,  along  with  the  proper  apostles  and 
bearing  their  uame^  at  least  in  its  wider  sense  ;  so  the  Lord  of  the  church  con- 
tinues to  send,  from  time  to  time,  altogether  extraordinary  instruments,  in  the 
persons  of  great  national  missionaries  and  genial  reformers,  who  exercise  over  a 
large  part  of  the  Christian  world,  if  not  over  the  whole,  a  kind  of  apostolical 
influence,  and  enjoy  a  corresponding  distinction.  We  may  say  in  general,  that 
almost  all  the  epoch-forming  movements  in  history  proceed  from  highly  gifted, 
influential  individuals,  in  whom  a  great  idea  assumes  flesh  and  blood,  and  presents 
itself  to  the  age  in  concrete  and,  as  it  were,  palpable  life  and  freshness,  'J'hat 
our  own  age  too  needs  some  such  heroes  in  religion,  to  remedy,  theoretically  and 


518     '  §    130.       TUE    PllOPIlETS.  [ni.  BOOK. 

practically,  the  disorders  of  the  church  as  it  now  stands,  and  by  some  creative 
act  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  second  coming  of  Christ,  and  thus  to  introduce 
the  church  of  the  future,  we  are  firmly  convinced  ;  and  we  hold  it  to  be  the  duty 
of  Christians  to  pray,  that  the  Lord  would  raise  up  such  instruments,  and  fit  them 
for  the  work.  But  that  they  have  already  appeared  in  the  so-called  Irvingite 
"  apostles"  we  must  be  allowed,  with  all  respect  for  the  honesty  and  earnestness 
of  their  efforts,  to  hold  in  great  doubt,  even  after  perusing  the  apostle  Carlyle's 
tract  on  the  Apostolic  OfBce,  which  Dr.  H.  Thiersch  has  translated  into  German. 
The  Lord  has  never  forsaken  his  church,  nor  left  himself  without  a  witness  in  it. 
Just  so  far  as  one  gives  up  the  reasonableness  of  history,  he  denies  also  the  pre- 
cious fundamental  truths  of  the  universal  providence  of  God  and  of  the  perpetual 
and  real  presence  of  Christ  in  the  church,  which  is  "  his  body,  the  fullness  of  him 
that  filleth  all  in  all." 

§  130.     Prophets. 

The  second  class  of  officers,  named  immediately  after  the  apostles,  in 
Eph.  2  :  20.  3:5.  4:11.  1  Cor.  12  :  28  sq.,  are  the  prophets.  By 
this  term  we  are  to  understand  inspired  teachers  and  enthusiastic  preach- 
ers of  divine  mysteries.'  They  were  not  confined  to  any  particular  place, 
but  appeared  in  the  difi'erent  churches,  teaching,  'exhorting,  and  encour- 
aging, as  they  were  moved  by  the  higher  impulse  of  the  Spirit.  They 
seem  also  to  have  exercised  a  special  influence  in  the  election  of  officers, 
by  directing  attention  to  those  persons,  whom  the  voice  of  Revelation  in 
connection  with  prayer  and  fasting  pointed  out  as  superior  instruments 
for  spreading  the  Gospel,  or  for  any  other  service  in  the  kingdom  of 
Grod.*  Among  the  prophets  the  book  of  Acts  incidentally  names  Agabus, 
who  meets  us  first  at  Antioch  (11  :  28),  afterwards  in  Cassarea  (21  :  10)  ; 
the  missionary  Barnabas  (comp.  4  :  36)  ;  Simeon,  Lucius  (not  to  be 
confounded  with  Luke),  Manaen,  and  Saul  (the  apostle),  at  Antioch 
(13  :  1)  ;  Judas,  and  the  Evangelist,  Silas,  known  as  Paul's  companion 
(15  :  32).  But  first  of  all,  the  apostles  themselves  are  to  be  considered 
prophets.  When  it  is  said  of  Christians  (Eph.  2  :  20),  that  they  are 
built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets  {tuiv  ukootoXuv  Kai 
7rgo(i>i]Tuv) ,  the  omission  of  the  article  before  the  second  substantive  shows 
that  the  two  ideas,  as  in  the  parallel  passage  3  :  5,  must  be  closely  joined 
together,  so  as  to  mean  the  apostles,  who  are  at  the  same  time  prophets.' 
For  the  apostles,  in  fact,  as  organs  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  receivers  of 
the  Christian  revelation  (comp.  Gal.  1  :  12),  proclaimed  the  whole  plan 

'   Comp.  above,  §  117,  where  we  have  already  spoken  of  the  gift  of  prophecy. 

«  Acts  13  :  1  sq.    16  :  2.     Comp.  1  Tim.  1  :  18.    4  :  14. 

"  To  make  it  refer  to  the  Old  Testament  prophets  is  utterly  inadmissible.  The 
order  of  the  terms  itself  is  against  this;  but  chiefly  the  parallel  passages  Eph.  4  :  U 
and  3  :  -5,  where  the  dig  vvv  air  e  Kali  (f)-&T]  shuts  us  up  to  the  New  Testament  revelation. 
Comp.  also  Stier's  exposition  of  the  passage,  Comment.  I.,  p.  384  sqq. 


GOVERNM.]  §  131.    EVANGELISTS,  519 

of  salvation,  and  disclosed  what  was  before  a  mystery.  And  in  this  view 
their  words  and  their  writings  were,  in  a  higher  sense  than  the  Old 
Testament  Scriptures,  prophetical.' 

§  131.  Evangelists. 
The  third  rank  is  assigned  by  Paul  (Eph.  4  :  11)  to  the  evangelists 
or  itinerant  missionaries."  The  name  itself  indicates,  that  their  chief 
business  was  to  proclaim  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  ;  primarily  among 
nations  yet  unconverted  ;  but  not  exclusively  ;  for  believers  also  need  to 
have  the  Gospel  repeatedly  presented  to  them  anew.  The  discourses  of 
the  evangelists  w^ere,  therefore,  historical  in  their  matter,  and  turned 
chiefly  upon  the  main  facts  of  the  Saviour's  life,  especially  his  resurrec- 
tion.^ This  easily  gave  rise  to  the  later  application  of  the  term  to  the 
authors  of  our  written  Gospels.  We  find  the  evangelists  commonly  in 
the  immediate  neighborhood,  or  at  least  in  the  service,  of  the  apostles, 
as  their  "helpers"  and  "fellow-laborers."*  They  w^ere  most  needed  by 
Paul  in  his  extended  sphere  of  labor  ;,  and  on  his  last  journey  to  Jerusalem 
he  had  wuth  him  no  less  than  seven  such  attendants  (Acts  20  :  4-5). 
To  this  class  of  church  officers  belong  Philip,  originally  one  of  the  seven 
deacons  of  Jerusalem,  but  afterwards  promoted  to  a  wider  sphere  of  acti- 
vity, in  which  ne  appears  first  preaching  the  Messiah  to  the  Samaritans, 
then  baptizing  the  Ethiopian  on  the  way  from  Jerusalem  to  Gaza,  and 
finally  laboring  in  C^sarea  ;^  Timothy  (comp.  2  Tim  4:5:  i^yov  ivoirjaov 
evayyelidTov),  whom  Paul  specially  loves,  and  whom  he  names  along  with 
himself  in  the  superscriptions  of  several  of  his  epistles  ;  Titus,  a  Gentile 
convert,  perhaps  a  native  of  Corinth  ;"  Silas,  or  Silvanus,  a  prophet  of 
the  church  of  Jerusalem  (Acts  15  :  22,  32),  who  accompanied  the  apos- 
tle of  the  Gentiles  on  his  second  missionary  tour,^  and  appeaz's  finally  in 

'  Comp.  Rom.  16  :  26.     2  Pet.  1:19.     3  :  15,  16,  and  Stier's  remarks,  1.  c.  p.  3S9  sq. 
■"'  SoTheodoret:  sKeivoc  neguovTec  EKrjgvTTov.     Comp.  also  Neander,  I.  258.     The 
present  use  of  the  term  is  too  limited. 

*  On  Eph.  4  :  11  Bengel  well  remarks:  "  PropheCa  defuturis  (but  not  exclusively), 
evangelista  de  praeteritis  infallibiJiter  testatur  ;  propheta  totum  habet  a  spiritu,  evange- 
lista  rem  visu  et  auditu  perceptam  memorias  prodit,  charismate  tamen  majori  ad  munus 
maximi  momeiiti  instructus,  quam  pastores  et  doctores." 

*  I,vvEgyoL,  avv6ov?ioi,  KOLvuvoi,  Phil.  4  :  3.  Col.  1:7.  2  Cor.  8  :  23.  Hence  Calvin 
(Inst.  IV.,  3.  §  4)  describes  the  evangelists  as  those,  "  qui  quum  dignitate  essent  apos- 
tolis  minores,  officiotamen  proximi  erant  adeoque  vices  eorum  gerebant,  quales  fuerant 
Lucas,  Timotheus,  Titus  et  reliqui  similes,  ac  fortassis  etiam  septuaginta  discipuli,  quos 
secundo  ab  apostolis  loco  Christus  designavit  (Luc.  10:1) ." 

'  Acts  8  :  5  sqq.,  26  sqq.    21  :  8,  where  he  is  called  "  evangelist." 
°  Gal.  2:1.     2  Cor.  8  :  23.     7  :  6,  14.     12  :  18.     Tit,  1  :  5. 

■"  Acts  15  :  40.  16  :  19,  25.  17  :  4.  18  :  5.  1  Thess.  1:1.2  Thess.  1  :  1,  where 
he  is  put  before  Timothy,  probably  as  being  older. 


520  §  131.    EVANGELISTS.  [HI-  BOOK. 

the  vicinity  of  Peter  (1  Peter  5:12);  Luke,  the  author  of  the  third  Gos- 
pel and  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  (in  which  he  does,  indeed,  not  men- 
tion his  name  expressly,  but  includes  himself,  where  he  speaks  in  the  first 
person  plural),  who  was  also  a  physician  (Col.  4  :  14),  and  one  of  Paul's 
most  faithful  companions,  not  forsaking  him  even  in  his  last  imprisonment 
(Philem.  24.  2  Tim.  4  :  11)  ;  John  Mark  of  Jerusalem,  missionary  assis- 
tant of  Paul,  then  of  his  uncle  Barnabas,  afterwards  again  in  company 
with  Paul,  and  finally  (perhaps  also  at  times  before)  with  Peter,  to  whom 
he  probably  owed  his  conversion,  and  whom  he  served  as  interpreter  ;' 
Clement  (Phil.  4:3);  Epaphras,  founder  of  the  Colossiau  and  other 
churches  in  Phrygia,  whom  we  meet  at  last  with  his  imprisoned  teacher 
in  Rome  (Col.  1:1.  4  :  12,  13)  ;  Epaphroditus,  the  delegate  of  the 
Philippiaus,  whom  some  commentators  groundlessly  take  to  be  the  same 
as  Epaphras  (Phil.  2  :  25)  ;  perhaps  also  Tychicus  (Tit.  3  :  12)  ;  Tro- 
phimus,  Demas,  Apollos,  and  other  co-laborers  of  the  apostles.* 

These  examples  suffice  to  show  that  the  evangelists  also  were  not  con- 
gregational officers,^  nor  stationed  like  the  presbyters  and  later  bishops 
at  particular  posts,  but  that  they  travelled  about  freely  wherever  their 
services  were  needed.  The  apostles  employed  them  as  messengers  for 
various  purposes  to  all  points  of  their  vast  field  ;*  sending  them,  now  for 
the  further  propagation  of  the  Gospel  ;  now  to  carry  letters  ;  now  to 
visit,  inspect,  and  strengthen  congregations  already  established  ;  so  that 
the  CTangelists  also,  like  the  apostles  themselves,  served  as  living  bonds 
of  union  and  promoters  of  fraternal  harmony  among  the  different  sections 

^  Acts  12  :  ar).  13:5,13.  15:39.  Col.  4  :  10.  Philem.  24.  2  Tim.  4:11.  1 
Pet.  5  :  13. 

'  Several  of  these  men  are,  in  the  later  tradition,  made  bishops.  To  Timothy  is  as- 
signed, as  a  diocese,  Ephesus;  to  Titus,  Crete  (in  the  Const,  apost.  VII.  46,  by  Euseb. 
H.  E.  III.  4,  Jerome,  ratal,  sub  Tim.  and  Tit.,  and  others) ;  to  Epaphroditus,  Philippi 
(by  Theodoreton  Phil.  1  :  1  and  2  :  25,  on  account  of  the  title  dTrofiroZof ),  to  Apollos, 
Caesarea  {Menolog.  Grace.  II.  p- 17) ;  to  Tychicus.  Chalcedon  ;  and  Paul's  avvEoyoc  Cle- 
ment, is  generally  held  to  be  the  same  as  the  well-known  Roman  bishop  of  that  name. 
But,  the  last  case  out  of  view,  some  of  these  traditions  can  with  great  difficulty  be  re- 
conciled with  New  Testament  facts.  Timothy,  for  example,  down  to  the  last  impri- 
sonment of  Paul,  had  no  fixed  residence;  and  after  Paul's  death  it  was  John  rather  who 
presided  over  the  church  at  Ephesus.  That  Titus  had  no  local  attachment  to  Crete 
appears  from  2  Cor.  passim  and  from  Tit.  3  :  13.  The  later  system  of  church  govern- 
ment exhibits  no  exact  parallel  to  the  offices  here  in  question. 

^  According  to  the  distinction  made  above  (§  125)  between  these  and  church  officers. 
This  distinction  is  entirely  overlooked  by  the  author  of  the  articles:  The  apostlcship  a 
temporary  office,  m  the  "Princeton  Review '"' for  1849  and '50,  which  make  Timothy 
and  Titus  to  have  been  no  more  than  common  presbyters. 

*  Hence  Rothe  (p.  305)  not  improperly  styles  them  apostolical  delegates.  We  prefer, 
however,  the  title  evangelists,  as  it  is  used  by  Paul  himself. 


QOVEKNM.]  §  131.       EVANGELISTS.  621 

of  the  church.  lu  short,  they  were,  in  some  sense,  the  vicegerents  of  the 
apostles,  acting  under  their  direction  and  by  their  authority,  like  the 
commissioners  of  a  king.  Thus  we  find  Timothy  soon  after  his  conver- 
sion in  the  missionary  service  (Acts  16  :  3  sqq.)  ;  then  at  Ephesus,  to 
complete  the  organization  of  the  church  and  repress  the  growth  of  errors 
during  the  absence  of  Paul  (1  Tim.  1:3.  3  :  14,  15.  4  :  13).  After- 
wards he  is  sent  by  Paul  to  Corinth  (Acts  19  :  22.  1.  Cor.  4  :  17  sqq. 
16  :  10)  ;  falls  in  with  him  again  in  Macedonia  (2  Cor.  1:1);  accom- 
panies the  apostle  on  his  last  journey  to  Jerusalem  (Acts  20  :  4)  ;  is 
with  him  in  his  confinement  at  Pome  (Col.  1:1.  Philem.  1.  Phil. 
1:1);  goes  as  a  delegate  with  an  epistle  to  the  church  at  Philippi,  to 
inquire  into  its  state  (Phil.  2  :  19-23)  ;  must  have  been,  when  Paul 
wrote  his  second  epistle  to  him,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Ephesus,  whence 
he  is  summoned  by  the  apostle,  shortly  before  the  latter's  death,  to  Rome 
(2  Tim.  4  :  9,  21)  ;  and  finally  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews  informs  us  of 
his  liberation  from  prison  and  his  intention  to  travel  east  (13  :  23),  So 
with  Titus,  whom  we  meet  at  one  time  in  Jerusalem  (Gal.  2  :  1),  at  ano- 
ther in  Ephesus,  at  another  in  Corinth  (2  Cor.  1  :  6,  14),  again  in  Crete 
(Tit.  1:5),  then  in  Nicopolis  (Tit.  3  :  L2),  and  finally  in  Dalmatia  (2 
Tim.  4  :  10). 


522  S  132.       PKESBTTEB-BISHOPS.  [ni.  BOOK. 


CHAPTER  IIL 

CONGREGATIONAL  OFFICES. 

§  132.     Presbyter-Biskops. 

After  these  three  ofiBces,  which  relate  to  the  whole  church,  the  apostle 
mentions,  Eph.  4  :  11,  pastors  and  teachers  ;  denoting  by  these  terms  the 
regular  overseers  of  single  congregations,  in  their  twofold  capacity.* 
These  officers  are  undoubtedly  the  same  with  those  elsewhere  in  the  New 
Testament  commonly  called  presbyters,  and  four  times  bishops  (viz.,  in 
Acts  20  :  28.  Phil.  1:1.  1  Tim.  3  :  2.  Tit.  1:1),  whose  business 
is  expressly  declared  to  be  the  feeding  of  the  flock.* 

First,  as  to  the  meaning  of  these  terms  and  their  relation  to  one 
another.  The  name  presbyter,  or  elder,  is  no  doubt  of  Jewish-Christian 
origin, — a  translation  of  the  Hebrew  title  saken,  sekenim  (Q'^plpT)^  ap- 
plied to  the  rulers  of  the  synagogues,  on  whom  devolved  the  conduct  of 
religious  affairs.  It  refers,  therefore,  primarily  to  age  and  the  personal 
venerableness,  which  goes  with  it  f  then  derivatively  to  official  dignity 
and  authority,  since  these  are  usually  borne  by  men  of  age  and  experi- 

'  That  the  words  noi/iivac  Kal  SidauKaTiovg, 'Eph.  4  :  11,  on  account  of  the  absence  of 
Tovg  de,  must  be  referred  to  one  and  the  sanne  office,  as  is  done  by  Jerome  and  Angus- 
line,  and  most  modern  commentators,  Riickert,  Harless,  Meyer,  Stier  (Calvin,  how- 
ever, Beza  and  De  Wette  dissenting),  we  have  before  remarked  (§  125).  Their 
restriction  to  a  small  sphere  is  noticed  already  by  Theodoret  when  he  speaks  of  them 
as  Tovg  /card  komv  kuc  ku/itjv  acpugtcuivovc;.  There  is  also,  it  is  true,  a  pastorate  and 
doctorate  for  the  whole  church;  but  this  belongs  to  the  apostles,  who,  as  before  ob- 
served, united  all  offices  in  themselves.  (The  distinction  of  pastors  and  teachers  as  two 
separate  officers,  which  is  made  in  several  Calvinistic  church  constitutions,  for  instance 
in  the  Book  of  Discipline  of  the  Scotch  Kirk,  however  good  it  may  be  in  itself,  cannot 
be  based  upon  Eph.  4  :  11,  as  was  first  done  by  Calvin.) 

^  IloifiaivELv,  Acts  20  :  28,  so  also  1  Pet.  5  :  1,  2.  Comp.  also  the  close  collocation 
of  TTocur/v  and  emcr/coTrof,  1  Pet.  2  :  2<'),  where  both  terms  are  applied  to  Christ. 

'  It  would  seem  to  be  in  this  sense,  and  not  in  the  official,  that  John  styles  himself 
"  the  elder,"  or  presbyter,  2  Jno.  1,  and  3  Jno.  1.     Even  in  the  second  and  third  cen- 


GOVERXM.]  §  132.       PEESBYTEK-BISHOPS.  523 

ence.'  The  term  bishop,  or  overseer,  is,  in  all  probability,  borrowed  from 
the  political  relations  of  the  Greeks.*  Hence  it  came  later  into  ecclesi- 
astical use,  and  made  its  first  appearance  too  among  the  Gentile 
Christians  ;  as  in  fact  it  occurs  in  the  New  Testament,  only  in  the  writ- 
ings of  Paul  and  his  disciple,  Luke.  It  refers,  as  the  term  itself  sig- 
nifies, to  the  official  duty  and  activity  of  these  congregational  rulers.' 

But  aside  from  this  immaterial  diiference  in  origin  and  signification, 
the  two  appellations  belong  to  one  and  the  same  office;  so  that  the 
bishops  of  the  New  Testament  are  to  be  regarded  not  as  diocesan 
bishops  like  those  of  a  later  period,  but  simply  as  congregational  officers. 
This  is  placed  beyond  question  by  every  passage  in  which  we  meet  with 
this  title.  For  in  Acts  20  :  28  Paul  addresses  as  "bishops"  the  very 
same  rulers  of  the  Ephesian  church,  who  had  just  before  (v.  It)  been 
called  "  presbyters."  Again,  in  the  superscription  of  his  epistle  to  the 
Philippians  (1  :  1)  he  salutes  the  saints  in  Philippi,  "with  the  bishoiDS 
and  deacons  (avv  Ittic-kottoic  Kal  diaKovoic) ,  without  mentioning  the  presby- 
ters ;  which  can  be  explained  only  by  supposing  the  latter  to  have  been 
identical  with  the  bishops.  And  then  the  plural  form  here  used  is,  as 
was  observed  already  by  Jerome,  further  evidence  of  the  same  fact  ; 
since  there  cannot  be  more  than  one  bishop,  in  the  later  sense  of  the 
term,  in  any  one  church.  A  third  proof  we  have  in  the  usus  loquendi 
of  the  Pastoral  Epistles.  In  Titus  1  :  5  the  apostle  directs  his  disciple 
to  ordain  "  presbyters"  in  the  churches  of  Crete  ;  then,  speaking  of  the 
qualifications  to  be  regarded  in  the  choice,  he  suddenly  brings  in  the 

turies  the  name  TvqtajSvTeqoi  is  still  met  with  in  what  may  be  termed  the  school  of  St. 
John,  as  an  honorary  title  of  the  earlier  church  teachers  (the  ancients,  the  fathers), 
even  where  thej'  were  proper  bishops  in  the  Catholic  sense.  Comp.  §  106  and  107 
above,  and  the  quotations  from  Irenaeus  in  Rothe,  p.  414  sqq. 

'  Precisely  so  with  the  Greek  yeqovaia,  and  the  Latin  senatus,  official  titles  of  magis- 
trates derived  from  age  and  dignity. 

*  The  delegates  appointed  to  organize  states  dependent  on  Athens,  as  also  other  per- 
sons in  authority,  were  called  episcopoi ;  comp.  Suidas,  s.  v.  kniaKOTzog,  Scholia  on 
Aristophanes,  Aves  v.  1023.  Cicero  also  uses  the  word  in  a  letter  to  Atticus  [Ep.  VII. 
11):  "Vult  me  Pompejus  esse,  quera  tota  haec  Campana  et  maritima  ora  habeat 
eTTigKonov,  ad  quem  delectus  et  summa  negotii  referatur;"  and  in  a  somewhat  different 
sense  the  old  Roman  jurist,  Arcadius  Charisius,  in  a  fragment  of  his  work  De  /iiune- 
ribus  civilibus  {Digest,  lib.  IV.  Tit.  4,  leg.  18,  ^  7),  where  it  is  said:  "Episcopi,  qui 
praesunt  pani  et  caeteris  venalibus  rebus,  quae  civitatum  populis  ad  quotidianum  vic- 
tum  Usui  sunt."  The  terms  eTriaKOTTog  and  ETncKorcTJ,  moreover,  occur  several  times 
in  the  LXX.,  as  the  translation  of -jipr)  -jipQ  and  n"^pt3  Nu.4:16.  31:14.  Jud. 
9:28.     2  Kings  11:  16.     Neh.  11  :  9,  14.     Is.  60  :  17. 

''  Substantially  the  same  distinction  was  perceived  by  Jerome,  Epist  82,  ad  Oceanum  : 
"  Apud  veteres  iidem  episcopi  et  presbyteri,  quia  iJlud  nomen  dignitatis  (he  says  more 
properly,  on  Tit.  1  :  7,  nomen  officii)  est,  hoc  aetatis.'' 


524  §  132.     PKESBTTER-BISHOPS.  [iH-  BOOK. 

name  "  bishop,"  while,  as  is  shown  at  once  by  the  causative  particle 
"  for"  (v.  1,  6ei  yuQ  Tov  tmcKQirov,  etc.),  he  is  still  plainly  speaking  of  the 
same  persons.  In  1  Tim.  3  :  1-1  he  sets  forth  the  requisites  for  the 
episcopate,  and  then  (v.  8-13)  passes  immediately  to  those  for  the 
diaconate,  without  mentioning  the  presbyterate  either  here  or  afterwards. 
Yet  it  is  evidently  his  intention  to  instruct  Timothy  respecting  the 
qualifications  for  all  the  congregational  offices  ;  hence  the  offices  of 
bishop  and  presbyter  must  have  been  the  same.  Finally  ;  Peter  (1  Ep. 
5  :  1,  2)  addresses  himself  to  the  "presbyters"  of  the  congregations, to 
which  he  wrote  (and  not  the  bishops,  as  he  must  have  done  in  this  con- 
nection, had  they  been  a  higher  class  of  officers),  as  "also  an  elder,"  a 
"  co-presbyter,"  and  describes  it  as  their  business  to  "  feed  the  flock  of 
God"  and  "take  the  oversight  of  it"  {■KoifidvaTE  to  h  v/xiv  nol/iviov  tov 
T&Eov,EncaKOTTovvrec:,K.T.?..)  ; — a  clear  proof,  that  here  also  the  pres- 
byterate and  episcopate  coincide  ;  the  former  term  denoting  the  honor 
and  dignity,  the  latter  the  duty,  belonging  to  one  and  the  same  office.' 

This  identity  of  presbyters  and  bishops  in  the  apostolic  church  was 
also  acknowledged  by  the  most  learned  church  fathers,  on  exegetical 
grounds,  even  after  the  Catholic  episcopal  system  (which  was  supposed 
to  have  originated  in  the  apostolate)  had  become  completely  established." 

^  The  same  form  of  expression  we  find  in  the  apostolic  father,  Clement  of  Rome, 
when  he  says  in  his  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  c.  42,  that  the  apostles  ordained 
the  first  fruits  {tui;  dTTagx<J-£)  of  the  Christian  faith  in  new  congregations  as  eTciGKOKOvg 
Kal  Scaicovovg^  without  mentioning  TrgEaiivTEQOL  at  all.  He  chose  the  other  term,  which 
is  here  evidently  synonymous,  because  he  had  in  his  eye  the  passage,  Is.  60  :  17, 
where  the  LXX.  translate  :  Kal  66gu  Tovg  aqx^'^'^^.g  '^ov  kv  Eig/'/vtj,  Kal  Tovg  kn  la  k6  TTOvg 
GOV  kv  6iKaioavv7j. 

"  See  Rothe,  1.  c.  p.  207-217,  where  the  passages  from  the  fathers  are  given  at 
large;  also  Gieseler,  Kirchengesch.  I.  1,  §  30,  note  1  (p.  115  sqq.  of  the  4th  ed.).  We 
confine  ourselves  to  the  most  important,  and  add  some  English  authorities.  Jerome 
says,  jld.  Tit.  1:7:  '"  Idem  est  ergo  presbyter  qui  episcopus,  et  antequam  diaboli  in- 
stinctu  studia  in  religione  fiereat  .  .  .  communi  presbyterorum  consilio  ecclesiae  guber- 
nabantur."  Then  he  adduces  as  proof  all  the  passages  of  Scripture  noticed  above. 
Again,  Epist.  85,  ad  Evagrium  (in  later  copies  ad  Evangdum) :  '"  Nam  quum  apos- 
tolus perspicue  doceat,  eosdem  esse  presbyteros  et  episcopos,"  etc.  Finally,  Ep.  82, 
ad  Oceanum  (al.  83) :  ''In  utraque  epistoja  (the  first  to  Timothy  and  the  one  to  Titus) 
sive  episcopi  sive  pvesbyteri  (quamquam  apud  veteres  iidem  episcopi  et  presbyteri 
fuerint,  quia  illud  nomen  dignitatis  est,  hoc  aetatis)  jubentur  monogami  in  clerum 
eligi."  So  Ambrosiaster,  ad  Eph.  4:11,  and  the  author  of  the  pseudo-Augustinian 
Quaestiones  V.  et  N.  T.  qu.  101.  Among  the  Greek  fathers,  Chrysostom,  Horn.  I.  in 
Ep.  ad  Philipp.,  says  :  liVVEncaKonocg  (so  he  reads  Phil.  1  :  1,  instead  of  ai)v  inLGKonocg) 
Kal  dtaKOfotg.  t'l  tovto  ;  juidg  iroTiEug  iroHol  ETTiaKonoi  J/aav  ;  OvSa/iug'  dlTia  Tovg 
TZQeajivTEQOvg  ovrug  ekuIeoe-  tote  yuQ  Ttug  ekolvuvovv  Tolg  bvopaai,  Kal  diaKovog  6 
InicKonog  eMjeto,  k.  t.  'k.  Still  plainer  is  the  language  of  Theodoret,  ad  Phil.  1:1: 
.  .  ETTLaKOTTovg  (51  ToUg  TTQEGjJVTEQovg  Kuksi,  ufM<j>6TEQa  yuQ  eIxov  /car'  ekeIvov  tov  Kai- 
Qov  Tu  ovoftaTa,  for  which  he  quotes  the  proof  texts  already  given.     So  ad  Tim.  3:1: 


GovEKNM.]  g  13o_     rRESBYTER-Bisnors.  525 

As  to  the  time  and  manner  of  the  introduction  of  this  office  we  have 
unfortunately,  no  such  information  as  is  given  respecting  the  diaconate 
(Acts  6).  The  demand  for  the  office  unquestionably  arose  very  early  ; 
since,  notwithstanding  the  diffusion  of  gifts,  which  were  not  necessarily 
confined  to  official  station,  provision  had  to  be  made  for  the  reo-ular 
instruction  and  government  of  the  rapidly  multiplying  churches  The 
historical  pattern  for  it  was  presented  in  the  Jewish  synagogue,  in  the 
college  or  bench  of  elders  {ngsajivTEqoL,  Lu.  7:3;  dgxitywdyuyoi,  Mk.  5  : 
22.  Acts  13  :  15),  who  conducted  the  exercises  of  public  worship, 
prayer  and  the  reading  and  exposition  of  the  Scriptures.  Christian 
presbyters  meet  us  for  the  first  time.  Acts  11  :  30,  at  Jerusalem,  when 
the  church  of  Antioch  sent  a  collection  to  their  brethren  in  Judea. 
Thence  the  institution  passed  over  not  only  to  all  the  Jewish-Christian 
churches,  but  also  to  those  planted  by  Paul  and  his  co-laborers  among 
the  Gentiles.  From  the  example  of  the  family  of  Stephanas  at  Corinth 
(1  Cor.  16  :  15)  we  learn,  that  the  first  converts  (the  dnaQxal)  were 
usually  chosen  to  this  office  ;— a  fact  explicitly  confirmed  also  by  Clement 
of  Rome.' 

EKiaKo-Kov  Se  EVTav-&a  tov  TTqEcjivTegov  "kijEi,  k.  t.  /I.  This  view  was  maintained  even 
still  later  by  theologians  of  the  Middle  Ages,  one  of  whom,  Pope  Urban  II.  (1091). 
expressed  himself  in  a  remarkable  way  :  "  Sacros  anteni  ordines  dicimus  diaconatutn 
et  presbyteratum.  Hos  siquidem  solos  primitiva  legitur  ecclesia  habuisse :  super  his 
solum  praeceptum  habemus  apostoli."  Among  the  modern  Roman  Catholic  expositors, 
Mack  (Commentar  i'lber  die  Pastoralbriefe  des  Ap.  Panlus,  Tiib.  1836,  p.  60  sqq.)  fully 
concedes  the  identity  of  the  New  Testament  presbyters  and  bishops;  he  sees  in  them 
the  later  presbyters,  and  takes  the  later  bishops,  on  the  contrary,  as  the  successors  of 
the  apostles  and  their  immediate  assistants.  This  is  undoubtedly,  on  Catholic  ground, 
the  only  proper  derivation  of  the  episcopate.  By  Protestant  interpreters  and  histo- 
rians this  identity  has  always  been  asserted;  and  that  too  by  several  learned  Episco- 
palians. Dr.  Whitby,  for  instance,  on  Phil.  1  :  1,  admits  :  "Both  the  Greek  and  Latin 
Fathers  do,  with  one  consent,  declare,  that  Bishops  were  called  Presbyters,  and  Pres- 
byters Bishops,  m  apostolic  times,  the  names  being  then  common."  Also,  to  quote  a 
recent  critical  authority,  Dr.  Bloomfield,  on  Acts  20  :  17  (Greek  Test,  with  English 
Notes,  etc.  vol.  I.  p.  560,  Philad.  ed.) ,  remarks  on  the  term  TrgEaiSvTEgovg  :  "  As  these 
persons  are  at  v.  28  called  EniaKo-novc,  and  especially  from  a  comparison  of  other  pas- 
sages (as  1  Tim.  3:1),  the  best  Commentators,  ancient  and  modern,  have  with  reason 
inferred  that  the  terms  as  yet  denoted  the  same  thing  ;"  though  he  adds  immediately, 
but  without  proof,  that  one  of  the  presbyters  was  set  over  the  rest  as  a  bishop  in  the 
modern  sense.  The  same  view  is  expressed  in  Conybeare  and  Howson's  work  on  St. 
Paul,  I.  p.  465.  When  some  Anglican  divines  deny  the  original  identity  of  presbyters 
and  bishops,  and  pretend  to  derive  their  system  of  church  government  from  the  name 
and  office  of  the  New  Testament  bishop,  they  can  be,  indeed,  easily  refuted.  But  this 
by  no  means  settles  the  question  of  church  polity.  The  Episcopal  and  Presbyterian 
controversy  turns  ultimately  on  the  decision  of  the  question,  whether  the  office  of  the 
apostles  and  their  delegates  has  a  permanent  or  merely  a  temporary  character. 
'  In  the  passage  already  quoted,  1  Cor.  c.  42. 


526  §  132.     PRESBYTEE-BISHOPS.  ["I-  BOOK. 

After  the  pattern  of  the  synagogues,  as  well  as  the  ancient  municipal 
governments,  where  the  power  was  vested,  aristocratically,  in  a  senate 
or  college  of  decuriones,  every  church  had  a  number  of  presbyters.  They 
appear  everywhere  in  the  plural,  and  as  a  corporate  body  ; — at  Jerusa- 
lem, Acts  11  :  30.  15  :  4,  6,  23.  21  :  18  ;  at  Ephesus,  20  :  It,  28  ; 
at  Philippi,  Phil.  1  :  1  ;  at  the  ordination  of  Timothy,  1  Tim.  4  :  14, 
where  mention  is  made  of  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery; 
and  in  the  churches,  to  which  James  wrote,  Jas.  5:14:  "  Is  any  sick 
among  you  ?  let  him  call  for  the  presbyters  of  the  congregation^  and  let 
them  pray  over  him,"  &c.  The  same  is  implied  also  in  the  statement 
(Acts  14  :  23),  that  Paul  and  Barnabas  ordained  elders  (several,  of 
course)  for  every  church  ;  and  still  more  clearly  in  the  direction  given 
to  Titus  (Tit.  1  :  5),  to  ordain  elders,  that  is  a  presbytery,  in  every  city 
of  Crete.' 

Some  scholars  have  imagined,  indeed,  that  in  the  larger  cities  there 
were  several  churches,  with  only  one  presbyter  or  bishop  to  each  ;  that, 
consequently,  the  government  of  congregations  was  from  the  first  in 
principle,  not  democratic,  nor  aristocratic,  but  monarchical."  But  this 
atomic  theory  of  a  multitude  of  independent  churches  is  refuted  by  the- 
passages  just  quoted,  in  which  the  presbyters  appear  as  a  college  ;  and 
by  the  tendency  towards  organized  association,  which  entered  into  the 
very  life  of  Christians  from  the  beginning.  The  household  churches 
{kuKlrjalai  Kari  oikov),  frequently  mentioned  and  greeted,^  indicate  merely 
the  fact,  that  the  Christians,  where  they  had  become  very  numerous  and 
lived  far  a^^art,  as  in  Rome  particularly  (the  population  of  which  then 
exceeded  that  of  Paris  now),  were  accustomed  to  meet  for  edification  at 
different  places.  Such  an  arrangement  was  perfectly  consistent  with  the 
organic  union  of  these  congregations  as  one  whole,  under  the  superin- 
tendence of  a  common  presbytery.  Hence,  also,  the  apostolical  epistles 
are  never  addressed  to  a  separate  part  of  the  congregation,  an  ecclesiola 
in  ccclesia,  a  conventicle,  but  always  to  the  whole  body  of  Christians  at 

*  "Iva  .  .  .  KaTaaTTJayg  Kara  tt  oliv  TtqeafivTeg  ov  g.  Dr.  Baur,  indeed  (in  his  work 
against  the  genuineness  of  Paul's  Pastoral  Epistles,  Stuttg.  and  Tubingen.  1835,  p.  81), 
takes  the  plural  to  lefer  to  the  collective  idea  implied  in  Kara  noXiv,  so  that  Titus  was 
to  place  only  one  presbyter  in  each  city.  But  in  this  case  we  should  expect  either 
/cara  7T0 /\  £  t  f  or  7rgecj3vT£Q  o  v.  The  KaTil  7v6?uv  is  more  adverbial  than  collective 
equivalent  to  oppidatim,  by  cities.  So  with  kut'  eKK'/.Tjaiav,  Acts  14  :  23.  Comp. 
Rothe,  1.  c.  p.  181  sqq. 

^  So  Baur,  1.  c. ;  and  in  a  somewhat  different  form  the  Low  Dutch  theologian,  Kist, 
in  his  article  on  the  Origin  of  Episcopacy  (Utrecht.  1830),  translated  in  Illgen's 
"  Zeitschrift  fur  hist.  Theologie,"  Vol-  II.  No.  2,  p.  46-90. 

"  Rom.  16  :  4,  ,'),  14,  15.     1  Cor-  16  :  19.     Col.  4  :  15.     Philem.  2. 


GOVERNM.]  §    132.       PEESBTTER-BISHOPS.  527 

Rome,  at  Corinth,  at  Ephesus,  at  Philippi,  at  Thessalonica,  &c.,  as  one 
moral  person.' 

Whether  now  a  perfect  parity  reigned  among  these  collegiate  presby- 
ters ;  or  one,  say  the  oldest,  constantly  presided  over  the  rest ;  or, 
finally,  one  followed  another  in  the  presidency,  as  privms  inter  pares,  by 
some  kind  of  rotation,  the  New  Testament  gives  us  no  information, 
unless  we  find  it  in  the  apocalyptic  angels,  of  whom  we  shall  speak  more 
particularly  hereafter.  The  analogy  of  the  Jewish  synagogues  leads  to 
no  certain  result,  since  it  is  disputed  whether  there  was  a  particular 
presidency,  an  oSice  of  arcJii-synagogos  properly  so-called,  in  these  as 
early  as  the  time  of  Christ.^  Respecting  the  Roman  municipal  system, 
on  the  contrary,  we  know,  that  in  the  senates  of  the  cities  out  of  Italy 
one  of  the  decuriones,  the  eldest,  acted  as  president  under  the  title 
principalis."  Some  sort  of  presidency  is  certainly  indispensable  in  a 
well-organized  government  and  in  the  regular  transaction  of  business, 
and  thus  must  be  presumed  to  have  existed  in  these  primitive  presby- 
teries. But  as  neither  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  nor  Paul's,  nor  the 
catholic  epistles,  give  us   any  information  respecting  it,  we   have  no 

'  Comp.  1  Thess.  1:1.  2  Thess.  1  :  1.  1  Cor.  1:2.  5:1  sqq.  2  Cor.  1  :  1,  23 
2  :  1  sqq.  Col.  4:16.  Phil.  1:1,  &c.  Even  Neander,  otherwise  comparatively  so 
unchurchly,  well  observes  against  Kist  and  Baur  {Kirchengcsch.  I.  p.  317,  2nd  ed.)  : 
"  This  unity  presents  itself  not  as  something  yet  to  arise,  but  as  something  original 
grounded  from  the  first  in  the  very  nature  of  the  Christian  consciousness ;  and  the 
divisions,  which  threaten  to  destroy  it,  appear  rather  as  a  sickly  growth  of  after  limes, 
as  in  the  Corinthiaji  church.  If  also  separate  assemblies  of  some  portions  of  the  com- 
munity may  have  been  formed  in  the  private  houses  of  those  who  had  a  suitable  room 
for  them,  or  were  specially  qualified  to  edify  them  by  their  discourses,  this  itself  was 
a  result  of  the  enlargement  of  the  church,  which  was  already  regularly  organized ; 
and  those,  who  formed  such  meetings,  did  not  thereby  separate  themselves  from  the 
great  whole  of  the  church  under  its  riding  senate."  Comp.  also  Neander's  Gesch.  d. 
Pflanzung.  etc.,  p.  55  and  p.  253,  Note. 

*  As  Vitringa,  for  example  {De  synag.  vet.  II.  9-11),  and  Winer  {Rcallexikon,  II.  p. 
550),  suppose.  But  the  only  passage,  where  one  is  directly  named  a^ojtcriivayuyof 
CnD33n  Tlisi^)  is  Lu.  13  :  14.  It  may  very  easily  be,  however,  that  even  then,  as 
was  unquestionably  the  case  at  a  later  period,  a  single  person  presided  over  the  syna- 
gogue in  smaller  places,  instead  of  a  body  of  rulers  ;  or  that  Luke  means  simply  the 
president  acting  zs  primus  inter  pares  at  the  time.  The  last  is  made  probable  by  the 
fact,  that  Luke  (c.  8  :  41,  comp.  v.  49)  names  Jairus,  without  qualification,  up^"^  ''"'/f 
cwayuyTig ;  while  Mark  in  the  parallel  passage,  5  :  22,  describes  him  as  elg  tuv 
upxif^vvayujuv.  In  other  passages  also,  as  Acts  13  :  15.  18  :  8,  17,  as  well  as  Mk. 
5  :  22,  several  dpxtovvdyujoi  appear  in  one  and  the  same  synagogue ;  so  that  the  word 
is  here  synonymous  with  TvpeapvTepoi,  except,  perhaps,  that  the  former  refers  to  official 
activity  (like  ettlgkotlol)^  the  latter  to  official  dignity. 

*  See  Savigny  :  Gesch-  des  rom.  Rechts  im  Mittelalter.,  I.  p.  80-83. — In  the  Italiaa  cities 
magistratus  stood  at  the  head  of  the  bodies  of  decuriones. 


523  §  133.       OFFICE    OF    THE    EPISCOPAL    PliESBYTERS.  [ill.  BOOK. 

means  of  determining  its  particular  form.'  In  the  nature  of  the  case 
also  the  presbyters  must  have  distributed  the  various  duties  of  their 
office  among  themselves,  so  as  to  avoid  promiscuous  interference  and 
confusion. 

§  133.   Office  of  the  Episcopal  Presbyters. 

If  now  we  inquire  as  to  the  proper  official  character  of  the  presby- 
ters, wo  cannot  make  them  the  same  with  the  later  diocesan  bishops. 
These  last  are  church  officers,  and  claim,  justly  or  unjustly,  a  position 
like  that  of  the  apostles  and  their  immediate  assistants,  Timothy,  Titus, 
&c.  The  idea  of  episcopacy  too,  in  the  usual  sense,  is  essentially 
monarchical  and  excludes  a  plurality  of  bishops  in  one  and  the  same 
place.  The  presbyter-bishops  were  rather,  as  already  remarked,  officers 
of  single  congregations  ;  but  within  these  they  had  charge  of  all  that 
pertains  to  the  good  order  and  spiritual  prosperity  of  a  religious  com- 
munity. Their  office  then  consisted  primarily  in  the  general  superin- 
tendence of  the  congregation.  This  is  indicated  by  the  very  names 
applied  to  them  and  their  duties;  "pastors"  {-n-oL/nheg,  Eph.  4  :  11, 
answering  to  the  Hebrew  la'^ci'^Q,  as  the  rulers  of  the  synagogue  were 
also  called),  who  are  to  "feed"  the  flock  of  God  {noi/iaiveiv^  Acts  20  : 
28.  1  Pet.  5:2);  "overseers"  {kmaKonoi  and  EwiaKoneiv,  1  Pet.  5  :  2, 
&c.);  "rulers"  {nQoiardfiEvoi,  TTQoaTJ/vat,  1  Thess.  5  :  12.  Rom.  12  :  8. 
1  Tim.  3:4,  5,  12,  n()oe(jTO)Tec  ngeaiSiTupot,  1  Tim.  5  :  1*1,  corap.  Kvl3eg- 
r,/aEic,  1  Cor.  12  :  28);  and  "leaders"  {yyov/ievoi,  Heb.  13  :  1,  17,  24). 
This  superintendence  of  a  congregation  included  not  only  the  direction 
of  public  worship  and  a  vigilant  regard  to  the  religious  interests  of  the 
cliurch — in  a  word,  the  whole  province  of  pastoral  care  and  discipline, — 
but  also  the  management  of  the  property  and  all  the  pecuniary  concerns 
of  the  congregation  ;  as  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact,  that  thg  collec- 
tion of  the  Antiochian  Christians  for  their  brethren  in  Judea  was 
delivered  to  the  presbytery  at  Jerusalem,  Acts  11  :  30. 

But  then  again,  the  presbyters  were  at  the  same  time  the  regular 
teachers  of  the  congregation,  and  can  therefore  not  be  put  in  the  same 
class  with  the  lay-elders  of  Presbyterian  churches.  On  them  devolved 
officially  the  exposition  of  the  Scriptures,  the  preaching  of  the  gospel, 
and  the  administration  of  the  sacraments.  That  this  function  was 
closely  connected  with  the  other  appears  from  the  very  juxta-position  of 
"pastors  and  teachers,"  Eph.  4  :  11,  where  the  two  terms  must  be  re- 

'  Dr.  Rothe,  1.  c.  p.  240  and  528,  thinks,  indeed,  that  the  presbyteries  of  those  days 
needed  no  particular  president  from  among  themselves,  because  the  apostles  and  their 
delegates  were  their  proper  presidents.  But  these  could  not  be  present  in  all  the  con- 
gregations and  on  every  occasion. 


GOVERNM.]       I  133,      OFFICE   OF    THE   EPISCOPAL   PEESBTTEES.  529 

ferred  to  the  same  person.*  The  same  association  of  ruling  and  teach- 
ing we  find  in  Heb.  13:1:  "  Remember  them  which  have  the  rule  over 
you  (l/yovfxevot.),  who  have  spoken  unto  you  the  word  of  God  {olrcveg 
hldTirjaavviuv  Tov  loyovTov  Qeov)'^  whose  faith  follow,  considering  the  end 
of  their  conversation;"  comp.  v.  It.  Particularly  decisive,  however,  are 
the  instructions  of  the  pastoral  epistles,  where,  among  the  requirements 
for  the  office  of  presbyter,  besides  irreproachable  piety  and  a  talent  for 
the  administration  of  church  government,  Paul  expressly  mentions  also 
capacity  tp  teach,  1  Tim.  3:2:  "A  bishop,  then,  must  be  blameless, 
the  husband  of  one  wife,  vigilant,  sober,  of  good  behavior,  given  to  hos- 
pitality, apt  to  teach  {6i6aKrcK6v),"  etc.;  so  in  Tit.  1  :  9,  where  it  is  re- 
quired of  a  bishop,  that  he  should  "hold  fast  the  faithful  word,  as  he 

hath    been   taught    {dvTexofievov  tov  Kara  TTjv  6i6ax{)v  ncarov  2,6yov},    that    he 

may  be  able  by  sound  doctrine  both  to  exhort  and  to  convince  the 
gainsayers." 

These  passages  forbid  our  making  two  distinct  classes  of  presbyters, 
of  which  one,  corresponding  to  the  seniors  or  lay  elders  in  the  Calvinistic 
churches,  had  to  do  only  with  the  government,  and  not  at  all  with 
the  administration  of  doctrine  and  the  sacraments  ;  while  the  other,  on 
the  contrary,  was  devoted  entirely,  or  at  least  mainly,  to  the  service  of 
the  word  and  altar.  Such  a  distinction  of  ruling  elders,  belonging  to 
the  laity,  and  teaching  presbyters,  or  ministers  proper,  first  suggested  by 
Calvin,'^  and  afterwards  further  insisted  on  by  many  Protestant  (espe- 
cially Presbyterian)  divines,'  rests,  indeed,  on  a  very  judicious  ecclesias- 
tical policy,  and  is,  so  far,  altogether  justifiable;  but  it  cannot  be  proved 
at  all  from  the  New  Testament  or  church  antiquity,  and  presupposes  also 
an  opposition  of  clergy  and  laity,  which  did  not  exist  under  the  same 
form  in  the  apostolic  period.  The  only  passage  appealed  to  in  support 
of  it  is  1  Tim.  5  :  17  :  "Let  the  elders,  that  rule  well,  be  counted  wor- 
thy of  double  honor,  especially  they  who  labor  in  the  word  and  doctrine " 
{fiuTnoTa  61  oi  KoniuvTeg  iv  Uyc)  Kal  didadKaTiia).      This    "  especially,"    we   are 

told,  implies,  that  there  were  presbyters  also,  who  officially  had  nothing 
to  do  with  teaching,  and  that  the  teaching  presbyters  were  of  higher 
standing.*     But  this  conclusion  is  by  no  means  so  sure,  as  may  at  first 

^  Comp.  §  125  above. 

*  Inst.  ret.  chr.  IV.  3.  §  8  :  "  Gubernatores  fuisse  existimo  seniores  ex  plebe  delectos, 
qui  censurae  morum  et  exercendse  disciplinae  una  cum  episcopis  praeessent." 

*  Comp.  for  instance,  Dr.  S.  Miller's  Letters  concerning  the  Constitution  and  Order  of 
the  Christian  Ministry,  2nd  ed.  Philad.  1830,  p.  27  sqq.,  and  the  language  of  English 
theologians  there  quoted.  But  many  Lutherans  also  have  zealously  maintained  the 
distinction ;  as  J.  J.  Bohmer  and  Ziegler :  comp.  Rothe,  p.  222,  note. 

*  Thus  Dr.  Owen,  for  example  (quoted  by  Dr.  Miller,  1.  c.  p.  28) ,  "  This  would  be 
a  text  of  uncontrollable  evidence,  if  it  had  anything  but  prejudice  and  interest  to  con- 

34 


530        §  133,      OFFICE   OF   THE   EPISCOPAL    PKESBTTERS.  ["l-  BOOK. 

sight  appear.  For  in  the  first  place,  it  is  questionable,  whether  the 
emphasis  does  not  fall  rather  on  KOKiQvTfic,  referring  to  laborious  diligence 
in  teaching,  as  also  on  the  Ka'Aug  in  the  beginning  of  the  sentence  ; 
making  the  antithesis  to  be,  not  that  of  teaching  and  non-teaching 
elders,  but  that  of  those  who  rule  well  and  teach  zealously,  and  those 
who  both  rule  and  teach,  indeed,  but  without  any  particular  earnestness.* 
In  this  view  the  passage  would  tell  rather  for  the  union  of  ruling  and 
teaching  in  the  same  office.  But  even  according  to  the  other  interpre- 
tation, it  proves,  at  best,  only  the  fact,  that  there  were  presbyters,  who 
did  not  teach.  It  by  no  means  shows,  that  the  existence  of  such  pres- 
byters was  regular  and  approved  by  the  apostle  ;  which  is  here  the  main 
point.  Nay,  unless  we  would  involve  Paul  in  self-contradiction,  we 
must  suppose  the  very  opposite.  For  in  1  Tim.  3:2.  Tit.  1  :  9  (comp. 
2  Tim.  2  :  24)  he  makes  aptness  to  teach  an  indispensable  qualification 
for  the  office  of  bishop  without  exception.  It  has  been  supposed  also, 
that  traces  of  lay  eldership  were  to  be  found  in  the  old  African  church,  and 
from  these  has  been  inferred  its  existence  in  the  apostolic  age.  But 
when  the  relevant  documents  of  the  time  of  the  Donatist  controversies 
in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century  are  more  carefully  examined,  it  is 
found,  that  the  "  seniores,"  or  "seniores  plebis,"  in  North  Africa  were 
not  ecclesiastical  officers  at  all,  but  civil  magistrates  of  municipal  corpo- 
rations.^ 

Nor,  finally,  can  we  agree  with  Dr.  Neander,  who  from  Paul's  distinc- 
tion of  the  gift  of  government  {Kvid^gvTiaig)  from  that  of  teaching 
(SiSaaKaXia),  Rom.  12  :  8.  1  Cor.  12  :  28,  infers,  that  the  presbyters  or 
bishops  in  general  had,  at  first,  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  instruction  ex 

tend  with.  On  ihe  first  proposal  of  this  text,  that  the  Elders  who  rule  well  are  worthy  of 
double  honor,  especially  they  who  labor  in  word  and  doctrine,  a  rational  man,  who  is  un- 
prejudiced, who  never  heard  of,  the  controversy  of  ruling  Elders,  can  hardly  avoid  an 
apprehension  that  there  are  two  sorts  of  Elders,  some  that  labor  in  the  word  and  doc- 
trine, and  some  who  do  not  do  so.  The  truth  is.  it  was  interest  and  prejudice  that  first 
caused  some  learned  men  to  strain  their  wits  to  find  out  evasions  from  the  evidence  of 
this  testimony  :  being  so  found,  sotne  others,  of  meaner  abilities,  have  been  entangled 
by  them."  On  the  other  hand  there  have  been  distinguished  Reformed  scholars,  even 
of  an  earlier  day,  especially  Vitringa  {De  synag.  vet.  1.  II.  c  2  and  3,  p.  490-500)  who 
have  denied  this  passage  any  force  in  favor  of  lay  elders.  Comp.  also  Mosheim : 
Comm.  de.  reb.  Christ,  a.  Const.  M.  p.  126  sqq. 

'  So  the  passage  is  taken  by  Dr.  Rothe,  1.  c.  p.  224  :  ''The  apostle  would  commend  to 
special  respect  those  of  the  presbyters,  who  are  laborious  in  the  duties  of  their  office  :  and 
more  particularly  such,  as  bestow  their  unwearied  diligence  mainly  on  the  business  of 
teaching."  The  latest  commentators  on  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  Dr.  Huther  (1850)  and 
Wiesinger  (1850)  also  deny  that  the  passage  proves  the  existence  of  ruling  lay-elders  as 
distinct  from  ministers. 

''  The  proof  of  this  is  presented  by  Rothe,  1.  c.  p.  227-239. 


GOVERNM.]       §  133.       OFFICE    OF    THE    EPISCOPAL    PRESBYTERS.  531 

officio,  but  were  mere  presidents  of  the  congregations.  Teaching,  it  is 
supposed,  was  attached  in  the  beginning  to  no  particular  office,  but  per- 
formed by  any  one  who  had  the  proper  inward  qualification.  It  was 
not  till  the  pastoral  epistles  were  written  that  the  apostle  found  it 
advisable,  on  account  of  the  intrusion  of  false  teachers,  to  require  of 
presbyters  ability  to  teach.'  But  it  is  here  taken  for  granted,  that  the 
pastoral  epistles  were  not  written  till  after  A.D.  62 — an  opinion,  which 
stands  or  falls  with  the  extremely  doubtful  hypothesis  of  a  second  im- 
prisonment of  the  author  at  Rome.'''  Then  again,  the  circumstance,  that 
ruling  and  teaching  are  designated  as  two  separate  gifts,  is  no  proof, 
that  they  did  not  belong  to  one  and  the  same  office.  Paul  connects 
them  closely  together  (Eph.  4:11):  and  Neander  himself  in  fact  assumes 
such  a  union,  at  least  in  the  latter  part  of  the  apostolic  period.  Finally, 
there  are  clear  indicalions,  that  this  union  was  an  original  one.  The 
presbyters  of  Ephesus  are  exhorted  on  Paul's  last  journey  to  Jerusalem, 
to  guard  the  purity  of  doctrine  (Acts  28  :  29-31)  ;  and  the  epistle  to 
the  Hebrews  (13  :  Y)  enjoins  upon  its  readers  a  grateful  remembrance 
of  their  teaching  rulers,  who  were  then  dead  and  must  therefore  have 
belonged  to  the  former  generation.  The  general  liberty  of  teaching 
amounted  by  no  means  to  a  provision  for  the  regular  instruction  and 
edification  of  the  churches  ;  and  nothing  would  be  more  natural,  than 
that  the  presbyters,  as  afterwards,  so  also  from  the  first,  should  supply 
this  need,  and  at  the  same  time  administer  the  sacraments,  by  virtue  of 
their  office.  Indeed,  there  were  no  other  congregational  officers,  of 
whom  this  could  be  expected. 

The  conclusion  from  all  this  is,  that  the  presbyters  or  bishops  of  the 
apostolic  period  were  the  regular  teachers  and  pastors,  preachers  and 
leaders  of  the  congregations  ;  that  it  was  their  office,  to  conduct  all 
public  worship,  to  take  care  of  souls,  to  enforce  discipline,  and  to  man- 
age the  church  property.  Of  course,  all  had  not  the  same  talent  ;  one 
excelled  in  teaching,  another  in  pastoral  duties,  a  third  in  the  talent  for 
ruling  ;  and  we  may  readily  suppose,  that,  where  there  were  several  of 
them,  they  divided  the  various  duties  of  their  calling  among  themselves, 
according  to  endowments,  taste,  and  necessity.  This,  however,  was 
always  regulated  by  circumstances,  and  by  no  means  authorizes  us  to 
suppose,  that  there  were  two  difi'erent  kinds  of  presbyters,  and  two 
separate  offices  of  government  and  doctrine. 

^  Jpost.  Gesch.  p.  259  sqq.     So  also  in  his  Kirch  Gesch.  I.  p.  320  sq. 
^  Com  p.  on  this  point  §  87  above. 


632  §  134.     DEACONS,  [ni.  book. 

§   134.   Deacons. 

Of  the  origin  of  the  diaconate  or  ojjice  of  help,  we  have  a  graphic 
account  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  Acts.  The  immediate  occasion  of  its 
institution  was  the  voluntary  community  of  goods  adopted  by  the  Chris- 
tians of  Jerusalem  (comp.  §  114)  ;  and  specially,  the  complaint  of  the 
Hellenists,  or  Greek  Jews,  that  their  widows  were  neglected  in  the  daily 
distribution  of  food  and  alms,  in  favor  of  the  Jewish  Christians,  who 
were  born  in  Palestine  and  spoke  the  Aramaic  language — a  neglect 
owing  either  to  the  fact,  that  these  widows  were  not  known,  being 
foreigners  and  somewhat  backward  ;  or  perhaps  to  some  jealousy  exist- 
ing between  the  proper  Hebrews  and  their  brethren  from  other  lands. 
At  first  the  apostles,  who  had  charge  also  of  the  common  fund  (Acts  4  : 
35,  31.  5:2),  attended  to  this  matter  themselves,  or  employed  agents, 
perhaps  the  younger  members  of  the  congregation  (5  :  6,  10)  ;  and  these 
agents  had  given  cause  for  the  complaint  in  question.  As  the  church 
grew,  however,  it  became  more  and  more  impracticable  for  the  apostles 
to  attend  to  these  outward  concerns  without  wrong  to  their  proper 
spiritual  work.  "It  is  not  reason,"  said  the  twelve  (6  :  2),  "  that  we 
should  leave  the  word  of  God,  and  serve  tables,"  i.  e.  personally  super- 
intend the  daily  love-feasts  and  the  distribution  of  alms.  In  order, 
therefore,  to  give  themselves  wholly  to  prayer  and  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel,  and  to  provide  against  the  dissatisfaction  just  mentioned  by  a 
fixed  regulation,  they  proposed  the  election  of  seven  men,  of  good  repute, 
full  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  wisdom,  for  this  particular  service  ;  and  these 
being  chosen  by  the  people,  the  apostles  solemnly  set  them  apart  by 
prayer  and  the  laying  on  of  hands.  In  the  Acts,  indeed,  these  officers 
are  styled  simply  ol  inrd,  the  seven  (21  :  8),  and  not  deacons — that  is 
servants  or  helpers  ;  but  that  they  were  such,  we  know  from  the  terms 
diOKovla,  diaKoveiv rpantCatg,  used  to  describe  their  office  (6  :  1,  2),  and  from 
almost  universal  exegetical  tradition.'  From  the  Greek  names  of  the 
persons  chosen — Stephen,  Philip,  Prochorus,  Nicanor,  Timon,  Parme- 
nas,  and  Nicolas,  a  proselyte  of  Autioch — we  may  infer,  though  not 
with  absolute  certainty,  that  they  were  of  Grecian  descent.  The  reason 
for  choosing  Hellenists  would  be  simply,  that  the  complaint  had  come 
from  the  Hellenists,  and  the  church,  in  impartial  love,  was  disposed  to 
give  them  all  advantage  in  the  election.  Nothing  here  obliges  us  to 
suppose,  with  some  scholars,  that  Luke  in  this  chapter  records  only  the 
appointment  of  deacons  for  the  Hellenistic  part  of  the  church,  and  that 

'  The  ancient  church  even  considered  itself  bound  in  this  case  to  the  sacred  number 
seven ;  and  at  Ronne,  for  exaniple,  as  late  as  the  third  century,  there  were  only  seven 
'Jeacons,  though  the  number  of  presbyters  amounted  to  forty. 


GOVERNM.]  g  134.      DEACONS.  533 

these  officers  had  already  existed,  perhaps  from  the  first,  m  the  Hebrew 
portion.' 

From  Jerusalem  this  arrangement  spread  to  other  churches.  For 
although  others  did  not  adopt  the  community  of  goods,  yet  it  was  neces- 
sary everywhere  to  provide  in  some  regular  way  for  the  poor  and  the 
sick,  as  well  as  for  the  external  services  of  the  sanctuary.  It  is  true, 
Acts  14  :  23  (comp.  Tit.  1  :  5)  speaks  only  of  appointing  elders  f  but 
we  have  express  mention  of  deacons  in  the  churches  at  Rome  (Rom.  12  : 
"7,  e'lTE  diaKovlav,  h  ry  SiaKovia),  Philippi  (Phil.  1  :  1),  and  Corinth  ;  for  the 
existence  of  a  deaconess,  Phebe.  at  Cenchrea  (Rom.  16  :  1)  certainly 
leads  us  to  infer  that  there  were  deacons  there  also,  and  the  gift  of 
"helps"  {uvTih'/jpeic,  1  Cor.  12  :  28)  must  be  understood  particularly  as  a 
qualification  for  this  office  (comp.  §  119).  And  generally  we  must  pre- 
sume, that  these  officers  existed  in  all  the  churches  planted  by  Paul,  as 
he  gives  to  Timothy  and  Titus  special  instructions  in  regard  to  tiieir 
election  and  qualifications. 

The  business  of  these  deacons  consisted  primarily  and  mainly,  accord- 
ing to  the  account  of  their  institution,  in  the  care  of  the  poor  and  the 
sick.  This  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  statement  in  Acts  11  :  30,  that 
the  money  collected  at  Antioch  was  delivered  to  the  presbyters  at  Jeru- 
salem. We  must  suppose  the  relation  to  have  been  such,  that  the  pres- 
byters  were  the  proper  treasurers  of  the  congregation,  and  that  the 
deacons  distributed  the  contributions  under  their  supervision,  and  per- 
haps collected  the  alms.  This  external  charge,  however,  naturally  came 
to  associate  with  itself  a  sort  of  pastoral  care  ;  for  poverty  and  sickness 
offer  the  very  best  opportunities  for  instruction,  exhortation,  and  conso- 
lation, and  according  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity  the  relief  of  bodily 

'  Mosheim  {Comm.  de.  reb.  chr.,  etc.  p.  114  sqq.),  Mack  {Commentar  i'lber  die  Pastoral- 
briefe,  p.  269),  Kuinol,  Meyer,  and  Olshausen  (on  Acts  5  ;6  and  6  :  1),  and  also  Cony- 
beare  and  Howson  (on  the  Life  and  Ep.  of  St.  Paul,  I.  467),  appeal,  indeed,  in  support 
of  this  view,  to  the  "young  men  "  mentioned  in  Acts  5  :  6,  10  (ol  veuregoi,  ol  vEavlanoi : 
comp.  Lu.  22  :  26,  where  h  ve^regoc  is  used  as  equivalent  to  6  diaKovuv),  who  attended 
to  the  removal  and  burial  of  the  bodies  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira.  But  this  is  not 
enough  to  show,  that  the  "young  men  "  were  regular  church  officers,  who,  in  discinc- 
tion  from  the  elders  {■KpeaJB-vregoi),  had  charge  of  the  outward  affairs  of  the  congrega- 
tion. The  service  here  performed  may  have  been  very  probably  a  voluntary  one,  for 
which  the  younger  members  offered  themselves  from  a  natural  sense  of  propriety. 
Comp.  also,  against  Mosheim,  Neander  :  .^post.  Gesch.  p.  47  sqq.,  and  Rothe,  p.  163  sq. 

"  Luke  never  mentions  the  deacons,  except  in  Acts  6  :  3  and  21:8,  and  here  not  by 
this  name.  But  he  frequently  speaks  of  the  7rpea(3vTepoi  (11  :  30.  14  :  23.  15  :  4, 
6,  23.  20  :  17.  21  :  18).  This  suggests  the  conjecture,  that  he  uses  the  latter  term 
in  a  wide  sense,  including  the  deacons,  and  making  it  the  common  title  of  the 
iiriaKOKovvTtx  and  SiaKovovvre^.  This  would  leave  the  less  reason  for  referring 
veuTspoi  to  the  deacons. 


534  §  134.     DEACONS.  [hi-  book. 

wants  should  serve  only  as  a  bridge  or  channel  for  the  communication 
of  the  far  more  precious  benefits  of  the  gospel.  The  helps  or  minis- 
trations {dvTihifeig),  counted  by  the  apostle  among  the  spiritual  gifts 
(1  Cor.  12  :  28),  relate  perhaps  to  the  whole  compass  of  these  works 
of  charity  belonging  to  the  deacons.  Hence  in  the  appointment  of 
deacons,  men  were  looked  for  of  strong  faith  and  exemplary  piety  (Acts 
C  :  3,  comp.  5:8);  and  Paul  (1  Tim.  3  :  8  sqq.)  requires,  that  deacons 
be  of  good  report,  upright,  temperate,  free  from  covetousness  (to  which 
their  handling  of  the  public  fund  might  be  a  temptation),  and  sound 
and  well  instructed  in  the  faith.  This  last  specification,  again,  looks  to 
their  participation  in  the  pastoral  work  and  also  in  the  business  of 
teaching.  That  these  helpers  at  this  time  also  preached  the  gospel, 
when  properly  gifted,  follows  even  from  the  general  liberty  to  teach 
(comp.  §  128);  and  is  besides  explicitly  confirmed  by  the  example  of 
Stephen,  the  enlightened  forerunner  of  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles 
(Acts  6  :  8-10.  *l  :  1-53),  comp.  §  58),  and  of  Philip,  also  one  of 
the  seven  of  Jerusalem  (8:5  sqq.  26  sqq.).  It  was  very  natural,  that 
those,  who  distinguished  themselves  in  this  service  by  their  gifts  and 
zeal,  should  be  advanced  to  higher  offices.  So  Philip,  just  mentioned, 
is  afterwards  called  an  "  evangelist"  (21  :  8);  and  most  expositors  refer 
the  passage,  1  Tim.  3  :  13,  to  promotion  from  the  office  of  deacon  to 
that  of  presbyter. 

From  all  this  it  is  clear,  that  the  deacons  in  the  apostolic  church  had 
a  far  higher  and  more  spiritual  vocation,  than  the  "  ministers"  of  the 
Jewish  synagogues,  the  fii^m  as  they  were  called  {vTrrjpeTaL  in  Lu.  4  : 
20,  comp.  Jno.  Y  :  32),  who  opened  and  closed  the  synagogues,  kept 
them  clean,  and  handed  out  the  books  for  reading.  The  Christian 
diaconate  cannot  be  regarded,  therefore,  as  it  sometimes  is,  as  a  mere 
imitation  of  this  Jewish  office.  The  two,  however,  will  certainly  admit 
of  some  comparison  ;  inasmuch  as,  even  from  an  early  time,  there  might 
have  been  added,  as  it  were  spontaneously,  to  the  proper  duties  of  the 
deacons,  certain  services  also,  connected  with  the  administration  of  the 
sacraments  and  other  parts  of  public  worship.  For  though  this  cannot 
be  directly  proved  from  the  New  Testament,  yet  it  may  with  tolerable 
certainty  be  inferred  from  the  close  connection,  in  those  days,  between 
the  common  love-feasts,  of  which  the  deacons  had  charge  {SmkoveIv  rpa- 
TTE^aig,  Acts  6:2),  and  the  daily  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  ; 
and  from  later  ecclesiastical  usage.  Some  persons  must  perform  these 
^services,  and  they  evidently  fell  most  naturally  to  the  deacons ;  only 
they  must  not  be  regarded  as  their  only  or  principal  business. 

Thus  these  officers  were  living  bonds  of  union  between  the  congre- 
gation and  its  presbyters  ;  taken  from  the  bosom  of  the  community  ; 


GOVERNM.]  g  135.     DEACONESSES.  535 

chosen  entirely  by  the  people  themselves  (comp.  §  126)  ;  hitimately 
acquainted  with  their  wants  ;  and  thus  admirably  qualified  to  assist  the 
presbyters  with  counsel  and  action  in  all  their  official  duties. 

§  135.    Deaconesses. 

Besides  this  class  of  helpers,  we  find  in  the  apostolic  church  the  order 
of  female  deacons,  or  deaconesses,  which  was  supplementary  to  the  other 
office,  and  was  kept  up  in  the  Greek  church  down  to  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury. It  is  commonly  regarded  as  having  originated  among  the  Gentile- 
Christians,  where  the  women  lived  in  greater  seclusion,  and  their  inter- 
course with  men  was  more  restricted  than  among  the  Jews.'  But  aside 
from  any  rules  of  propriety,  the  general  need  required,  that  for  special 
pastoral  service  and  the  care  of  the  poor  and  the  sick  among  the  female 
part  of  the  congregation  there  should  be  a  corresponding  office.  Here 
was  opened  to  women,  to  whom  the  apostle  forbade  any  active  part  in 
the  public  assemblies  (comp.  §  126),  a  noble  field  for  the  unfolding  of 
their  peculiar  gifts,  for  the  exercise  of  their  love  and  devotion,  without 
any  departure  from  their  natural  and  proper  sphere.  By  means  of  this 
office  they  could  carry  the  blessings  of  the  gospel  into  the  most  private 
and  delicate  relations  of  domestic  life,  and,  unseen  by  the  world,  might 
quietly  and  modestly  do  unspeakable  good.' — To  this  care  of  the  widows, 
of  the  poor,  and  of  the  sick,  as  in  the  case  of  the  male  deacons,  various 
other  services  no  doubt  came  to  be  added,  though  we  have  no  distinct 
account  of  them.  Among  these  we  reckon  the  education  of  orphans, 
attention  to  strangers,  the  practice  of  hospitality  (comp.  1  Tim.  5  :  10), 
and  the  assistance  needed  at  the  baptism  of  females. 

The  existence  of  such  deaconesses  in  the  apostolic  church  is  placed 
beyond  doubt  by  Rom.  16  :  1,  where  Paul  commends  to  the  kind  inte- 
rest of  the  Roman  Christians  the  sister,  Phebe,  probably  the  bearer  of 
the  letter,  describing  her  as  "  a  servant  of  the  church  which  is  at  Cen- 
chreae"  {^oiaav  Siukovov  rye  £KK?iTjciac  ttjc  iv  KEyxpeaig^.  In  all  proba- 
bility Tryphena,  Tryphosa,  and  Persis,  who  are  praised  (v.  12)  for  their 
labor  in  the  Lord,  served  the  Roman  church  in  the  same  capacity.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  still  a  question,  whether  the  widows  in  1  Tim.  5  : 
9-15  are  proper  deaconesses  ;'■'  or  female  presbyters  {npeajBvTiSec,  viduae 

^  So  Grotius,  on  Rom.  16:1:  "In  Judaea  Diaconi  viri  etiam  mulieribus  ministrare 
poterant :  erat  enim  ibi  liberior  ad  foeminas  aditus  quam  in  Graecia,  ubi  viris  clausa 
■yvvaLKCJviTic.  Ideo  dupplici  in  Graecia  foeminarum  auxilio  Ecclesiae  opus  habuere," 
etc.     Comp.  Rothe,  p.  246. 

*  As  is  pre-supposed  in  the  Cod.  Theodos.  L.  16.  Tit.  2,  Lex.  27  :  "  Nulla  nisi  emen- 
sis  60  annis  secundum  praeceptum  ^postoli  (comp.  1  Tim.  5:9)  ad  Diaconissarum  con- 
sortium transferatur."  Among  modern  scholars  this  interpretation  is  defended  particu- 
larly by  Rolhe,  p.  243  sqq.  and  Wieseler;  Chronol.  des  apott.  Zeitalters,  p.  309  sq. 


636  §  135.     DEACONESSES.  [in-  BOOK. 

ecclesiasticae) ,  like  those,  who  in  the  age  after  the  apostles  exercised  a 
certain  oversight  over  the  female  part  of  the  congregation,  particularly 
over  widows  and  orphans  ;'  or  finally,  according  to  Neauder's  view,^ 
merely  such  widows  as  were  supported  by  the  church,  and,  though  with- 
out official  character,  were  expected  to  set  before  the  rest  of  their  sex 
the  example  of  a  walk  and  conversation  wholly  devoted  to  God.  The 
first  interpretation  we  hold  to  be  the  most  probable.  Provision  for  des- 
titute widows  was,  from  the  first,  an  important  branch  of  practical 
charity  in  the  Christian  church  (comp.  Acts  6:1).  But  it  was  at  the 
same  time  highly  desirable  to  make  this  class  of  persons,  if  possible, 
of  service  to  the  church,  even  from  regard  for  the  poor  themselves,  that 
they  might  eat  their  bread  with  honor  and  satisfaction,  without  violating 
the  maxim  :  "  If  any  would  not  work,  neither  should  he  eat"  (2  Thess. 
3  :  10).  Respecting  this  Paul  now  furnishes  the  necessary  instructions 
(1  Tim.  5  :  3  sqq.).  He  first  speaks  of  widows  in  general,  and  directs, 
that  the  church  support  those  who  are  '^'  widows  indeed,"  i.  e.  truly 
solitary  and  helpless  (as  the  Greek  term  x'lga,  the  desolate,  of  itself  im- 
plies), and  who  lead  an  honorable  and  pious  life  in  retired  communion 
with  God  ;  but  not  those  who  had  children  or  other  relatives  to  depend 
on,  or  who  by  their  irregular  conduct  had  already  cut  off  their  spiritual 
connection  with  the  church  (v.  3-8).  Then  in  v.  9  and  10  he  distin- 
guishes in  the  circle  of  these  pious  widows  a  still  smaller  class  of  those 
who  were  matriculated  or  enrolled,  and  demands  in  them  certain  quali- 
fications, which  it  is  most  natural  to  refer  to  the  office  of  deaconess. 
If  we  understand  KaTaXeyia^u,  v.  9,  of  an  insertion  ■  merely  in  the  list  of 
those  who  were  to  be  supported  from  the  congregational  fund,  the  limi- 
tation of  this  benefit  to  such  as  were  over  sixty  years  of  age  and  had 
been  but  once  married,  is  repugnant  to  reason  and  Christian  charity  ; 
since  younger  widows  and  those  of  a  second  marriage  might  be  equally 
destitute  and  worthy  of  assistance.  It  is  also  inconsistent  with  the  con- 
text ;  for  Paul  himself,  v.  14,  advises  the  younger  widows  to  marry 
again,  which,  in  this  view,  would  have  been  to  cut  themselves  off  from 
all  prospect  of  help  in  case  of  a  second  widowhood.  This  interpretation 
too  leaves  it  inexplicable,  why  he  should  speak  of  a  special  vow,  to 
which  he  seems  to  refer  in  the  words  :  ore  rf/v  npurriv  niaTiv  j]-&iT7]aav,  v. 
12.  The  difficulty  falls  away,  if  naralEyia'&u  be  understood  to  mean 
election  and  ordination  to  a  particular  office.     And  to  this  also  the 

^  So  Chrysostom,  and  after  him  especially  Mosheim,  in  his  Exposition  of  the  Epistle 
to  Timothy,  p.  444-446  (who  had  before,  on  the  contrary,  in  his  Comment,  de  reb.  chr.  a. 
Const.  M.,  referred  the  passage  to  the  deaconesses),  Heidenreich,  De  Wette,  and 
Wiesinger,  ad  loc. 

'  jlpost.  Gesch.  p.  265  sq.    So  also  Jerome,  Theodoret,  and  others. 


GOTERNM.J  §  136,       THE    APOCALYPTIC    ANGELS.  537 

other  requisitions  mentioned  would  seem  to  look.  For,  in  addition  to  ad- 
vanced age,  securing  general  respect  and  constancy  in  service,'  and  besides 
monogamy,  which  was  also  required  of  bishops  and  deacons  (1  Tim.  3  : 
2,  12),  the  apostle  demands  of  such  a  widow,  that  she  should  have  an 
unspotted  reputation,  experience  in  the  training  of  children,  and  some 
distinction  for  hospitality,  benevolence,  and  exemplary  piety  in  general. 
This  prescription,  however,  does  not  necessarily  exclude  virgins  from  the 
office  of  deaconess,  where  they  had  the  requisite  moral  qualifications  ; 
though  for  many  of  its  duties  these  were  certainly  not  so  well  fitted  as 
experienced,  venerable  matrons." 

§  136.    The  Avgels  of  the  Apocalypse.     Rise  of  Primitive  Episcopacy. 

Finally,  at  the  close  of  the  apostolic  period,  we  meet  with  a  peculiar 
class  of  officers,  the  angels  of  the  seven  churches  of  Asia  Minor,  to 
whom  the  epistles  in  the  Revelation  of  St.  John  (c.  2  and  3)  are 
addressed,  and  who  mark  the  transition  from  the  apostolical  to  the  epis- 
copal constitution  in  its  primitive  Catholic  form.  What  these  angels 
were  is,  however,  a  matter  of  controversy.  The  basis  of  our  inter- 
pretation must  be  the  passage,  1  :  20 :  "  The  seven  stars  are  the 
angels  of  the  seven  churches  ;  and  the  seven  candlesticks,  which  thou 
sawest,  are  the  seven  churches."  1.  We  must  at  the  outset  discard  the 
view,  that  the  angels  here  correspond  to  the  deputies  of  the  Jewish 
synagogues  (the  -i^aairi  '^n'^bip  legati  ecclesiae).^  For  these  had  an 
entirely  subordinate  place,  being  mere  clerks,  or  readers  of  the  standing 
forms  of  prayers,  and  messengers  of  the  synagogues  ;  whereas  the  angels 
in  question  are  compared  to  stars,  and  represented  as  presiding  over  the 
churches  ;  nor  have  we  elsewhere  any  trace  of  the  transfer  of  that 
Jewish  office  to  the  Christian  church.  2.  Nor,  on  the  other  hand,  can 
we  consider  them  as  proper  angels,  the  heavenly  guardians  and  represen- 
tatives of  the  churches  ;  as  with  Daniel  every  nation  has  its  tutelar 

*  The  church  subsequently  did  not  limit  itself  strictly  to  the  sixty  years.  The  coun- 
cil of  Chalcedon  reduced  the  age  of  service  for  deaconesses  to  the  fortieth  year. 

"  Many  expositors,  following  Chrysostom,  take  also  the  •women  mentioned  in  1  Tim. 
3  :  11  for  deaconesses.  But  the  term  yvvalKs^  is  too  indefinite  for  this,  and  the  whole 
connection  gives  it  much  rather  a  reference  to  the  wives  of  deacons  and  bishops. 

'  So  Vitringa,  Lightfoot,  even  Bengel,  and  latterly  also  Winer,  who,  in  the  3rd  ed. 
of  his  Reallexik.,  under  the  article  "Synagogen,"  Part  II.  p.  550,  Note  2,  confidently 

affirms:  "The   dyye^of  rr/c  SKKATjaiag,  Rev.  2  :  1,  is  simply  the    ^tiaSZH  n^blD  " 

with  a  reference  to  Ewald's  Comment,  on  the  Apoc.  p.  1 04.  Against  this,  De  Wette. 
ad  ^poc.  1  :  20  (p.  41),  justly  observes :  "No  interpretation  can  be  more  opposed  to 
the  spirit  of  the  book.  How  could  the  author,  who  so  often  speaks  of  angels,  and  of 
their  presiding  over  particular  spheres  (7:1.  9  :  11.  16  :  5),  be  led  to  use  the  term 
here  in  so  low  and  common  a  sense  ?" 


538  §  136.     THE  apucalyjtic  ako-els.  [ni.  hook. 

angel.'  For  it  is  altogether  incompatible  with  the  Biblical  idea  of  angels, 
that  letters  should  be  written  to  them,  with  exhortations  to  repentance, 
fidelity,  and  steadfastness,  describing  them  as  rich,  poor,  hot,  cold,  luke- 
warm, and  as  having  a  particular  place  of  residence.  3.  More  probable 
is  the  view,  that  the  angels  here  are  nothing  but  a  figurative  personi- 
fication of  the  churches  themselves.''  In  favor  of  this  hypothesis  are 
the  facts,  that  their  names  are  never  mentioned  ;  that  their  persons  are 
left  entirely  out  of  view  ;  and  that  what  the  Spirit  writes  to  them,  is 
intended  for  the  whole  congregation.  But  it  is  decisive  against  this 
view,  that  in  c.  1  :  20  they  are  explicitly  distinguished  from  the  golden 
candlesticks  or  churches  ;  and  as  these  are  thus  already  exhibited  under 
a  figure,  it  would  be  evidently  incongruous  and  confusing  to  personify 
them  again  under  another  image  in  the  same  connection, — that  is,  to 
express  one  symbol,  the  candlesticks,  by  another,  the  stars.  4.  The 
only  true  interpretation,  as  well  as  the  oldest  and  most  generally 
received,  is  the  one,  which  makes  the  angels  the  rulers  and  teachers  of 
the  congregations,  whom  Daniel  (12  :  3)  also  compares  to  stars.  They 
are  styled  angels,  as  being  the  ambassadors  or  messengers  of  God  to  the 
churches,^  on  whom  devolved  the  pastoral  care  and  government  (comp. 
Matt.  18  :  10.  Acts  12  :  15),  and  who  were  thus  accountable  for  the  con- 
dition of  their  charges  (comp.  Acts  20  :  28).  This  term  is  chosen,  there- 
fore, to  remind  the  rulers  of  their  divine  mission,  their  high  vocation,  and 
their  heavy  responsibility.  So  in  Mai.  2  :  Y  the  priest  is  called  the  "mes- 
senger (angel)  of  the  Lord  ;"  and  in  Mai.  3  :  1  it  is  said  of  the  prophet, 
the  forerunner  of  the  Messiah  :  "  Behold,  I  will  send  my  messenger" 
(angel);  as  also  in  Matt.  11  :  10,  where  this  prophecy,  with  its 
honorary  title,  is  fixed  on  John  the  Baptist  (comp.  also  Hagg.  1  :  13  : 
"  Then  spake  Haggai,  the  Lord's  angel,  in  the  Lord's  message  unto  the 
people."     Is.  42  :  19.     44  :  26). 

But  this  interpretation  still  leaves  room  for  two  different  views.  Either 
the  angels  are  concrete  individuals  ;  and  then  they  must  be  regarded  as 
actual  bishops,  though  with  very  small  dioceses,  not  exceeding  the  bounds 
of  a  moderate  pastoral  charge,  with  the  only  exception  perhaps  of  Ephe- 
sus.     This  is  the  view  of  almost  all  the  Catholic  expositors,  and  of  most 

*  So  some  church  fathers  ;  and  of  modern  commentators  on  the  Apocalypse,  Ziillig 
and  De  Wette,  the  latter  of  whom,  however,  approaches  the  third  view,  making  the 
angels  to  he  the  churches  themselves  in  their  spiritual,  heavenly  relation. 

"  So  Arethas,  Salmasius,  Gabler,  and  others, 

^  Not  conversely,  the  messengers  of  the  churches  to  God,  as  Dr.  Robinson  has  it  in 
his  Lexic.  (p.  6,  new  ed.  1850) ;  "  The  angels  of  the  seven  churches  are  probably  the 
prophets  or  pastors  of  those  churches,  who  were  the  messengers,  delegates,  of  the 
churches  to  God  in  the  offering  of  prayer,  service,  etc." 


GOVERNM.]  §  13G.    THE    APOCAI.YPTIC   AXGELS.  '^  639 

of  the  English  Episcopalians.'  And  we  should  have  here,  accordingly,  a 
proof  of  the  existence  of  the  episcopal  system,  at  least  in  its  incipient 
form,  towards  the  close  of  the  first  century,  when  the  Apocalypse  was 
written.  ■'  Or  they  may  be  the  ministry  collectively,  the  whole  board  of 
officers,  including  both  the  presbyters  and  the  deacons.^  This  view  has 
unquestionably  in  its  favor  the  passages  already  quoted  from,  the  Old 
Testament,  where  the  name  angel  is  applied  to  the  whole  priestly  and 
prophetical  order  ;  as  also  the  fact,  that  certainly  not  the  bishops  alone, 
but  all  the  officers  were  responsible  for  the  moral  state  of  their  churches, 
and  formed  the  proper  representation  of  them.  Compare  Acts  20  :  11, 
28,  which  shows  that  at  least  in  the  time  of  Paul  there  were  a  number 
of  elders  inEphesus,  to  whom  collectively  \i  belonged  to  "feed  the  church 
of  God  ;"  also  1  Pet.  5  :  1-5. 

But  even  in  the  latter  case  the  impartial  inquirer  must  allow,  that  this 
phraseology  of  the  Apocalypse  already  looks  towards  the  idea  of  episco- 
pacy in  its  primitive  form,  that  is,  to  a  monarchical  concentration  of  go- 
vernmental power  in  one  person,  bearing  a  patriarchal  relation  to  the 
congregation,  and  responsible  in  an  eminent  sense  for  the  spiritual  condi- 
tion of  the  whole.  This  view  is  confirmed  by  the  fact,  that  among  the 
immediate  disciples  of  John  we  find  at  least  one — Polycarp — who  accord- 
ing to  the  unanimous  tradition  of  Irenaeus  (his  own  disciple,  himself  a 
bishop),^  of  Tertullian,^  Eusebius,"  and  tSerome,^  was,  by  apostolical  ap- 

'  Dr.  Thiersch  also  favorg  this  interpretation  in  his  Gesch.  der  apost.  Kirche,  p.  278, 
where  he  says,  ''What  are  the  angels  of  the  seven  churches,  but  superior  pastors,  each 
at  the  head  of  a  congregation,  and  at  least  similar  to  the  later  bishops?  The  ancients 
looked  on  them  as  bishops.  Of  all  the  church  fathers  who  touch  upon  the  matter,  not 
one  (?)  thinks  of  any  other  interpretation." 

*  Among  the  ancients  the  word  uyyeloq^  like  its  grammatical  equivalent,  dnooToloQ, 
sometimes  occurs  as  the  designation  of  a  bishop  ;  as  in  Socrates,  H.  E.  IV.  23  ;  and  in 
the  Anglo-Saxon  church  the  corresponding  expression,  Gods  Bydels,  i.  e.  Dei  nuntii  et 
ministri,  comp.  Bingham's  Orig.  I.  83  and  Rothe,  1.  c.  p.  503.  Such  use  of  these  terms, 
however,  no  doubt  arose  from  the  above  interpretation  of  the  Apocalypse,  and  hence 
proves  nothing  for  the  antiquity  of  episcopacy. 

*  So,  among  modern  commentators,  especially  Hengstenberg,  Die  Offenb.  dcs  h.  Joh.  I. 
p.  153  sq.  He  refers,  not  inaptly,  to  the  introduction  of  Polycarp's  epistle  to  the  Philip- 
pians  ;  "  Polycarp  and  the  elders  with  him  {kol  o'l  avv  avru  TTptajiv-epoL)  to  the  church 
of  God  dwelling  at  Philippi,"  and  to  the  superscription  of  the  epistle  of  Ignatius  to  the 
Philadelphians;  "  Especially  if  they  are  one  with  the  bishop,  and  with  the  presbyters 
and  the  deacons,  who  are  with  him."  It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  here,  par- 
ticularly in  the  epistles  of  Ignatius,  even  in  the  smaller  recension,  the  bishop  plainly 
rises  above  the  presbyters  as  the  chief  leader  and  responsible  head  of  the  church. 

*  Adv.  haer.  III.  3. 

^  De  praescr.  haer.  c.  32  :  "  Sicut  Smyrnaeorum  ecclesia  Polycarpum  ab  Joanne  con- 
locatum  refert."  «  H  E.  III.  36. 

'  Catal.  s.  Polyc. :  "  Polycarpus,  Joannis  apostoli  discipulus,  ab  eo  Smyrnae  epis- 
copus  ordinatus,"  etc. 


540  §  13G.       THE    APOCALYPTIC    ANGELS.  [m.  BOOK. 

pointment,  actually  bishop  of  Smyrna,  one  of  the  seven  churches  of  the 
Apocalypse.  Add  to  this  the  statement  of  Clement  of  Alexandria,'  that 
John  after  his  return  from  Patmos  appointed  "  bishops  ;"  the  Epistles  of 
Ignatius,  of  the  beginning  of  the  second  century,  which  already  distin- 
guish the  bishop  from  the  presbytery,  as  the  head  of  the  congregation, 
and  in  which  the  three  orders  pyramidically  culminate  in  a  regular  hier- 
archy, although  without  the  least  trace  yet  of  a  primacy  ;  and,  finally, 
the  fact,  that  Asia  Minor  was  the  very  region  where  the  rapid  growth 
of  heresies  and  the  pressure  of  outward  dangers  urged  towards  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  firmly  consolidated  system  of  government  ; — and  we 
assuredly  have  much  in  favor  of  the  hypothesis  so  learnedly  and  inge- 
niously set  forth  lately  by  Dr.  Rothe,  that  the  germs  of  episcopacy  are 
to  be  found  as  early  as  the  close  of  the  first  century,  and  particularly  in 
the  sphere  of  the  later  labors  of  St.  John.  Dr.  Thiersch  also  arrives  at 
a  similar  result.  But  even  in  this  case  we  must  still  with  the  latter  his- 
torian insist  on  an  important  distinction  between  the  "angels"  of  the 
book  of  Revelation,  and  the  later  diocesan  bishops.  For  aside  from  the 
very  limited  extent  of  their  charges,  as  compared  with  the  large  terri- 
tory of  most  Greek,  Roman  Catholic  and  Anglican  bishops,  these  angels 
stood  below  the  apostles  and  their  legates,  and  were  not  yet  invested 
with  the  great  power  (particularly  the  right  to  confirm  and  ordain), 
which  fell  to  the  later  bishops  after  the  death  of  the  apostles.  For 
while  they  lived,  they  were  beyond  all  question  the  holders  and  execu- 
tives of  the  supreme  authority  in  doctrine  and  government,  and  admin- 
istered ordination  either  in  person  or  by  their  delegates.  The  latter  is 
expressly  affirmed  of  John,  in  the  statement  of  Clement  of  Alexandria 
above  cited.  The  angels  accordingly,  if  we  are  to  understand  by  them 
single  individuals,  must  be  considered  as  forming  the  transition  from  the 
presbyters  of  the  Apostolic  age  to  the  bishops  of  the  second  century. 

In  addition  to  this,  however,  the  episcopal  system  was  simultaneously 
making  its  way  also  in  other  parts  of  the  church  ;  in  Jerusalem,  where 
James  held  in  all  respects  the  position  of  a  bishop,  as  in  fact  he  is 
directly  styled,  even  by  the  oldest  fathers,  bishop  of  Jerusalem  ;"■'  in 
Antioch  and  Rome,  whose  first  bishops  are  said  to  have  been  appointed 
by  the  apostles  themselves,  and  are  known  to  us  by  name  on  the  testi- 
mony of  such  men  as  Irenaeus,  Origen,  TertuUian,  Eusebius,  and  other 
ancient  documents  Indeed  almost  all  the  evangelists  or  delegates  of 
the  apostles  are  in  their  later  years  placed  by  tradition  in  particular 
episcopal  sees  (comp.  §  131).  If  now  we  consider,  in  fine,  that  in  the 
second  century  the  episcopal  system  existed,  as  a  historical  fact,  in  the 

'   Quis  dives  salvus,  c.  42. 

"  Comp.  above,  §  95,  and  the  close  of  §  129. 


GovERNM.]  §  130.     THE  ArocALYnic  ais^gels.  541 

whole  church,  east  and  west,  and  was  unresistingly  acknowledged,  nay, 
universally  regarded  as  at  least  indirectly  of  divine  appointment  ;  we 
can  hardly  escape  the  conclusion,  that  this  form  of  government  naturally 
grew  out  of  the  circumstances  and  wants  of  the  church  at  the  end  of 
the  apostolic  period,  and  could  not  have  been  so  quickly  and  so  gene- 
rally introduced  without  the  sanction,  or  at  least  acquiescence,  of  the 
surviving  apostles,  especially  of  John,  who  labored  on  the  very  threshold 
of  the  second  century,  and  left  behind  him  a  number  of  venerable  dis- 
ciples. At  all  events  it  needs  a  strong  infusion  of  skepticism  or  of 
traditional  prejudice  to  enable  one,  in  the  face  of  all  these  facts  and  wit- 
nesses, to  pronounce  the  episcopal  government  of  the  ancient  church  a 
sheer  apostasy  from  the  apostolic  form,  and  a  radical  revolution/  But 
as  the  clearer  data  for  the  rise  and  character  of  the  episcopal  system  all 
lie  outside  of  the  New  Testament,  the  more  detailed  examination  of 
them  belongs  rather  to  the  second  period,  than  to  the  history  of  the 
apostolic  church. 

'  We  need  scarcely  say,  that  our  position  here  is  not  dogmatical  and  sectarian  at  all, 
but  entirely  historical.  The  high  antiquity,  the  usefulness,  and  the  necessity  of  the 
episcopal  form  of  government  in  the  times  before  the  Reformation  does  not  necessarily 
make  it  of  force  for  all  succeeding  ages.  For  we  have  no  passage  in  the  N.  T.  which 
prescribes  three  orders,  or  any  particular  form  of  church-government  (excepting  the 
ministry  itself),  as  essential  to  the  existence  of  the  church  ;  and  history  abundantly 
proves,  that  Christian  life  has  flourished  under  various  forms  of  government.  Pres- 
byterians (of  the  Scotch  jure  divino  school)  and  Episcopalians  in  this  controversy  very 
frequently  become  equally  one-sided  and  pedantic.  While  the  former  set  up  the  apos- 
tolic church  under  a  particular  traditional  view  as  the  absolute  standard,  too  little  re- 
garding even  many  important  facts  of  the  New  Testament,  and  either  entirely  reject- 
ing or  distorting  the  weighty  testimony  of  church  antiquity;  the  latter  likewise 
attribute  an  undue  importance  to  their  opposite  system  of  government,  and  make  the 
question  of  outward  ecclesiastical  organization,  what  it  evidently  is  not,  the  great  cen- 
tral question  of  the  church.  The  ancient  church  before  and  after  the  Nicene  council, — 
the  age  to  which  Anglican  Protestantism  is  so  fond  of  appealing,  and  with  which  it 
imagines  itself  identical, — held  with  the  same  earnestness  to  many  other  doctrines  and 
practices,  which  are  far  more  Catholic  than  Protestant,  and  are  discarded  even  by  the 
English  Episcopal  church.  Think  for  instance  of  the  early  views  on  the  primacy,  on 
celibacy,  on  ascetic  and  monastic  life,  on  the  meritoriousness  of  good  works,  on  the 
eucharistic  sacrifice,  etc.  In  the  great  controversy  between  Catholicism  and  Protes- 
tantism the  question  between  Episcopalianism  and  Presbyterianism  holds  an  altogether 
subordinate  place.  Anglicanism,  which  acknowledges  the  thirty-nine  articles  as  its 
symbol,  differs  from  the  other  churches  of  the  Reformation,  not  in  kind,  but  only  in 
degree,  and  in  its  principle  stands  or  falls  with  Protestantism  as  a  whole.  Hence  the 
Roman  church  treats  Anglican  converts,  even  though  they  be  priests  and  bishops,  just 
ds  she  treats  those  who  come  from  Lutheran,  Presbyterian,  or  Puritan  ranks,  and  does 
not  even  acknowledge  their  confirmation,  much  less  their  ordination. 


BOOK    FOURTH. 


CHRISTIAN    WORSHIP 


CHRISTIAN  WORSHIP. 


§  137.  Import  of  the  Christian  Worship,  and  its  Relation  to  the  Jewish, 

Worship  has  a  twofold  significance.  It  is  designed,  first,  to  awaken 
the  Christian  life,  especially  by  preaching  and  baptism  ;  secondly,  to 
sustain  and  increase  the  life  already  existing,  to  present  it  as  an  offering 
to  God,^  and  to  celebrate  the  marriage  of  the  church  with  her  heavenly 
Bridegroom.  This  also  is  done  partly  by  preaching  and  the  exposition 
of  the  Scriptures,  partly  by  prayer,  singing,  confession  of  faith,  and  par- 
ticipation in  the  Lord's  Supper.  It  has  reference  exclusively  to  be- 
lievers ;  it  is  worship  in  the  strict  and  proper  sense,  not  limited  to  the 
church  militant,  but  continued  in  heaven,  forming  an  essential  constituent 
of  the  eternal  bliss,  of  which  it  is  on  earth  a  foretaste.  Public  adoration 
and  praise  of  the  triune  God  is  the  highest  and  holiest  act  which  the 
congregation  can  perform.  Christ,  indeed,  gave  no  more  complete  in- 
structions or  binding  prescriptions  respecting  the  particular  forms  of  wor- 
ship, than  he  did  respecting  the  church  constitution.  But  he  sanctioned 
by  his  own  practice,  and  spiritualized  the  essential  elements  of  the  Jew- 
ish cultus  ;  left  a  model  prayer,  and  the  precious  promise  of  his  presence 
in  every  assembly  of  believers  (Matt.  18  :  20)  ;  and  at  the  same  time, 
by  the  institution  of  preaching,  and  of  the  holy  sacraments  of  baptism 
and  the  supper,"  fixed  the  fundamental  elements  of  the  Christian  worship, 
from  which  it  then  gradually  developed  itself  under  the  special  direction 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  according  to  the  necessities  of  the  apostolic  age. 

Simultaneously  with  the  rise  of  the  Christian  church  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost  appeared  also  the  Christian  cultus  in  both  its  forms,  as  design- 
ed for  the  edification  of  the  disciples,  and  for  the  conversion  of  unbe- 
lievers ;  and  in  Acts  2  :  42  the  essential  parts  of  this  social  worship  of 
God  are  stated  as  (1)  the  teaching  of  the  apostles,  including  preaching  and 
the  exposition  of  the  Scriptures,  particularly  of  the  prophecies  and  their 
fulfillment  by  Christ  ;  (2)  fraternal  fellowship,  which  here  embraces  no 

'  Comp.  1  Pet.  2  :  5.     Heb.  13  :  15. 

"  Malt  28  :  19,  20.     Lu.  22  :  19.     1  Cor.  ]1  :  24-26. 

35 


546  §  137.    IMPOET   OF   THE   CHKISTIAJST   WOESHIP,  [iV.  BOOK. 

doubt  also  the  contributions  for  the  poor  ;'  (3)  breaking  of  bread,  that 
is,  the  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  in  connection  with  the  agapae  ; 
(4)  prayer,  including  petition,  intercession,  and  thanksgiving. 

The  worship  of  the  primitive  church,  like  its  government,  was  con- 
formed in  some  measure  to  the  existing  institutions  of  the  temple  and 
synagogue  ;  but  these  were  made  to  refer  to  Christ,  as  their  living  centre, 
and  were  thus  spiritualized  and  transformed.  The  apostles  felt  the  need 
to  maintain,  as  long  as  was  at  all  possible,  their  connection  with  the 
worship  of  their  fathers,  especially  as  the  Lord  himself  had  so  often 
visited  the  temple,  and  had  participated  in  the  solemnities  of  the  great 
feasts.  They  used  to  visit  the  sanctuary  at  the  accustomed  hours  of 
prayer  ;  Acts  3  :  1  and  2  :  46,  where  it  is  said  of  the  Christians  in  gen- 
eral, that  "they  continued  daily  with  one  accord  in  the  temple."  But 
besides  this,  they  assembled  also  in  private  houses,  as  is  shown  by  the 
words  immediately  following — "  breaking  bread  from  house  to  house."* 
Thus  the  Lord's  Supper  and  love-feasts  were  held  at  the  houses  of  the 
converts  in  rotation,  making  each  family  a  temple. 

It  may  with  tolerable  certainty  be  supposed  that  the  Jewish  Chris- 
tians, particularly  the  congregation  at  Jerusalem,  observed  the  whole 
ceremonial  law  with  its  weekly  and  yearly  festivals,  and  did  not  formally 
renounce  the  cultus  of  the  Old  Testament  theocracy  till  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem  in  the  year  10.  In  favor  of  this  view  are  Paul's 
controversy  with  the  Judaizing  Galatians,^  whom  he  opposes,  not  be- 
cause they  kept  the  Jewish  feasts,  but  because  they  set  up  this 
observance  as  a  condition  of  salvation,  and  wished  to  lay  the  yoke 
of  the  law  even  on  the  Gentile  Christians,  who  were  not  bound  to 
it ;  the  14th  and  15th  chapters  of  Romans,  where  the  apostle  requires 
indulgence  towards  pious  Jewish  Christians,  who  scrupulously  distin- 
guished days,  and  lived  an  ascetic  life  ;  the  advice  which  James  and  his 
elders  gave  to  Paul  in  reference  to  the  Nazarite  vow  (Acts  21  :  20- 
25)  ;  the  term  "synagogue,"  which  James  (2  :  2)  applies  to  the  wor- 
shiping assemblies  of  Christians  ;  finally,  that  old  tradition,  which  makes 
this  James  to  have  daily  visited  the  temple,  and  prayed  on  his  knees  for 
all  the  people  till  his  death.  Without  some  such  close  conformity  to 
the  sacred  customs  of  the  fathers,  there  is  no  accounting  for  the  high 
reputation  of  this  head  of  the  church  of  Jerusalem  among  the  proper 
Jews,  and  for  his  being  honored  with  the  title  of  "  the  Just."  * 

'  Comp.  Rom.  15  :  26.     2  Cor.  8:4.     9  :  13. 

'  Kaf  oIkov  we  must  translate  with  Beza,  domatim,  per  singulas  domos,  like   Kard 
iroTiiv,  Tit.  1  :  5,  in  the  sense  of  oppidatim. 
'  Gal.  4  :  10.     5  :  1  sqq.     Comp.  Col.  2  :  16. 
*  Conip.  above,  §  95. 


WORSHIP.]  AND    ITS    RELATION    TO   THE   JEWISH.  64:7 

Not  only  the  Jewish  Christians,  however,  but  even  the  liberal  apostle 
of  the  Gentiles,  the  enemy  of  all  spiritual  bondage  and  mechanical  cere- 
monialism, like  a  genuine  conservative,  conformed,  as  far  as  possible,  to 
the  law,  and  endeavored  to  be  to  the  Jews  a  Jew,  that  he  might  make 
them  Christians  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,   he  bravely  defended  the 
freedom  of  the  Gentiles,  to  whom  the  external  law  had  not  been  given. 
On  his  missionary  tours,  as  we  have  already  seen,  he  always  went  first 
into  the  synagogues,  connected  his  preaching  of  the  gospel  with  the 
usual   reading  and  exposition  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  made  it  his 
rule  to  continue  in  this  communion,  until  thrust  out  by  obdurate  unbe- 
lief.    To  this  course  he  faithfully  adhered  iu  spite  of  all  the  hostilities  of 
particular  synagogues.     He  employed  on  his  own  person  also,  not  merely 
out  of  accommodation,  but  from  a  real  sense  of  its  usefulness,  the  vener- 
able ascetic  discipline   of  the  Jews   to   "  keep  his  body   under,"  and 
strengthen  his  spiritual  life.     For  even  to  the  regenerate,  so  long  as 
they  remain  in  the  body,  the  law  is  a  means  of  salutary  discipline,  of 
regulating  the  passions,  and  strengthening  the  will.     Witness  Paul's 
vow  at  Cenchreae  (Acts  18  :  18,  21)  ;  his  earnest  desire  to  keep  the 
feast  of  Pentecost  in  Jerusalem  (18:  21.     20:  16);  and  his  joining 
the  Nazarites  of  the  church  in  that  place  (21  :  18-21  ;  comp.  §  82). 
It  is  asserted,  indeed,  by  Baur  and  his  followers,  that  these  traits  are 
irreconcilable  with  Paul's  anti-Jewish  position  as  set  forth  particularly 
in  the  epistle  to  the  Galatians  ;  and  to  be  therefore  attributed  to  the 
effort  of  the  author  of  the  Acts,  to  reconcile  the  Jewish  and  Gentile 
Christians.     But  all  that  is  true  in  this  is,  that  Luke  exhibits  with  spe- 
cial predilection  the  conservative  aspect  of  Paul's  course  without  thereby 
doing  any  violence  to  history.     For  Paul  was  opposed  not  to  the  law 
itself,  but  only  to  making  salvation  depend  on  the  observance  of  the  law 
or  on  any-  human  work  ;  thus  laying  a  yoke  of  slavery  on  the  redeemed 
spirit,  placing  the  essence  of  morahty  and  piety,  not  in  the  disposition, 
but  in  something  outward  and  mechanical,  and  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously repudiating  the  fundamental  principle  of  the  gospel,  Christ  the 
only  fountain  of  salvation.     And  with  opposition  to  this  there  might 
very  well  be  united  a  high  conception  of  the  importance  of  the  law  in 
proper  dependence  on  the  gospel,  as  also  of  form  in  due  subordination  to 
spirit.     Then  again  Paul  admitted,   that  the  Jewish-Christian  position 
was  entitled  to  regard.     He  explicitly  enjoined   charity  towards  the 
weak,  who  had  not  yet  been  able  fully  to  comprehend  the  freedom  of  the 
gospel ;'  and,  in  general,  he  had  no  desire  to  do  away  the  national  anta- 

'  Rom.  14  :  1-6.     1  Cor.  8  :  9-13. 


548  §  137.       IMPORT    OF   TUE    CHKISTIAN    WORSHIP.        [iV.  BOOK. 

gonism  between  Jews  and  Gentiles  (which  entered  also  into  matters  of 
religion)  by  any  violent  or  premature  measures/ 

When  at  last  the  divine  judgment  broke  upon  obdurate  Judaism  and 
destroyed  the  temple,  the  centre  of  the  theocratic  cultus,  then  also  came 
forth  the  Christian  worship  in  full  independence  from  behind  the  veil. 
The  Jewish  and  Gentile-Christian  systems  were  reconciled  by  retaining, 
indeed,  in  the  church  the  essential  elements  of  the  Old  Testament 
service,  but  divesting  them  of  their  narrow  legal  character  and  regene- 
rating them  by  the  peculiar  spirit  of  the  gospel.  The  Jewish  Sabbath 
was  lost  in  the  Christian  Sunday.  The  ancient  passover  and  pentecost 
were  exchanged  for  the  feasts  of  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ 
and  of  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  which  they  had  typically 
pointed.  The  bloody  sacrifices  gave  place  to  the  thankful  commemo- 
ration of  the  one  offering  on  the  cross,  which  wrought  out  an  eternal 
redemption.  The  temple  made  with  hands  was  demolished,  but  was 
rebuilt  by  the  crucified  and  risen  Messiah  in  far  greater  glory,  as  a 
worship  of  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth  (comp.  Jno.  2  :  19.     4  :  23  sq.). 

§  138.   Sacred  Places  and  Times. 

In  opposition  to  the  superstitious  restriction  of  the  worship  of  God  to 
a  particular  place,  whether  Jerusalem  or  Gerizim,  Christianity  teaches 
the  purely  spiritual  and  therefore  immaterial  and  omnipresent  nature  of 
God,  and  a  corresponding  worship  of  God  in  spirit  and  in  truth  (Jno. 
4  :  24).  The  whole  world  is  his  temple.  Heaven  is  his  throne  ;  earth 
his  footstool ;  and  everywhere,  even  in  deserts  and  in  caves,  may  his 
presence  be  fully  enjoyed.  This  of  course,  however,  does  not  forbid  the 
setting  apart  particular  localities  for  exclusively  religious  purposes. 
Such  consecration,  on  the  contrary,  is  required  by  our  finite,  sensuous 
nature  and  the  need  of  social  worship.  The  Christians  in  Jerusalem,  as 
we  have  already  remarked,  visited  the  temple  at  the  usual  hours  of 
prayer  ;  but  besides  this  they  assembled  also  in  private  houses  for  devo- 
tional purposes,  and  especially  for  celebrating  the  Lord's  Supper."''  Out 
of  the  capital,  the  synagogue,  where  the  Lord,^  and  after  his  example 
the  apostle  Paul,*  were  accustomed  to  teach,  was  the  most  natural  place 
for  the  first  preaching  of  the  missionaries  ;  and  where  the  whole  Jewish 
population  of  a  city  went  over  to  the  true  faith,  the  synagogue  of  itself 

'  1  Cor.  7  :  18-20.  Comp.  what  we  have  said  on  former  occasions  (^  67,  71,  76,  82) 
respecting  the  conduct  of  this  truly  free  apostle  towards  his  brethren  of  the  circum- 
cision. 

^Lu.  24:53.     Acts  2  :  46.     3:1.     5:42. 

'  Matt.  4  :  23.     9  :  35.     Mk.  1  :  39.     Lu.  4  :  15,  44.     Jno.  18  :  20. 

*  Acts  13  :  5,  14.     14:1.     17:10,17.     18:19.     19:5. 


WORSHIP.]  §    138.      SACRED   PLACES   AND   TIMES.  549 

became  a  Christian  church.  But  this  was  probably  very  rarely  the  case, 
or  at  any  rate  can  have  occurred  only  in  the  smaller  communities. 
Commonly  the  new  converts  were  thrust  out  by  the  unbelieving  majority, 
and  had  no  alternative  but  to  hire  some  public  place,'  or  to  meet  for 
mutual  edification  in  the  private  houses  of  their  more  prominent 
brethren,  as  in  the  house  of  Lydia  at  Philippi  (Acts  16  :  15,  40),  of 
Jason  at  Thessalonica  (It  :  5,  t),  of  Justus  at  Corinth  (18  :  t),  of 
Aquila  and  Priscilla  at  Ephesus  (1  Cor.  16  :  19).  In  the  larger  cities 
and  congregations  there  were  several  such  places  of  meeting,  and  the 
assemblies  of  Christians,  which  held  their  regular  devotional  exercises  in 
them,  were  for  this  reason  called  the  churches  of  such  and  such  a  /lousc' 
That  separate  church  edifices  were  erected  during  this  period,  is  of 
course  not  to  be  supposed  ;  because  the  Christians  were  too  poor,  but 
especially  because  they  had  as  yet  no  legal  existence  as  a  body  in  the 
Roman  empire,  and  public  places  of  devotion  would  only  have  increased 
the  zeal  of  the  Jews  and  pagans  against  them.  Thus  did  the  greatest 
teachers  preach  in  the  humblest  places  !  Nay,  the  Saviour  of  the 
world  was  born  in  a  stable,  and  the  Lord  of  glory  lay  in  a  manger  ! 

With  the  time  of  divine  worship  the  case  was  the  same  as  with  the 
place.  The  absolute  spirituality  of  God,  which  the  Saviour  opposes  to 
the  narrow,  sensuous  notions  of  the  Samaritan  woman  (Jno.  4:21  sqq.), 
implies,  that  God  may  and  should  be  worshiped  not  only  everywhere, 
but  also  at  all  times.  Christianity  has,  therefore,  in  reality  abolished 
the  former  abstract  distinction  of  sacred  and  secular  seasons,  as  well  as 
the  distinction  of  clean  and  unclean  beasts  and  nations  (Comp.  Acts  10  : 
11  sqq.).  It  redeems  man  in  every  respect  from  subjection  to  the 
perishable  forces  of  nature.  In  idea,  the  wko/e  life  of  the  Christian 
should  be  an  unbroken  Sunday,  every  day  and  every  hour  being  devoted 
to  the  service  of  the  Lord  ;  and  what  here  lies  before  us  as  the  grand 
moral  problem  of  our  lives,  will  one  day  find  its  full  solution  in  the 
eternal  sabbath  of  the  saints,  which  is  promised  to  the  people  of  God  !^ 
But  as  the  limitation  of  our  earthly  life  by  space  requires  particular 
places  of  worship,  so  the  temporal  character  of  our  existence  and  the 

*  Here  may  perhaps  be  cited  Acts  19  :  9,  if  by  Tyrannus  we  understand  not  a 
Rabbi,  but,  as  is  more  probable,  a  heathen  rhetorician  (Suidas  naentions  a  sophist  ot 
this  name),  and  by  his  "school,"  in  which  Paul  tauyiht  for  two  years,  a  philosophical 
lecture-room. 

^ 'EKK?.ria[ai  Kar' ohov.  Rom.  16  :  4,  5, 14, 15.  1  Cor.  16:19.  Col.  4  :  15.  Philem. 
2.     Comp.  §  132. 

'  Com.  Heb.  4  :  1-11.  Rev,  14  :  13.  This  ideal  point  of  view  Dr.  Neander  in  his 
articles:  Ueber  die  christliche  Sonntagsfeier  (in  the  "Deutsche Zeitschrift  fiir  christliche 
Wissenschaft  und  christliches  Leben,"  1850,  No.  26-28)  holds  too  exclusively,  and 
allows,  therefore,  of  no  satisfactory  vindication  of  the  Sabbath. 


■530  §  138.       SACKED    PLACES    AND   TIMES.  [iV.  BOOK. 

nature  of  our  avocations  demand,  even  for  the  sake  of  order,  the  sepa- 
ration of  certain  hours  and  days  for  exclusively  religious  purposes. 
While  the  where  and  when,  not  indeed  of  the  more  spiritual  Old  Testa- 
ment worship,  yet  of  the  popular  Jewish  as  well  as  pagan  cultus,  stood 
opposed  to  the  everywhere  and  always  of  the  Christian  system  ;  the 
latter,  on  the  other  hand,  can  and  does  without  prejudice  to  its  spiritual 
and  universal  character  accommodate  itself  to  place  and  time,  and  will 
do  so,  till  the  earthly  order  of  things  shall  be  wholly  transformed  into  a 
heavenly  and  eternal.  So  in  fact  with  prayer.  We  should  be  always 
in  the  spirit  of  prayer.  Our  whole  life  should  be  an  unbroken  inter- 
course with  God  (1  Thess.  5  :  11).  Nevertheless  we  are  obliged  to  pray 
in  the  strict  sense,  to  pour  out  our  souls  in  petition,  intercession,  and 
thanksgiving  before  God,  at  certain  times. 

The  apostle  Paul  seems  indeed  at  first  sight  to  repudiate  all  sepa- 
ration of  days,  months,  and  years  as  times  of  special  solemnity.'  He 
censures  it  in  the  Galatians  as  a  falling  back  to  the  elementary  religion 
of  carnal  Judaism  and  to  the  bondage  of  the  law,  nay,  as  a  pagan 
nature-worship,  that  after  being  converted  from  heathenism  to  Christi- 
anity they  suifered  the  observance  of  Jewish  sabbaths  and  fast-days 
{f/fiegac),  new  moons  {/xyvac),  yearly  feasts,  such  as  the  passover,  pente- 
cost,  and  the  feast  of  tabernacles  (KaiQovc),  the  sabbatical  year  and  the 
year  of  jubilee  {evtavrovg) ,  to  be  imposed  upon  them  by  Judaizing  error- 
ists.  But  we  have  to  remember,  that  Paul  here  has  in  view  a  slavish, 
superstitious  observance  of  these  feasts,  as  though  the  salvation  of  all, 
Gentiles  as  well  as  Jews,  depended  on  it  ;  an  observance,  which,  there- 
fore, in  reality  sinks  to  the  level  of  the  pagan  nature-worship,  since  the 
sun,  moon,  and  planets  produce  those  divisions  of  time,  and  are  for  this 
reason  worshiped  by  the  heathen  as  divine.  This  carnal,  superstitious, 
and  self-righteous  sabbatism,  which  we  observe  also  in  the  Colossian 
errorists  (Col.  2  :  16),  stands  undoubtedly  in  conflict  with  the  funda- 
mental doctrine  of  justifying,  sanctifying,  and  saving  faith  in  Christ  as 
the  only  Redeemer,  and  with  evangelical  freedom.  That  Paul,  how- 
ever, did  not  condemn  the  observance  of  sacred  times  in  themselves  and 
under  any  circumstances,  is  proved  by  his  indulgence  towards  the  scrupu- 
lous Jewish  Christians  in  Rome  (Rom.  14  :  5,  6),  and  by  his  own 
practice,  his  ardent  desire  to  keep  the  feast  of  Pentecost  in  Jerusalem." 
It  is  with  this  as  with  the  law  in  general.  In  its  temporal  and  national 
form  and  as  a  yoke  of  bondage,  it  is  abolished  by  the  gospel,  but  in  its 
inmost  spirit  and  essence  it  is  fulfilled,  preserved,  and  transformed  into 
the  internal,  free,  living  power  of  love  (Matt.  5  :  IT);  and  as  Christ  is, 

'  Gal.  4:8-11.     Comp.  Col.  2:16. 

-^  Acts  18  :  21.     20  :  16.     Comp.  1  Cor.  16  :  2,  8. 


WORSHIP.]  §  138,      SACKED   PLACES   AND   TIMES.  -561 

on  the  one  hand,  the  end  of  the  law  and  the  prophets,  so  on  the  other, 
Ho  himself  is  the  supreme  lawgiver  and  prophet,  and  His  life  and  Spirit 
are  the  absolute  rule  and  guide  of  the  new,  regenerate  existence.' 

From  this  point  of  view  the  sacred  times  of  the  church  are  to  be 
looked  upon,  not  as  a  Jewish  yoke,  but  as  a  salutary  and  indispensable 
ordinance  of  evangelical  freedom,  in  which  the  Christian  acquiesces  with 
joy  and  gratitude,  rises  above  the  din  of  every-day  life  and  business  to 
the  enjoyment  of  a  heavenly,  spiritual  feast,  and  consecrates  all  his 
pursuits  to  the  service  of  God.  They  are  not  a  quittance  for  all  other 
times,  so  that  a  man  may  confine  his  piety  (as  alas  !  many  Christians  do 
even  to  this  day  in  their  carnal  Jewish  notions)  to  Sunday  and  the 
hours  of  prayer,  and  then,  so  to  speak,  clear  his  account  with  God  for  a 
whole  week,  that  he  may  during  the  week  devote  himself  the  more 
uninterruptedly  to  the  world.  They  are  a  means  for  the  gradual  attain- 
ment of  the  power  to  "  pray  without  ceasing,"  and  for  bringing  about 
that  state  of  things,  in  which  all  distinction  of  times  shall  disappear, 
and  we  shall  be  at  all  times  before  the  throne  of  God,  serving  Him  day 
and  night  (Rev.  1  :  15). 

In  the  division  of  the  day  the  apostles  and  first  Christians  freely  con- 
formed to  Jewish  usage,  and  were  accustomed  to  offer  their  prayers 
either  in  the  temple  or  at  home,  especially  in  an  upper  chamber  and 
upon  the  roof,  at  the  third,  sixth,  and  ninth  hours,  or,  according  to  our 
reckoning,  at  nine  o'clock,  the  hour  of  morning  sacrifice,  at  twelve,  and 
at  three,  the  time  of  evening  sacrifice.^  To  this  they  added  the  regular 
thanksgiving  before  and  after  meat,'  as  well  as  their  private  devotions 
after  rising  in  the  morning  and  before  retiring  to  their  rest. 

As  to  the  celebration  of  particular  days  of  the  week;  we  might  infer,, 
indeed,  from  the  universal  practice  of  the  second  century,  that  already 
in  the  first  century  Wednesday,  and  especially  Friday,  the  day  of  Christ's 
death,  were  celebrated  by  a  half-fast  (semijejunia)  ;  for  such  customs 
cannot  spring  into  vogue  suddenly.  But  no  proof  of  this  can  be  cited 
from  the  New  Testament.  That  Sunday  was  observed  by  the  apostles, 
however,  as  the  day  of  Christ's  resurrection,  is  certain,  and  its  impor- 
tance demands  for  it  a  more  minute  examination. 

*  Comp.  Rom.  3 :  27,  where  the  apostle  speaks  of  a  "  law  of  faith ;"  Gal.  6  :  2, 
where  he  speaks  of  a  "  law  of  Christ ;"  and  Rom.  8  :  2,  where  he  speaks  of  a  "  law 
of  the  Spirit  of  life." 

"  Acts  2  :  15.    3:1.     10  :  9,  30. 

«  Comp.  Matt.  15  :  39.  Jno.  6  :  11.  Acts  27  :  35.  1  Cor.  10  :  30  sq.  1  Tim.  4  : 
3-5. 


652  §  139.      THE   CHEISTIAN   SUNDAY.  [iV.  BOOK. 

§  139.    The.  Christian  Sunday. 

For  weekly  worship  the  Mosaic  law,  and  in  fact  the  original  order  of 
the  creation,  appointed  the  seventh  day,  as  a  day  of  holy  rest  ;  not  for 
slothful  inactivity,  but  for  the  adoration  of  God,  the  highest  and  hap- 
piest work  of  the  soul.  The  Christians,  indeed,  taking  pattern  from  the 
daily  morning  and  evening  sacrifices  in  the  temple,  were  accustomed  to 
meet  every  day  for  social  edification  and  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's 
Supper.  The  book  of  Acts  expressly  tells  us  (2  :  46),  that  they  con- 
tinued "daily"  with  one  accord  in  the  temple,  and  broke  bread  from 
house  to  house  ;  and  (19  :  9)  that  Paul  preached  the  gospel  "daily"  in 
the  school  of  Tyrannus  at  Ephesus.  But  with  this  the  believers  united 
from  the  first  the  special  consecration  of  one  day  in  the  week  to  the 
worship  of  God,  and  thus,  even  when  the  daily  meetings  could  not  be 
uniformly  kept  up,  they  devoted  at  least  the  seventh  part  of  their  hfe- 
time  exclusively  to  the  interest  of  the  immortal  soul.  The  Jewish 
Christians,  as  already  remarked,  adhered  to  the  Old  Testament  Sabbath, 
especially  in  Palestine  ;  but  with  it  they  celebrated  also  the  first  day  of 
the  week  in  memory  of  the  Saviour's  resurrection^  and  that  too,  it 
would  appear,  from  the  very  day  of  the  resurrection  onward  (comp.  Jno. 
20  :  19,  26),  which  they  looked  upon  as  sanctioned  for  such  purpose  by 
Christ  himself.  For  the  assertion  of  some  moderns  (even  Neandcr), 
that  the  observance  of  Sunday  arose  first  in  Paul's  churches  (some 
twenty  years  afterwards)  and  thence  passed  to  the  others,  is  altogether 
gratuitous  and  extremely  improbable  in  view  of  the  scrupulous  adhe- 
rance  of  the  Jewish  converts  to  the  traditional  forms  of  piety,  and  their 
jealousy  of  any  innovation,  especially  those  which  originated  with  the 
Gentiles.  The  Gentile  Christians,  for  whom  the  ceremonial  law  had  no 
authority,  distinguished  in  this  way  only  the  first  day  of  the  week,  as 
the  day  of  the  completion  of  the  new  creation.  After  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem  this  became  the  prevailing  practice  of  the  Christian 
church,  and  gradually  supplanted  the  observance  of  the  Jewish  sabbath.' 

The  apostolical  origin  of  the  Christian  sabbath  may  be  inferred  with 
tolerable  certainty  from  several  passages  of  the  New  Testament  ; 
especially  if  we  add  to  them  the  unequivocal  testimony  of  tradition 
from  the  end  of  the  first  century  and  the  beginning  of  the  second, 
according  to  which  Sunday  was  at  that  time  already  universally  ob- 
served in   the    church.'.    The   first   clear   trace  of  the   celebration    of 

^  In  some  single  Jewish-Christian  communities  in  the  East,  however,  the  Jewish 
sabbath  wt;s  retained  for  a  long  time  together  with  the  Christian  Sunday.  Euseh.  III.  27. 

"  See  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas.,  c.  l^^ ;  Ignatius,  Ep.  ad  Magnes.  c.  9  :  ('•  The  Christians 
celebrate  no  longer  the  Sabbath,  but  the  Lord's  day.  on  which  their  lite  anise  to  ihtin 


WORSHIP.]  g  139.       THE    CHRISTIAN    SUNDAY.  553 

Sunday  we  meet  in  Acts  20  :  1.  From  this  we  see,  that  the  Christians 
assembled  on  the  first  day  of  the  week  for  mutual  edification  and  for  the 
administration  of  the  Lord's  supper,  and  that  Paul  waited  in  Troas  till  this 
particular  day,  that  he  might  enjoy  a  long  and  cordial  talk  with  them 
"until  midnight"  respecting  the  kingdom  of  God.  Again,  it  appears  from 
1  Cor.  16:2,  that  Sunday  was  the  day  appointed  by  the  apostle,  for  the 
Christians  to  lay  by  their  charitable  contributions  for  the  poor.  Still 
weightier  is  the  testimony  of  the  Revelation  of  St.  John,  of  later  date. 
For  while  in  the  two  cases  cited  from  Paul's  history  this  day  bears  no 
distinctive,  sacred  name,  but  is  called  simply  the  first  day  of  the  week, 
the  first  day  after  the  sabbath,*  it  appears  in  Rev.  1  :  10  already  under 
the  significant  appellation:  "  the  Lord's  day  "  {r/ nvgiaKi)  ri/iE^a) ;  that  is, 
the  day  of  Christ,  to  whom  John  refers  everything.  In  the  same  sense 
the  paschal  supper  is  styled  in  1  Cor.  11  :  20  "  the  Lord's  supper."  This 
expression  plainly  points  to  the  religious  observance  of  Sunday,  on 
which  the  holy  seer  received  the  revelation  of  the  future  triumphs  of 
Christ  and  His  church  ;  and  it  shows  at  the  same  time  the  place  which 
that  day  held  in  the  minds  of  the  primitive  Christians.^  Sunday  was 
the  day  which  the  Lord  had  made  and  given  to  His  church,  and  which, 
therefore,  in  an  altogether  peculiar  manner  belonged,  and  should  be 
devoted,  to  Him  ;  the  day  of  His  resurrection,  of  the  finishing  and  seal- 
ing of  the  new  creation  and  the  triumph  over  sin,  death,  and  hell.  The 
resurrection  of  Christ  is  the  centre  of  our  faith  and  the  ground  of  our 
hope  ;  and  we  have  every  reason  to  suppose,  that  He  himself  intended 
to  consecrate  the  day  of  His  resurrection  in  the  view  of  his  disciples 
when  he  re-appeared  to  them,  not  only  on  that  day  itself,  but  exactly 
on  the  eighth  day  after  for  the  sake  of  Thomas  ;  when  he  blessed  them 
on  it  with  his  divine  peace  ;  and  when  he  poured  out  His  Holy  Spirit 
upon  them  on  the  fiftieth  day  after,  which  was  likewise  a  Sunday  (comp. 
§  54),  thus  at  the  same  time  consecrating  it  as  the  birth-day  of  the 
Christian  church.     In  these  facts  is  to  be  found  the  objective  divine 

by  Him") ;  the  famous  letter  of  the  younger  Pliny  to  Trajan,  Epist.  X.  97 ;  Justin 
Martyr,  &c.  It  is  absolutely  inconceivable,  that  so  important  an  institution  as  the 
Christian  sabbath  could  have  come  into  perfectly  universal  observance  in  so  short  a 
time,  and  supplanted  the  Jewish  sabbath  enjoined  by  the  Mosaic  Decalogue,  without 
the  sanction  of  the  apostles. 

^  Mia  Tuv  aafiiidTuv  (comp.  Matt.  28  :  1.  Mk.  16  :  2.  Lu.  24  :  1).  This  phrase 
Luther  has  wrongly  translated,  taking  aul3(3aTa  in  the  strict  sense,  whereas  it  means 
in  this  connection  the  sabbath-irec^". 

"  Weitzel,  Die  christliche  Passajeier  a'er  drei  ersten  Jahrhunderte.  ]).  170,  justly  ob- 
serves :  "  Why  did  the  prophet  receive  his  visions  on  this  particular  day  ?  Because 
the  KVQiaKTJ  is  the  day  of  unusually  absorbing  intercourse  with  the  Lord,  the  day  of  un- 
commonly deep  intuition ;  because  on  this  day  men  even  in  primitive  times  were  very 
peculiarly  favored  with  revelations  of  Christ." 


554  §  139.      THE   CHRISTIAN   SUNDAY.  [iV.  BOOfe. 

sanction  of  the  observance  of  Sunday.  From  them  the  observance 
necessarily  developed  itself.  And  they  give  us  at  the  same  time  a  hint 
as  to  the  idea  and  import  of  Sunday  in  distinction  from  the  sabbath. 

For  as  this  new  creation,  the  resurrection  of  Christ  and  the  founding 
of  his  church,  is  greater  than  the  first  creation  of  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,  and  brings  it  to  its  perfection,  so  does  the  Christian  Sunday 
transcend  the  Jewish  Sabbath.  The  Sabbath  commemorated  the  natural 
creation  (Ex.  20  :  11.  31  :  17),  and  at  the  same  time  (what  should  not 
be  overlooked)  the  typical  redemption,  the  exodus  of  Israel  from  his 
Egyptian  bondage  (comp.  Deut.  5  :  15).'  Sunday,  on  the  contrary,  is 
the  festival  of  the  moral  creation,  of  the  regeneration  of  humanity  to  a 
holy  and  blissful  life,  and  of  the  perfect  redemption  through  Christ,  the 
Prince  of  life  and  peace.  The  former  is  only  a  type  and  prophecy  of  the 
latter  ;  the  latter  is  at  once  the  anti-type  and  fulfillment  of  the  former, 
and  a  precious  pledge  of  the  promised  eternal  rest  of  God  in  man  and 
man  in  God,  the  unbroken  spiritual  feast  of  the  heavenly  Canaan.'  By 
the  humiliation  of  Christ  in  the  tomb,  by  the  rejection  of  the  Saviour  of  the 
world,  the  Jewish  Sabbath  was  desecrated,'  and  made  a  day  of  mourning. 
But  from  its  ruins  arose,  with  the  bursting  of  the  first-fruits  of  the  new 
creation  from  the  grave  of  the  old,  the  idea  of  a  day  of  the  eternal  Sun  of 
Righteousness  ;  of  victory  over  all  the  powers  of  darkness  ;  of  holy 
spiritual  freedom,  of  divine  joy,  the  "joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost,"  which 
should  sanctify  all  earthly  happiness.  The  temporary,  unessential  form 
of  the  Mosaic  sabbatical  institution  was  stripped  away,  but  its  substance 
preserved,  spiritualized,  and  fully  unfolded.  From  the  evangelical  Chris- 
tian point  of  view  the  observance  of  this  day  appears  not  as  a  yoke  or 
as  a  matter  of  constraint,  but  as  an  invaluable  privilege,  a  precious  gift 
of  God,  a  weekly  season  of  refreshing  and  of  delightful  communion  with 
God  and  with  saints,  a  foretaste  of  eternal  bliss.  In  fact,  the  Old  Tes- 
tament sabbath  was  in  its  deepest  import  not  merely  a  duty,  but  also  a 
right  to  rest  in  the  midst  of  unrest ;  a  privilege  of  freedom  in  earthly 
bondage.  It  was  not  merely  a  binding  statute,  but  at  the  same  time  a 
gracious  release  from  the  accompanying  and  equally  binding  command  to 
labor  ;  a  memento  of  the  blessed  rest  of  God  and  the  redemption  of  his 
people  ;  a  gospel,  therefore,  in  the  law,  a  "  little  refreshing  paradise  on 

'■  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  this  Exodus  took  place  in  the  night  of  the  fourteenth, 
upon  the  fifteenth,  of  Nisan ;  therefore  not  on  the  seventh,  but  on  the  first  day  of  the 
week,  on  Sunday,  as  appears  from  a  comparison  of  Ex.  12  :  1-6  with  Ex.  16  :  1  and 
5  sqq. 

'  Comp.  Heb.  4  :  1-11.     Rev.  14  :  13. 

^  In  the  same  sense,  in  which  the  temple  was  destroyed  by  his  crucifixion;  that  is, 
the  whole  temple  worship  became   invalid,  comp.  Jno.  2  :  19. 


WOESHIP.]  §  139.       THE    CUKISTIAN    SUNDAY.  555 

the  cursed  soil  of  the  world."  This  merciful  design  of  the  sabbatical  in- 
stitution is  especially  manifest  in  the  express  reference  of  the  fourth 
commandment  to  man-servant  and  maid-servant,  to  the  stranger,  and 
even  to  the  beast  of  burden,  and  in  such  passages  as  Ex.  23  :  12  and  Num. 
10  :  10,  where  the  sabbath  and  all  the  festival  days  are  represented  as 
days  of  joy  and  refreshment.  Here  we  discern  the  connection  of  the 
sabbath  with  the  original  Eden  of  innocence,  as  well  as  with  the  future 
Eden  of  redemption,  when  the  groaning  creation  shall  be  freed  from  sub- 
jection to  vanity,  and  brought  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of 
God  (comp.  Rom.  8:19  sqq.).  This  sweet  kernel  of  the  gospel,  hid  be- 
neath the  shell  of  the  Old  Testament  law,  reached  its  perfect  growth  in 
Christ.  Hence  He  calls  himself  also  in  this  sense  the  Lord  of  the  sab- 
bath (Matt.  12  :  8),  as  conversely  Sunday  is  called  His  day.  For 
Christ  has  become  the  end  of  the  law  by  fulfilling  it.  He  is  our  peace 
(Eph.  2  :  14),  our  rest  from  all  the  anxious  works  of  the  law,  the  re- 
freshment of  all  the  weary  and  heavy  laden  (Matt.  11  :  28)  ;  and  as  the 
true  light  of  the  world,  as  the  eternal  spiritual  sun.  He  makes  the  first 
day  of  the  week  a  real  Sunday,  giving  light  and  heat  to  its  planets,  the 
days  of  labor. 

This  direct  derivation  of  the  church  festival  of  Sunday  from  the  living 
centre  of  the  gospel,  Jesus  Christ,  the  risen  Prince  of  life,  is  certainly 
the  primitive  Christian  view  of  it,  and  the  one  which  best  answers  par- 
ticularly to  Paul's  system  of  doctrine  ;  whereas  the  exclusively  legal  view, 
which  bases  the  institution  primarily  and  directly  on  the  fourth  command- 
ment, in  the  first  place  affords  no  sufficient  explanation  of  the  transfer  of 
the  sabbath  from  the  seventh  to  the  first  day  of  the  week,  and  secondly 
is  utterly  irreconcilable  with  the  clear  declarations  of  the  New  Testament. 
Eor  our  Lord  more  than  once  condemns  the  carnal,  narrow-minded  scru- 
pulousness of  the  Jews  in  regard  to  the  sabbath,  as  in  Matt.  12  :  1-8, 
9-14.  Mk.  2  :  21  Jno.  7  :  22,  23  ;  as  also  does  the  apostle  Paul  in 
Gal.  4  :  8-11.  Col.  2  :  16,  IT,  where  he  represents  the  sabbaths  and  other 
Old  Testament  festivals  as  mere  shadowy  types,  and  points  from  them  to 
Christ,  the  living,  bodily  substance.'  In  our  view,  the  seventh  day 
being  the  day  of  the  Lord's  abode  in  the  tomb,  was  not  at  all  suitable 

'  There  is  only  one  passage  in  the  New  Testament,  which  seems  to  favor  the  legal 
Jewish  view,  viz.  Matt.  24  :  20 — "Pray  ye  that  your  flight  be  not  in  the  winter, 
neither  on  the  sabbath-day."  In  the  first  place,  however,  the  reference  here  is  not  to 
the  Christian  sabbath,  but  to  the  Jewish ;  and  secondly,  the  sabbath  here  comes  into 
view  as  carrying  at  that  time  a  restraining  force,  being  thus  a  parallel  to  winter 
(comp.  Hengstenberg's  "  Kirchenzeitung,"  1851,  p.  47).  Otherwise  the  passage  would 
prove  too  much.  It  would  sanction  the  legalism  and  stiff  formalism  of  the  Pharisees 
in  the  outward  observance  of  the  law ;  which,  however,  the  Lord  in  the  passages 
above  cited  most  unequivocally  denounces. 


566  §    139.      THE   CHEISTIAN   SUNDAY.  [iv.  BOOK. 

for  the  Christian  weekly  festival.  The  day  of  His  resurrection  is  the 
only  proper  one  for  this.  And  it  is  genuinely  evangelical  to  begin  with 
thanksgiving  for  the  gift  of  divine  grace,  with  the  solemn  commemora- 
tion of  redeeming  love,  to  which  we  owe  every  thing  ;  and  on  this  to 
build  our  own  work.  "  We  love  Him,  because  He  first  loved  us."  It 
is  to  be  remembered  besides,  that  even  the  Old  Testament  sabbath, 
though  the  seventh  day  of  God's  labor,  was  not  the  seventh  of  man's  ; 
that,  on  the  contrary,  it  was  to  the  original  pair  the  first  day  after  their 
complete  creation,  a  holy  day,  which  they  spent  under  the  smiles  of  God 
before  beginning  their  daily  labor  in  the  garden.'  The  essential  point  in 
the  fourth  commandment  is  not  the  appointment  of  the  seventh  day,  for 
in  the  sight  of  God  all  days  are  alike  ;  but  the  general  requisition,  that 
every  six  days  be  devoted  to  labor,  and  every  seventh  to  rest  for  the 
good  of  both  body  and  soul ;  or  that  the  seventh  part  of  our  earthly  life 
be  withdrawn  from  earthly  employments  and  devoted  exclusively  to  God 
and  to  our  spiritual  interests.  Then  again,  the  Old  Testament  sabbath 
should  not  be  placed  in  an  abstract  opposition  to  the  other  days  ;  it 
must  be  regarded  as  the  head  of  the  whole  Jewish  system  of  worship. 
For  the  law,  in  fact,  requires,  besides  the  observance  of  this  day,  the 
celebration  also  of  yearly  festivals  and  the  offering  of  daily  morning  and 
evening  sacrifices  (Num.  28  :  3-8).  The  separation  so  often  made  be- 
tween the  ceremonial  law  and  the  moral  has  very  little  support  from  the 
Scriptures.  The  former  appears,  on  the  contrary,  as  simply  the  expan- 
sion or  continuation  of  the  decalogue.  Anna,  who  "  departed  not  from 
the  temple,  but  served  God  with  fastings  and  prayers  night  and  day," 
(Lu.  2  :  37),  fulfilled  the  real  spirit  of  the  Mosaic  institution  of  the 
sabbath. 

On  the  other  hand,  however,  with  the  merely  legal  yiew  we  must  also, 
and  in  fact  far  more  decidedly,  reject  the  opposite  and  much  more  inju- 
rious extreme  of  a  lax  latitudinarian  or  antinomian  view  of  Sunday, 
which  deprives  it  of  its  divine  foundation,  bases  it  on  mere  utilitarian 
grounds,  and  leads  invariably  to  a  greater  or  less  profanation  of  it. 
Against  this  the  legal  view,  provided  only  it  exclude  not  the  evangelical, 
maintains  its  full  authority,  as  grounded  in  the  relation  of  the  sabbath 
to  the  original  order  of  the  creation  and  in  its  organic  place  in  the  deca- 
logue amongst  the  eternally  binding  moral  commands  of  God.  There  is 
also  a  dangerous  pseudo-Pauline  extravagance  of  evangelicalism,  which 
mistakes  the  import  and  the  perpetual  necessity  of  the  divine  law,  and 
degenerates  into  licentiousness.  The  law  is  still  a  schoolmaster  to  bring 
the  unconverted  to  Christ,  and  for  believers  themselves  it  is  the  expres- 

^  Comp.  on  this  point  an  interesting  article  in  the  '•  Evang.  Kirchenzeitung,"  1850, 
p.  720. 


WORSHIP.]  §  140.       THE    YEARLY    FESTIVALS.  557 

sioii  of  the  holy  will  of  God  and  the  rule  of  moral  conduct.  Hence  also 
is  the  observance  of  Sunday  not  merely  a  privilege,  but  also  a  duty  en- 
joined upon  all  Christians,  a  salutary  means  of  discipline  and  of  grace  for 
a  people,  an  indispensable  preserver  and  promoter  of  public  morality  and 
religion,  a  mighty  barrier  to  the  flood  of  infidelity,  a  brazen  wall  around 
the  word  of  God,  and  a  source  of  incalculable  blessing  to  family,  state, 
and  church.' 

Thus,  therefore,  is  the  keeping  of  the  Christian  Sunday,  that  "  pearl 
of  days,"  grounded  in  the  creation,  in  the  giving  of  the  law,  and  in 
redemption,  in  the  wants  of  nature  as  well  as  of  faith  ;  a  blessed  privi- 
lege and  a  holy  duty  ;  a  gift  and  a  means  of  grace  ;  a  heavenly  rest 
amidst  the  unrest  of  earth  ;  an  antepast  and  pledge  of  the  saints' 
eternal  sabbath  in  the  kingdom  of  glory,  when  God  shall  be  all  in  all. 

§  140.   The.  Yearly  Festivals. 

Finally,  as  to  the  yearly  festivals  ;  of  these  we  have  very  few  traces 
in  the  New  Testament.  But  substantially  the  same  is  true  of  them  as 
of  the  sabbath,  viz.,  that  the  Jewish  feasts  are  in  their  teniporary, 
national,  and  typical  form  abolished,  but  in  their  essence  preserved,  and, 
by  being  referred  to  Christ,  spiritualized  and  transformed,  or  exchanged 
for  others  which  are  better  calculated  to  express  and  to  embody  the 
facts  and  ideas  of  the  new  creation.  The  yearly  festivals,  the  passover,* 
the  feast  of  weeks,  or  pentecost,'  the  feast  of  tabernacles,*  and  the 
great  day  of  atonement,*  are  likewise,  it  is  well  known,  of  divine  insti- 
tution ;  and  it  is  arbitrary  to  discard  them  entirely,  at  the  same  time 
that  we  maintain  the  perpetual  validity  of  the  command  to  keep  the 
sabbath.  The  moral  and  ritual  laws  cannot  be  separated  in  any  such 
abstract  way  ;  and  Paul  in  fact  looks  upon  all  festival  seasons  as  alike, 
where  he  comes  out  against  the  Judaistic,  self-righteous,  and  super- 
stitious observance  of  them.*  Besides,  the  Jewish  feasts  had  a  typical 
reference  to  the  main  facts  of  the  gospel  history  ;  the  Passover,  to  the 

^  This  is  incontrovertibly  proved  especially  by  the  examples  of  England,  Scotland, 
and  the  United  States.  Hence  the  Anglo-American  realism  and  the  Reformed  legal- 
ism certainly  have  their  claims  over  against  the  German  idealism  and  Lutheran  evan- 
gelicalism. Though  the  former  cannot  be  pronounced  wholly  free  from  the  danger  of 
Pharisaism,  the  latter,  on  the  other  hand,  only  too  often  degenerates  into  practical 
Sadducism ;  and,  as  to  the  observance  of  Sunday  in  particular,  undue  strictness  is 
assuredly  less  dangerous,  and  far  more  beneficial  to  public  morals  than  undue  laxness. 

»  Ex.  12  :  1-28.    23:15.     Lev.  23  :  4-8.    Deut.  16  :  1-8. 

*  Ex.  34  :  22.     Lev.  23  :  15,  16.     Deut.  16  :  10. 

*  Ex.  23  :  34-42.     Deut.  16  :  12-15. 
^  Ex.  23  :  26-30.     Lev.  16  :  1-34. 

*  Gal.  4  :  10.    Col.  2  :  16.     Comp.  Rom.  14  :  5,  6. 


558  §  140.    THE   TEAULY    FESTIVALS.  [l"^-  '^OOK. 

death  and  resurrection  of  Christ,  the  true  paschal  Lamb  and  the  Re- 
deemer of  His  people  from  the  spiritual  bondage  of  sin  ;  and  Pentecost, 
to  the  founding  of  the  Christian  church  and  the  gathering  of  the  first- 
fruits  into  the  garners  of  eternal  life. 

These  two  feasts,  Easter  and  Pentecost,  as  transformed  by  Christi- 
anity into  the  feasts  of  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord  and  of  the  outpouring 
of  His  Holy  Spirit,  were  accordingly  the  first  which  were  celebrated 
by  the  church.  As  early  as  the  second  century  we  find  them  univer- 
sally and  without  opposition  observed  ;  and  this  gives  strong  presump- 
tive evidence  of  their  existence  in  the  apostolic  age.  It  is  asserted, 
indeed  (by  Neander  for  instance),  that  in  the  New  Testament,  at  least 
in  Paul's  writings,  no  Christian  yearly  festivals  come  to  view.  But  we 
hold,  that  the  indications  of  the  observance  of  Easter  by  the  primitive 
Christians  are  almost  as  strong  as  those  of  the  apostolic  observance  of 
Sunday,  and  that  in  connection  with  reliable  documents  from  the  period 
immediately  following  they  sufficiently  prove  the  existence  of  that  festival 
in  the  apostolic  church.  Christ  crucified  and  risen  was  from  the  first 
the  substance  and  the  all-absorbing  object  of  the  Christian  conscious- 
ness. Sunday  derived  its  significance  as  a  specifically  Christian  festival 
entirely  from  the  fact  of  the  resurrection,  and  was,  as  it  were,  a  weekly 
Easter  of  rejoicing,  as  Friday  was  the  day  of  Christ's  death  and  there- 
fore a  day  of  fasting  and  spiritual  mourning.  Of  the  Jewish  Christians 
it  could  not  but  be  expected,  that,  with  the  sabbath  and  circumcision 
and  the  whole  ceremonial  law,  they  should  also,  after  the  example  of  the 
Lord,  who  was  accustomed  particularly  to  keep  the  passover  in  Jerusa- 
lem,' observe  all  the  annual  feasts  appointed  by  God  through  Moses, 
and  put  into  them  a  Christian  meaning.  The  distinction  of  days  Rom. 
14  :  5,  certainly  refers,  not  merely  to  the  sabbath,  but  to  the  feasts  in 
general.  Paul  made  the  crucified  and  risen  Saviour  so  much  the  centre 
of  his  whole  faith  and  life,  that  he  must  undoubtedly  have  attached 
peculiar  importance  to  the  annual  commemoration  of  this  great  fact. 
"  He  glories,"  says  Weitzel,''  "  in  knowing  nothing  but  Jesus  Christ  and 
Him  crucified.  '  If  Christ  be  not  risen,'  exclaims  he,  '  your  faith  is 
vain  ;  ye  are  yet  in  your  sins.'  The  Holy  Ghost  is  with  him  the  seal  of 
adoption,  the  earnest  of  a  joyful  resurrection,  the  living  bond  of 
Christian  fellowship,  the  fountain  of  spiritual  gifts.  The  death  and  the 
resurrection  together  with  the  outpouring  of  the  Spirit  are  the  founda- 

'  Jno.  2  :  13.  5:1.  6:4.  11  :  55,  12  :  1.  13  :  1.  7  :  2.  10  :  22.  It  is  very- 
remarkable  that  St.  John  makes  the  Jewish  festivals,  especially  the  passover,  so  pro- 
minent in  the  public  life  and  ministry  of  Christ.  He  evidently  considered  them 
significant  types  of  the  leading  facts  of  the  Gospel  history. 

'  Jn  his  work  :  Die  christUche  Passafeier  der  drei.  ersten  Jahrhunderte,  1848,  p.  ISO. 


WOKSHIP.]  g  14-0,      THE   TEAELT   FESTIVALS.  559 

tion  stones  of  his  whole  Christian  system.  With  the  original  apostles 
the  anniversaries  of  those  events  were  sacred  festival  seasons.  "Why 
should  they  not  have  been  important  commemorative  occasions  also  for 
Paul,  who  indeed  was  most  solicitous  to  maintain  fellowship  with  the 
older  apostles  and  with  the  primitive  church  ?"  It  is  true,  there  is  dis- 
pute as  to  the  meaning  of  1  Cor.  5  :  *I,  8,  where  Paul  calls  Christ  the 
"  passover  sacrificed  for  us,"  and  demands  that  the  feast  be  kept  "  with 
the  unleavened  bread  of  sincerity  and  truth,"  i.  e.  in  the  Spirit  of 
Christ,  who  has  purged  us  from  all  the  old  leaven  of  sin.  This  may  possibly 
refer  to  the  continual  observance  of  the  passover  in  the  heart  and  by  a 
holy  walk.  But  since  according  to  1  Cor.  16:8  the  epistle  was  written 
shortly  before  Easter,  it  is  altogether  natural  and  most  probable,  that 
the  apostle  here  alludes  to  that  feast,  and  distinguishes  the  Jewish  from 
the  Christian,  the  existence  of  which  he  thus  implies.  It  is  certainly 
not  accidental,  that  he  waited  for  Pentecost  in  his  own  Gentile-Christian 
congregation  of  Ephesus,  and  esteemed  it  a  privilege  to  spend  it  with 
them  (^errif/Evu  6e  ev  'Ec^iau  lug  r^f  TrevTeKoan/c)  •  as  also  he  tarried  in  Troas 
till  the  next  Sunday  (Acts  20  :  6).  But  besides  this  we  have  the 
explicit  and  conclusive  statement  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  that  Paul 
spent  Easter  of  the  year  58  in  the  Gentile-Christian  congregation  of 
Philippi,  not  departing  till  the  feast  was  over  ;  and  that  he  then  hastened 
his  journey,  and  even  sailed  by  Ephesas,  in  order  to  keep  Pentecost  iu 
Jerusalem  (Acts  18  :  21.     20  :  6,  16). 

But  finally,  the  testimonies  from  the  second  century  are  here  worthy 
of  all  attention. 

In  the  well  known  paschal  controversies,  which  related  to  the  time  of 
the  festival  of  Christ's  death  and  resurrection,  not  to  the  festival  itself 
(for  as  to  this  there  was  even  at  that  early  period  perfect  unanimity), 
a  host  of  the  most  credible  witnesses,  the  Ephesian  bishop,  Polycrates, 
with  his  seven  predecessors,  and  the  bishops  Melito,  Thraseas,  Sagaris, 
in  behalf  of  their  Asiatic  custom  of  celebrating  the  Christian  Passover 
according  to  the  Jewish  chronology  always  on  the  fourteenth  of  Nisan 
(whether  this  fell  on  Friday  or  any  other  day  of  the  week),  ex- 
pressly appealed  to  the  authority  of  the  apostle  John.  Nay,  the 
venerable  Polycarp  of  Smyrna,  John's  personal  disciple  and  friend,  as- 
sured the  Roman  bishop  in  the  year  1 60,  that  he  himself  had  celebrated 
Easter  with  this  apostle  in  the  Oriental  way,  and  that  the  other  apostles 
also,  with  whom  John  had  intercourse  (Philip,  perhaps,  in  Hierapolis,) 
agreed  with  him.  On  the  other  side,  the  Roman  church,  in  support  of 
its  custom  (afterwards  universally  adopted)  of  celebrating  Easter  not  on 
a  particular  day  of  the  month,  but  on  a  certain  day  of  the  week, — the 
death  of  Christ  always  on  a  Friday,  and  his  resurrection  on  a  Sunday, — 


560  §  141.    THE    SEVEEAL   PARTS    OF   WOESHIP.  [iV.  BOOK. 

appealed  with  the  same  confidence  to  its  oklest  bishops  and  to  the  order 
of  the  apostles,  Peter  and  Paul.  These  controversies  in  all  prohabilit}' 
had  their  ultimate  ground  in  an  unessential  difference,  which  alread} 
existed,  with  all  unity  of  spirit,  in  the  practice  of  the  various  apostles 
and  apostolic  churches,  according  as  they  were  ruled  either  by  regard 
for  the  Jewish  type,  the  Old  Testament  passover,  which  always  began 
on  the  14th  of  Nisan,  whatever  day  of  the  week  this  might  be,  or  by 
regard  to  the  proper  days  of  Christ's  death  and  resurrection,  Friday  and 
Sunday.' 

Easter  and  Pentecost,  however,  are  the  only  feasts,  which  can  be 
traced  back  to  the  apostolic  age.  Of  the  observance  of  other  festivals, 
Christmas  for  instance,  we  find  not  the  least  hint  in  the  New  Testament. 
It  was  only  at  a  later  period  that  the  church  went  back  from  the  centre 
of  her  faith,  the  crucifixion  and  resurrection  of  Christ,  to  the  beginning 
of  his  theanthropic  life,  and  appointed  a  special  feast  for  the  mystery  of 
the  incarnation. 

§  141.    The  Several  Parts  of  Worship. 

The  regular  exercises  of  the  apostolic  worship  were  preaching,  exposi- 
tion of  the  Scriptures,  prayer,  singing,  confession  of  faith,  and  adminis- 
tration of  the  sacraments.  To  these  were  added  such  extraordinary  acts 
as  prophesying,  speaking  with  tongues,  and  interpreting  of  tongues, 
which  have  already  been  considered  in  the  sections  on  spiritual  gifts.* 
These,  moreover,  belong  also  under  the  general  heads  of  preaching  and 
prayer. 

1.  The  sermoii  appears  in  the  apostolic  church  mainly  in  the  shape  of 
a  musionary  discourse,  designed  to  kindle  life,  and  raise  up  churches  ;  a 
simple  historical  testimony  respecting  Christ,  the  crucified  and  risen 
Saviour  of  the  world.  It  was  altogether  practical,  but  pregnant  with 
the  profoundest  ideas  ;  unadorned,  yet  forcible  ;  natural,  yet  ingeniously 
adapted  to  the  circumstances  ;  clear  and  deliberate,  yet  borne  along  on 
the  wings  of  insi^iration  and  holy  enthusiasm  ;  knowing  nothing  but  the 
divine  foolishness  of  the  cross  (1  Cor.  2  :  2),  but  with  this  torch  shedding 
a  hallowing  light  upon  all  the  relations  of  life.  Poured  forth  from  the 
fullness  of  the  heart,  it  also  went  to  the  heart,  and  kindled  the  sacred 
fire  of  faith  and  love.  It  was  the  communication  of  the  moral  and 
religious  life  of  the  speaker  to  the  susceptible  hearer.  This  is  especially 
true  of  the  prophetic  awakening  and  consolatory  discourses,  of  which  we 

'  On  this  whole  controversy  about  Easter,  which  we  shall  have  occasion  to  discuss 
iTiore  minutely  in  the  second  volume,  compare  the  thoroughly  learned  and  valuable 
work  of  Weitzel  just  quoted. 

^  Comp.  above,  §  117  .'■qq. 


WORSHIP.]  g  14-1.       THE    SEVERAL    PARTS    OF    WORSHIP.  561 

have  already  treated  above.  That  the  apostles  and  evangelists  read 
their  discoui'ses  is  of  course  not  to  be  supposed  ;  nor  that  they  studied, 
wrote,  and  memorized  them  in  our  modern  style.  But  their  whole  life 
was  an  uninterrupted  study  of  the  word,  a  constant  living  and  moving  in 
communion  with  God.  Besides,  there  was  of  course  a  difference  of  gifts 
among  them.  Some  planted  ;  others  watered  ;  and  the  Lord  followed 
both  with  his  blessing  (1  Cor.  3:6).  Judged  by  their  discourses  in  the 
Acts  and  by  their  epistles,  Peter  and  Paul  must  have  been  powerful 
revival  preachers  ;  while  John  and  Apollos  were  best  fitted  to  carry  for- 
ward churches  already  established,  the  latter  having  also  the  gift  of 
rhetorical,  elegance.  Yet  Paul  also  was  equally  endowed  for  watering 
and  building  up  churches,  as  his  epistles,  which  may  be  called  sermons  to 
believers,  suflBcieutly  show. 

2.  The  reading  of  a  portion  of  Scripiure,  with  which  was  connected  a 
practical  exposition  and  exhortation,  was  an  ancient  custom  of  the  syna- 
gogue (comp.  Acts  13:  15.  15:  21),  which  the  Christians  certainly 
appropriated  from  the  first,  as  we  find  it  universally  prevalent  in  the 
second  century.  Paul  declared  all  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament 
to  be  i/icopneustic,  i.  e.  pervaded  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  therefore  always 
fitted  for  the  spiritual  instruction  and  correction  of  the  church  (2  Tim. 
3  :  16,  11).  The  Christians,  however,  after  the  rise  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment literature,  added  to  the  Jewish  Paraschioth  and  Haphtoroth  (the 
lessons  from  the  law  or  Pentateuch,  and  the  prophets)  the  reading  also 
of  the  Gospels  and  the  apostolic  epistles,  or  substituted  the  latter  for  the 
former  ;  the  Evaugelium,  according  to  the  oldest  division  of  the  New 
Testament,  corresponding  to  the  law,  and  the  Apostolos  to  the  prophets, 
of  the  Old  Testament.  Most  of  the  apostolic  epistles,  moreover,  were, 
like  the  Gospels,  addressed  not  to  single  hidividuals,  but  to  a  whole  con- 
gregation or  to  several  congregations,  as  appears  from  1  Thess.  5  :  27 
and  Col.  4  :  16,  and  were  originally  designed  to  be  used  in  public  wor- 
ship. They  took  the  place  of  the  oral  preaching  of  the  apostles,  and 
became  of  course  doubly  important,  when  their  authors  passed  off  the 
stage. 

3.  Frayer,  which  bears  the  same  relation  to  faith,  as  exhalation  to 
inhalation,  is  indispensable  to  the  maintaining  and  promoting  not  only 
of  individual  piety,  but  also  of  the  religious  life  of  the  congregation 
and  its  direct  intercourse  with  the  God  of  all  grace  and  mercy.  It  ex- 
pi-esses  itself  partly  in  supplication  of  temporal  and  spiritual  blessings  ; 
partly  in  intercession  for  all  classes  and  conditions  of  man,  first  for  fel- 
low-Christians and  then  for  those  who  are  without,  even  for  enemies  and 
persecutors  ;  and  finally  in  thanksgiving  for  all  benefits  received,  espe- 

36 


562  §  141.     THE   SEVERAL    PARTS    OF   "WORSHIP.  [iV.  BOOK. 

cially  for  redemption  through  Christ.'  That,  which  gives  prayer  its 
peculiarly  Christian  character,  and  secures  an  answer  in  all  cases,  though 
not  always  in  the  form  desired  by  the  supplicant,  yet  frequently  in  one 
altogether  unexpected  and  in  fact  much  better,  is  its  being  offered  in  the 
name  of  Jesus,  that  is,  in  perfect  submission  to  the  holy  will  of  the  Lord, 
and  in  the  spirit  of  childlike,  unconditional,  and  unwavering  confidence 
(Jno.  16  :  24.  Matt.  21  :  22).  The  apostolical  Christians  united  in 
prayer  previous  to  entering  upon  any  important  business,  as  the  election 
of  the  new  apostle  (Acts  1  :  24)  and  of  the  deacons  (6  :  6),  at  the 
sending  out  of  Paul  and  Barnabas  into  the  heathen  world  (13  :  3),  also 
in  times  of  need  and  danger,  as  during  the  imprisonment  of  Peter,  when 
the  church  at  Jerusalem  "  made  prayer  without  ceasing  unto  God  for 
him"  (12  :  5),  at  parting,  as  when  Paul  took  leave  of  the  elders  of 
Ephesus  (20  :  36),  after  the  experience  of  divine  aid,  as  after  the 
liberation  of  the  apostles  from  prison,  in  which  case  the  psalm-like  thanks- 
giving is  reported  to  us,  with  a  statement  of  its  striking  effect  (4  :  24- 
31).  With  prayer  was  often  united  fasting,  as  a  means  of  promoting 
devotion,'^  though  it  is  nowhere  in  the  JS^ew  Testament  strictly  enjoined 
as  an  indispensable  duty  (comp.  Matt.  9  :  15). 

In  general  the  pastors  prayed  in  the  name  of  all,^  and  the  congrega- 
tion testified  its  concurrence  and  priestly  co-operation  after  the  Jewish 
custom  by  an  audible  amen  (1  Cor.  14  :  16). 

That  the  first  Christians  besides  pouring  forth  in  prayer  the  free  effu- 
sions of  the  heart,  one  of  which  is  given  us  in  Acts  4  :  24  sqq.,  and 
which  corresponded  to  the  circumstances  of  each  particular  occasion, 
also  used  standing  forms,  is  nowhere  told  us,  indeed,  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, but  is  probable  from  the  analogy  of  Jewish  usage  and  from  the 
most  natural  view  of  Matt.  6  :  9.  Lu.  11  :  1,  2.  At  all  events,  it  was 
the  opinion  of  the  oldest  church  fathers,  that  Christ  intended  to  give  his 
disciples  in  the  Lord's  Prayer,  not  only  an  idea  of  the  true  spirii  of 
prayer,  but  at  the  same  time  a  general  form,  like  the  baptismal  formula 

'  Comp.  Acts  2  :  42.  6:4.  16  :  16.  Rom.  12  :  12.  Phil.  4:6.  1  Tim.  2:1, 
where  four  kinds  of  prayer  are  enumerated  (dErjaeig,  petitions  particularly  for  the  avert- 
ing of  evil  ;  n()oaeyxal,  petitions  for  favors  from  God  ;  ivrev^eic,  intercessions  ; 
EvxagtaTiai,  thanksgiving) ;  Ja.  .')  :  15  sq.     1  Pet.  4:8.     3  :  12.      Rev.  5:8.     8:3. 

*  Acts  13  :  2,  3.  14  :  23,  at  the  election  of  congregational  officers ;  comp.  1  Cor. 
7:5.     2  Cor.  6:5.     Matt.  17  :  21. 

^  In  Acts  4  :  24  it  is  said  indeed,  of  the  congregation :  '0/Lto&v/im''idv  ygav  cpuv^v 
TTQog  Tov  -d-eov,  koI  eIttov.  But  by  this  is  unqueseionably  to  be  understood,  that  one 
gave  expression  to  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  all,  and  in  this  case  that  person  was  no 
doubt  Peter,  as  may  be  inferred  from  the  term  Tralg  twice  applied  to  Jesus,  v.  27,  30  ; 
comp.  Acts  3  :  13,  26. 


WORSHIP.]  §    141.       THE    SEVERAL    PARTS    OF   WOESHIP.  563 

in  Matt.  28  :  19,  20.*  That  this  model  prayer  is  in  fact  peculiarly  fitted 
for  such  a  use,  no  one  will  deny,  who  can  appreciate  its  inexhaustible 
contents,  embracing  in  few  words  the  whole  compass  of  religious 
wants. 

Respecting  the  posture  in  prayer  we  find  nothing  prescribed.  In  the 
cases  of  our  Lord's  agony  in  Gethsemane  (Lu.  22  :  41),  of  Peter's  prayer 
before  the  raising  of  Tabitha  (Acts  9  :  40),  and  of  the  sorrowful  parting 
of  Paul  and  the  Ephesian  elders  (20  :  36),  kneeling  is  mentioned.  And 
this  is  best  suited  to  express  that,  which  here  of  course  has  chief  pro- 
minence, viz.  the  humble  submission  and  reverence  of  the  heart  before 
the  holy  God,  and  the  sense  of  entire  dependence  on  Him  ;  while  the 
erect  posture  and  the  lifting  up  of  the  hands  (comp.  1  Tim.  2:8)  are 
peculiarly  proper  for  thanksgiving  and  the  expression  of  solemn  joy,  and 
were  accordingly  used  in  the  ancient  church  on  Sunday,  the  joyous  day 
of  the  Lord's  resurrection.* 

4.  The  song  is  in  reality  distinguished  from  prayer,  particularly  from 
thanksgiving,  only  by  its  form,  its  stately  garb  of  poetry,  its  elevated 
language  of  festival  enthusiasm,  on  the  wings  of  which  the  congregation 
rises  to  the  highest  pitch  of  devotion,  and  joins  in  the  celestial  harmo- 
nies of  saints  and  angels.  Thus  we  have  here  the  two  noblest  and  most 
spiritual  arts — music  and  poetry,  consecrated  to  religion  ;  as  in  fact  all 
art  is  destined  ultimately  to  become  worship,  and  to  minister  to  the 
praise  of  God,  from  whom  it  proceeds,  and  to  the  delight  of  his  people. 
The  song  passed  immediately  from  the  temple  and  synagogue  into  the 
Christian  church  along  with  the  Psalms  ;  as  the  doxologies,  anti- 
phonies,  collects,  and  the  whole  psalmody  of  Eastern  and  Western  an- 
tiquity show.  The  liOrd  himself  sang  with  his  disciples  at  the  institution 
of  the  holy  supper  (Matt.  26  :  30.  Mk.  14  :  26),  probably  the  halle- 
lujah Psalms  (113-118)  used  at  the  Jewish  passover  ;  thus  consecrating 
the  singing  of  psalms  as  an  act  of  the  new  Christian  worship.  Paul 
(Eph.  5  :  19.  Col.  3  :  16)  expressly  enjoins  the  use  of  jjsalms  and 
hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  for   social   edification.     The  Christians  cm- 

'  The  testimonies  of  Tertullian,  Cyprian,  and  Origen  place  the  universal  use  of  the 
Lord's  Prayer  by  the  church,  at  least  in  the  second  and  third  centuries,  beyond  all 
doubt.    Comp.  on  this  point  Augusti :    Handbuchderchristl.jlnh.aol.    Vol.  II.  p.  62  sqq. 

*  Calvin  on  the  i?«f  to.  yovara.  Acts  20  :  36,  finely  observes  respecting  these  forms  : 
'•  Prinfius  quidenn  in  precibus  obtinet  interior  afFectus,  sed  externa  signa,  genullexio, 
capitis  retectio.  manuuin  levatio.  duplicem  habent  usunn-  Prior  est,  ut  membra  omnia 
exerceamus  in  Dei  gloriam  et  cultum  ;  deinde  ut  hoc  quasi  adminiculo  exorcitetur  nostra 
pigritia.  Accedit  in  solenni  et  publica  precatione  tertius  usu.s.  quia  pietatein  suam  hoc 
modo  profiientur  filii  Dei,  et  alii  alios  niutuo  acceiidunt  ad  Dei  reverentiam.  Sicut 
autem  manuum  levatio  fiduciae  et  anleiitis  desidcrii  symbolum  est.  ita  humilitatis  tes- 
tandae  causa  in  g<?nua  prucumbimus." 


564  §  I'il.       THE    SEVERAL    PAETS    OF    WOKSHIP.  [iV.  BOOK. 

1  loyed  song  also  privately  and  in  small  circles,  as  appears  from  the 
advice  of  James  (5  :  13)  :  "  Is  any  among-  you  afflicted?  let  him  pray. 
Is  any  merry  ?  let  him  sing  psalms  ;"  and  from  the  fact  (Acts  16  :  25), 
that  Paul  and  Silas  at  midnight,  in  the  dark  dungeon,  joined  in  a  hymn 
to  the  Lord,  and  thus  rose  above  their  troubles  and  pain. 

The  Psalms  of  the  Old  Testament,  which  in  the  light  of  their  fulfill- 
ment iu  the  New  are  even  to  this  day  an  inexhaustible  source  of  edifica- 
tion and  spiritual  refreshment,  were  undoubtedly  the  first  used  by  the 
apostolic  churches,  especially  by  the  Jewish  Christians.  But  besides 
these,  even  in  that  period,  particularly  among  the  Gentile  converts, 
peculiarly  Christian  songs  sprang  forth  from  the  inspiration  of  the  first 
love,  like  flowers  beneath  the  vernal  sun.'  Several  sections  of  the  Gos- 
pel of  Luke,  which  in  its  first  two  chapters  is  highly  poetical  and  liturgi- 
cal, passed,  perhaps,  as  early  as  the  first  century,  into  public  use  as 
songs  ;  the  anthem  of  the  heavenly  hosts,  for  instance  (Lu.  2  :  14,  the 
so-called  "  Gloria"),  the  parting  words  of  Simeon  (2  :  29,  the  "Nunc 
dimittis"),  the  sublime  songs  of  Mary  (1  :  46  sqq.,  the  "Magnificat)," 
and  Zacharias  (1  :  68  sqq.,  the  "  Benedictus").  The  short  thanks- 
giving in  Acts  4  :  24-30  has  a  psalmodic  character  (comp.  Ps.  2),  and 
is  easily  put  into  metrical  form.  In  all  probability,  too,  the  epistles  iu 
several  instances  contain  fragments  of  such  primitive  Christian  songs  ;  as 
is  indicated  by  the  poetical,  and  sometimes  metrical,  form  of  expression. 
See  for  example  Eph.  5  :  14  ;^  1  Tim.  3  :  16  (especially  if,  according 
to  the  best  authorities,  we  here  read  of ;  for  this  reading  is  most  natu- 
rally explained  on  the  supposition  of  the  passage  being  a  fragment  of  a 
hymn,  which,  in  six  parallel  stanzas  in  melodious  rhythm,  contains  a 
christology  in  nuce)  5  2  Tim.  2  :  11  (where  the  yap  indicates  a  quota- 
tion, and  the  parallel  and  rhythmical  structure  of  the  passage  a  poetical 
quotation)  ;  and  Jas.  1:11  (where  the  words  from  -Kuoa  to  rtAELov  form 
a  hexameter).  Then  the  Apocalypse  contains  a  number  of  lyric  pieces, 
songs  of  the  glorified  saints  in  praise  of  the  Lamb,  which  breathe  upon 
us  the  peaceful  air  of  eternity.  This  whole  book  is  full  of  doxologies 
and   antiphonies.^     Finally,    as   we   have   already  seen,    speaking   with 

^  Perhaps  these  Christian  songs  are  intended  by  the  "hymns  and  spiritual  songs," 
Eph.  5  :  19,  in  distinction  from  the  "psalms." 

*  On  this  quotation  Stier  well  remarks  {Comment.  I.  p.  285),  after  refuting  the  erro 
neous  references  of  it  to  several  passages  of  Isaiah  :  "  The  apostle  here  quotes  with  as 
much  honor  as  Scripture,  from  a  hymn-hook  then  existing  distinct  from  the  Bible,  the 
words  of  a  liturgical  song,  which  flowed  from  the  Scriptures  and  the  Spirit — the  pro- 
phetic Spirit,  which  reigned  in  the  church."  Theodoret  already  gives  it  as  the  opinion 
of  several  interpreters,  that  Paul  in  Eph.  0:14  quotes  a  fragment  of  a  hymn. 

«  Comp.  Rev.  1  :  4-8.     5 ;  9-14.     11  :  15-19.     15  :  3  sq.     21  :  1-8.     22  :  10-17,  20. 


WORSHIP.]  §  142.      BAPTISM.    '  565 

tongues  accordiug  to  Paul's  description,  was  nothing  but  a  peculiar  kind 
of  prayer  and  song  in  the  language  of  ecstatic  inspiration.' 

5.  All  the  acts  of  worship  now  mentioned  are  at  the  same  time  confes- 
sions of  faith.  Whether  there  was  besides  these  a  special  confession — 
say  at  baptism — we  shall  consider  in  the  following  section,  in  which  we 
take  up  the  last  element  of  worship,  the  administration  of  the  sacra- 
ments. 

§   142.  Baptism.     (Note  on  Immersion.) 

6.  Finally,  an  essential  constituent  of  the  Christian  worship  is  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  sacraments.  These  are  sacred  acts,  by  which,  on  the 
ground  of  an  express  command  of  Christ,  under  visible  signs  an  in- 
visible grace  is  not  only  represented,  but  also  communicated  and  sealed 
to  the  worthy  recipients."  They  are  hajitism  and  the  LorrVs  supper. 
These  in  the  New  Testament  take  the  place  of  their  Old  Testament 
types,  circumcision  and  the  paschal  feast,  as  efficacious  signs,  pledges,  and 
means  of  grace.  They  are  related  to  one  another  in  general  as  regenera- 
tion and  sanctification,  as  the  rise  and  the  growth  of  the  Christian  life. 
The  supper,  therefore,  is  to  be  repeated  ;  baptism  is  not. 

Baptism,  which  our  Lord  instituted  at  his  departure  from  the  earth, ^ 
meets  us  in  the  Christian  form  on  the  first  pentecost  in  intimate  connec- 
tion with  the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  As  to  its  nature  and  import,  it 
appears  as  the  church-founding  sacrament  and  the  outward  medium  of 
the  forgiveness  of  sins  and  the  communication  of  the  Holy  Ghost  (Acts 
2  :  38).  It  is  the  solemn  ceremony  of  reception  and  incorporation  into 
the  communion  of  the  visible  church  and  of  Jesus  Christ,  its  Head.  Hence 
Paul  calls  it  a  putting  on  of  Christ  (Gal.  3  :  11),  a  union  into  one  body 
by  one  Spirit  (1  Cor.  12  :  13),  a  washing  of  regeneration  and  renewing 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  (Tit.  3  :  5,  comp.  Jno.  3  :  5),  a  being  buried  with 
Christ  and  rising  again  with  him  to  a  new  and  holy  life  (Rom.  6:4). 
In  its  idea,  therefore,  and  divine  intent,  baptism  coincides  with  regenera- 

*  A  7r/jocre{i;\;eCTi5af,  or  i/'uZAeiv  r^  TTvev/xari,  I  Cor.  14  :  15,  16;  comp.  above,  §  117. 

'  The  term  sacrament,  by  which  the  Vulgate  frequently  translates  the  Greek 
fivarygiov,  mystcnj  {as  in  Eph.  3  :  3,  9.  5  :  32.  Uev.  1  :  20.  17  :  7),  was  received 
into  the  theological  language  of  the  church  from  the  time  of  Tertullian;  but  the  com- 
pass of  the  conception,  and  consequently  the  number  of  the  sacraments,  long  remained 
very  indefinite.  Catholics  and  Protestants  agree  in  requiring  three  elements  for  a 
aacramentum  in  the  strict  sense;  a  signum  visibile,  a  gratia  invisibilis.  and  a  mandatum 
divinuni ;  but  the  former  find  these  three  elements  in  seven  sacred  usages  of  the  church  : 
the  latter  only  in  baptism  and  the  Lord's  supper,  because  in  the  Protestant  view  a  man- 
datum  divinum  is  not  constituted  by  the  mere  judgment  of  the  church,  but  requires  an 
express  command  of  Christ  or  his  apostles  in  the  words  of  Scripture. 

=  Matt.  28  :  19.     Comp.  Mk.  16  :  16.     Jno.  3  :  5. 


666  §  142.    baptism:.  [iv-  book. 

tion.  It  marks  the  begiiming  of  tlie  renewing  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
who  is  fitly  symbolized  by  the  pure  and  purifying  water.  In  practice, 
however,  the  outward  act  is  not  always  accompanied  by  the  inward 
change.  And  in  this  case  the  general  principles  hold,  that  the  excep- 
tion does  not  set  aside,  but  confirms,  the  rule,  and  that  the  unfaithful- 
}iess  of  man  cannot  subvert  the  faithfulness  of  God.  The  communica- 
tion of  the  promised  sacramental  grace  is  not  magical  or  mechanical,  but 
is  dependent,  as  well  in  baptism  as  in  the  supper,  on  certain  conditions, 
viz.,  a  scriptural  mode  of  administration  on  the  part  of  the  officiating 
minister,  and  repentance  and  faith  on  the  part  of  the  recipient.  Where  the 
latter  condition  is  wanting,  the  blessing  turns  into  a  curse.  The  sacra- 
ment is  accordingly,  like  the  word  of  God,  a  savor  of  life  unto  life  to 
believers,  but  to  the  unworthy  a  savor  of  death  unto  death  (comp.  1 
Cor.  11  :  29).  In  Acts  8  :  13,  16,  18  sqq.,  we  have  in  the  hypocrite, 
Simon  Magus,  an  example  of  a  merely  outward  baptism  with  water, 
without  the  inward  baptism  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire  ;  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  Cornelius  and  his  company  received  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  the  midst  of  Peter's  sermon  before  they  were  baptized  (10  :  44  sqq.). 
Nevertheless,  in  this  last  case  the  outward  act  was  added,  and  that  not 
as  an  empty  ceremony,  but  as  the  objective  confirmation  and  divine  seal  of 
the  grace  received.  Though  God  is  absolutely  free,  and  though  his  Spirit 
blows  as  and  whither  it  will  (Jno.  3:8),  yet  is  the  church  bound  by 
his  ordinances,  and  therefore  adheres  with  good  reason  to  the  principle, 
that  baptism — of  course  not  without  faith — is  in  general  necessary  to 
salvation  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  she  asserts  with  the  same  right, 
that  not  the  defect  of  the  sacrament  (which  may  be  the  result  of  un- 
avoidable circumstances,  as  in  the  case  of  the  penitent  thief  on  the  cross, 
or  of  a  conversion  in  an  unwatered  desert),  but  the  conscious  contempt 
of  it,  condemns.  Both  these  principles  are  involved  in  our  Lord's  ex- 
pressions, Jno.  3  :  5,  where  He  represents  the  being  born  again  of  water 
and  the  Spirit  as  the  indispensable  condition  of  entrance  into  the  king- 
dom of  God  ;  and  Mk.  16  :  16,  where  He  pronounces  not  the  baptized 
as  such,  but  only  the  believing  recipients  of  baptism,  saved,  and  not  the 
unbaptized  as  such,  but  only  the  unbelieving,  damned  :  "  He  that  be- 
lieveth,  and  is  baptized,  shall  be  saved  ;  but  he  that  believeth  not 
shall  be  damned." 

The  full  formula  of  baptism,  as  prescribed  by  Christ  (Matt.  28  :  19), 
is  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost  ;  signifying  a 
sinking  of  the  subject  into  the  revealed  being  of  the  triune  God,  a 
coming  into  living  communion  with  Him,  so  as  thenceforth  to  be  conse- 
crated to  Him,  to  live  to  Him  and  serve  Him,  and  to  experience  His 
blessed  redeeming  and  sanctifying  power.     In  practice,  however,  we  find 


WORSHIP.]  §    142.      BAPTISM,  567 

the  apostles  always  usiug  the  abbreviated  form  :  "  into  the  name,"  or 
"  in  the  name,  of  Jesus  Christ,"  or  "of  the  Lord  Jesus,"  or  simply  "into 
Christ."'  Of  course  this  included  the  other,  binding  the  subject  to 
receive  the  whole  doctrine  of  Christ,  and  consequently  what  He  had 
taught  concerning  the  Father  and  the  Holy  Ghost.^ 

The  act  of  baptism  was  preceded  by  brief  instruction  respecting  the 
main  facts  of  the  Gospel  history,  and  an  injunction  of  repentance  and 
faith  in  Jesus  as  the  promised  Messiah  and  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 
But  the  more  thorough  indoctrination  in  the  apostolic  truth  came  after.^ 
Subsequently,  when  the  reception  of  proselytes  demanded  great  caution, 
the  time  of  instruction  and  probation  was  extended. 

It  was  probably  the  custom  even  in  the  times  of  the  apostles  to  require 
of  the  candidate,  before  administering  the  holy  ordinance,  a  simple  con- 
fession of  his  penitent  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  Of  this  we  have  hints  in 
Acts  8  :  3t,  where  the  eunuch,  before  being  baptized,  answered  to 
Philip's  question  :  "  I  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God  ;  "* 
in  1  Pet.  3:21,  where  the  apostle  says  of  baptism,  that  it  is  "  not  the 
putting  away  of  the  filth  of  the  flesh  (like  common  washings),  but  the 
answer  of  a  good  conscience  toward  (jfO&  {awEL&ijaeug dya^y^  eizeguTijiia 
elg  iJeov)^"  referring  to  the  questions  and  answers  of  the  solemn  contract 
of  the  candidate  with  God  f  and  finally  in  1  Tim.  6:12,  where  many  com- 

*  Acts  2  :  38.     10  :  4S.     19:5.     Rom.  6  :  3.     Gal.  3  :  27. 

^  Others  think,  that  these  passages  do  not  contain  the  baptismal  formula  at  all,  but 
only  thus  briefly  designate  the  Christian  baptism  in  distinction  from  the  baptism  of 
John,  and  perhaps  from  the  baptism  administered  to  Jewish  proselytes  (i.  e.  if  this  is 
as  old  as  the  Christian  era  :  which  is  well  known  to  be  doubtful,  as  no  older  testimony 
exists  for  it  than  that  of  the  Gemara).  This  suits  Acts  19:5  very  well.  It  is  certain  that 
immediately  after  the  time  of  the  apostles  the  formula  given  by  Christ  was  in  general 
use  (comp.  e.  g.  Justin's  jlpol.  I.  80) ,  but  also  that  the  abridged  form,  in  the  sense 
above  given,  was  acknowledged  valid  as  far  down  as  the  third  century  (comp.  Nean- 
der:  Kirchengesch.  I.  535,  and  especially  Hofling:  Das  Sacrament  der  Taufe,  etc.  I.  p, 
37  sqq. 

=*  Comp.  Acts  2  :  41,  42.     S  :  12,  36  sqq.     9  :  19.     10  :  34-48.     Heb.  6  :  1  sq. 
-  ■•  It  must  be  observed,  however,  that  in  the  oldest  codices,  A  B  C  (D  has  a  chasm 
here) ,  and  in  several  versions,  this  verse  is  wanting,  and  has  hence  been  suspected  as 
a  later  interpolation. 

^  'EKEQUTTj/xa.  properly  question,  may  by  metonymy  (like  the  Latin  intcrro^atio  in 
Seneca,  Dc  bene/.  III.  15)  signify  either  sponsio,  promissio,  as  this  was  called  forth  by 
the  question  of  the  minister,  or  both  together,  the  w^hole  catechetical  process  and  solemn 
engagement.  Winer  explains  it :  inquiry  after  God,  i.  e.  a  turning  to  God  :  but  then 
we  should  rather  expect  inei^xoTTjaL^.  Comp.  the  commentaries,  and  Neander  :  Apos- 
telgesch.  I.  p.  277.  It  is  possible,  however,  that  the  errepuTTj/ua-  contains  an  allusion  to 
the  high-priest's  inquiring  of  God  through  the  breastplate,  with  which,  after  washing 
himself,  he  went  into  the  sanctuary.  Taken  then  as  met.  consequentis  pro  causa,  the 
term  would  mean  :     Qualification  for  inquiring  of  God,  for  free  access  to  God. 


668  §  142.       BAPTISM.  [IV.  BOOK. 

mentators,  following  Chrysostom,  refer  the  "  good  profession  before  many 
witnesses,"  of  which  Panl  reminds  Timothy,  to  his  baptism  ;  while  to 
others  these  words  suggest  a  solemn  vow  at  ordination  to  the  pastoral 
cfSce.  The  first  confession  of  Peter  (Matt.  16  :  16)  and  then  the  bap- 
tismal formula  itself  (28  :  19)  would  very  naturally  be  taken  as  the  basis 
of  this  baptismal  confession,  and  from  it  grew  in  the  course  of  the  second 
and  third  centuries,  in  a  truly  organic  way,  and  from  the  consciousness 
not  of  an  individual,  but  of  the  whole  church,  the  so-called  Apostles' 
Creed.  This  symbol,  though  not  in  form  the  production  of  the  apostles, 
is  a  faithful  compend  of  their  doctrine  ;  comprehends  the  leading  articles 
of  the  faith  in  the  ti'iune  God  and  His  revelation,  from  the  creation  to 
the  life  everlasting,  in  sublime  simplicity,  in  unsurpassable  brevity, 
in  the  most  beautiful  order,  and  with  liturgical  solemnity  ;  and  to 
this  day  is  the  common  bond  of  Greek,  Roman,  and  Evangelical  Chris- 
tendom. 

Baptism,  being  the  sacrament  of  regeneration,  cannot,  in  the  nature  of 
the  case,  be  repeated,  any  more  than  the  natural  birth.  The  re-baptism 
of  the  disciples  of  John,  Acts  19  :  5,  is  not  a  case  in  point.  For  these 
persons  had  received  only  the  baptism  of  John,  which  could  not  impart 
the  Holy  Ghost  (comp.  v.  2),  and  after  the  first  Christian  Pentecost  lost 
even  its  provisional  significance.  Nor  on  the  other  hand  can  it  be  in- 
ferred from  this  fact,  that  the  apostles  also  were  re-baptized  ;  for  in  their 
case  the  outward  act  was  compensated  for  by  the  miraculous  ba})tisffi 
with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  v.'ith  fire  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  (comp.  Acts 
1  :  5).  The  earlier  baptism  of  the  disciples  (Jno.  4:2),  previous  to 
the  glorification  of  Christ,  and  therefore  before  the  Holy  Ghost  was 
given  (Jno.  1  :  39),  was  not  essentially  different  from  John's  baptism  of 
repentance.  The  peculiarly  Christian  baptism  first  appeared  at  the 
founding  of  the  church  on  the  day  of  Pentecost. 

Finally,  as  to  the  outward  mode  of  administering  this  ordinance  ;  im- 
mersion, and  not  sprinkling,  was  unquestionably  the  original,  normal 
form.  This  is  shown  liy  the  very  meaning  of  the  Greek  words  liaTrriZu, 
JiuTTTiafia,  i3a7T.Tia/j.6^,  used  to  designate  the  rite.  Then  again,  by  the  analogy 
of  the  baptism  of  John,  which  was  performed  in  the  Jordan  (n-,  Matt. 
3  :  6,  compare  16  ;  also  «f  rdv 'Ioq6(1vi]p,  Mk.  1:9).  Furthermore  by 
the  New  Testament  comparisons  of  baptism  with  the  passage  through 
the  Red  Sea  (1  Cor.  10  :  2),  with  the  Hood  (1  Pet.  3  :  21),  with  a 
bath  (Eph.  5  :  26.  Tit.  3  :  5),  with  a  burial  and  resurrection  (Rom. 
6  :  4.  Col.  2  :  12).  Finally,  by  the  general  usage  of  ecclesiastical 
antiquity,  which  was  always  immersion  (as  it  is  to  this  day  in  the  Oriental 
and  also  the  Graeco-Russian  churches)  ;  pouring  and  sprinkling  being 


WORSHIP.]    '  §    142.       BAPTISM.  569 

substituted   only   in   cases  of  urgent   necessity,  sucli   as   sickness   and 
approaching  death.' 

Note. — It  may  be  proper  here  to  add  a  note  on  the  disputed  question  of  7m- 
mersion  and  sprinkling.  BairTi^o)  {elg  n,  ev  tlvi.,  also  nqog  tl) — the  frequentative 
of /3an-rw,  but  syoonymous  with  it,  except  that  the  latter,  besides  the  sense  "to 
immerse,"  has  the  derivative  one  "  to  color  " — denotes  in  the  classics,  not  by  any 
means  every  mode  of  applicatio  aqua?,  thus  including  iufusio  and  aspersio,  regard- 
less of  the  quantitative  relation  of  the  water  to  the  object,  to  which  it  is  applied ; 
but  always  an  entire  or  partial  immersio.  Compare  on  this  point  the  classical 
lexicons  and  especially  the  full  exhibition  of  this  philological  argument  by  the 
learned  Baptist  divine.  Dr.  Alex.  Carson  :  Baptism  in  its  Mode  and  Subjects, 
ch.  2,  p.  18-168  (5thAmer.  ed.  1850).  The  advocates  of  the  mode  of  baptism 
by  sprinkling  urge  against  the  Baptists  the  following  exegetical  points  : 

1.  In  the  later  Hellenistic  usage,  and  therefore  in  the  LXX.  and  N.  T., 
BarrriCeLv  sometimes  has  the  general  sense  "  to  wash,"  "  to  cleanse  "  (So  also 
Dr.  Robinson  in  the  new  edition  of  his  Gr.  and  Engl.  Lexicon,  p.  118.)  In  sup- 
port of  this  a  confident  appeal  can  assuredly  be  made  to  several  passages,  viz. 
Lu.  11  :  38  (comp.  with  Mk.  7  :  2-4),  where  paKrH^eLv  is  used  of  the  washing  of 
hands  before  eating  (Mark  has  for  this,  v.  3,  vinTeiv  tu(;  ;i;£i?af)>  which  in  the  East 
was  performed  by  pouring  (comp.  2  Ki.  3  :  11)  ;  Mk.  7  :  4,  8,  which  speaks  of 
f^aTTTifffwi,  i.  e.  cleansing  of  cups,  pitchers,  and  tables  ;  Heb.  9  :  10,  where  the 
diufogoi  PaTTTLCjLLoi.  must  be  taken  to  include  all  sorts  of  religious  purifications 
among  the  Jews,  bathing  (Lev.  14  :  9.  Num.  19  :  7),  washing  (Num.  19  :  7. 
Mk.  7:8),  and  sprinkling  (Lev.  14  :  7.  Num  19  :  19)  ;  the  figurative  phrase 
(3aiTT.  kv  TTVEi'fj.aTi.  uylu)  kol  irvgi.  Matt.  3  :  11.  Lu.  .3  :  16.  Mk.  1  :  8.  Jno. 
1  :  33.  Acts  1:5.  11  :  16,  where  the  notion  of  immersion  is  hardly  admissible, 
r-  .lie  Holy  Ghost  is  rather  poured  out;  finally,  several  passages  of  the  LXX., 
as  2  Ki.  5  :  14,  10  (where  (iairr.  is  synonymous  with  loveiv),  Judith  12  :  7 
{koI  kfiaTVTH^eTO  kv  ry  7vaQe/iij3o?i(]  ewl  rye  ''^vyvi  ^ov  vdaroc) .  It  must  be  conceded, 
however,  that  in  all  these  cases  at  least  a  copious  application  of  water  is  intended, 
as  the  design  of  the  ablution  requires  a  wetting  of  the  whole  object. 

2.  The  improbability  of  3000  persons  during  the  feast  of  Pentecost  (Acts  2  : 
41),  and  soon  after  5000  (4  :  4),  having  been  baptized  by  immersion  at  Jerusa- 
lem in  one  day,  since  there  is  no  water  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city  in  summer 

'  Indeed  some  would  not  allow  even  this  baptismus  clinicorum,  as  it  was  called,  to 
be  valid  baptism ;  and  Cyprian  himself  in  the  third  century  ventured  to  defend  the 
aspersio  only  in  case  of  a  necessitas  cogens  and  with  reference  to  a  special  indulgentia 
Dei  {Ep.  76  ad  Magn.  Comp.  Hiifling,  I.  c.  I.  p.  48  sqq.) .  There  were  ecclesias- 
tical laws,  which  made  persons  baptized  by  sprinkHng  ineligible  to  church  offices. 
These  were  grounded,  however,  not  so  much  in  the  notion  of  the  imperfection  of 
their  baptism,  as  in  the  fact,  that  they  frequently  received  it  from  fear  of  approaching 
death,  and  hence  might  not  have  been  so  thoroughly  prepared  for  it  as  others.  Not 
till  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  century  did  sprinkling  become  the  rule  and  immersion 
the  exceplioi;;  partly  from  the  gradual  decrease  in  the  number  of  adult  baptisms, 
partly  from  considerations  of  heahh  and  convenience, — all  children  having  now  come 
to  be  treated  as  inlirmi. 


570  §  142.       BAPTISM.  [iV.  BOOK. 

but  the  springs  and  the  brook  Siloam,  and  tlie  liouses  are  supplied  from  cisterns 
and  public  reservoirs,  so  that  there,  as  in  all  Palestine,  private  baths  in  dwellings 
are  very  rare.  In  these  cases  we  must  give  up  the  idea  at  least  of  a  total  im- 
mersion, and  substitute  perhaps  that  of  a  copious  affusion  upon  the  head. 

3.  Dr.  Robinson,  1.  c.  and  in  his  BibL  Researches  in  Palest.  II.  182,  III.  78, 
further  adduces,  that  the  baptismal  fonts  found  among  the  ruins  of  the  oldest 
Greek  churches  in  Palestine,  as  at  Tekoa  and  Cophna,  are  not  large  enough  for 
the  immersion  of  adults,  and  were  evidently  not  intended  for  that  purjDOse. 

These  arguments  assuredly  serve  in  some  measure  to  justify  from  exegesis  the 
now  prevalent  form  of  baptism  by  affusion.  Yet  the  ordinary  use  of  Panri^Eiv, 
^uTTTLajua,  IBaTTTia/ioc,  in  connection  with  the  passages  respecting  baptism  adduced 
in  the  text,  the  clear  testimonies  of  antiquity,  and  the  present  prevailing  usage  of 
the  Oriental  churches,  puts  it  beyond  all  doubt,  that  entire  or  partial  immersion 
was  the  general  rule  in  Christian  antiquity,  from  which  certainly  nothing  but 
urgent  outward  circumstances  caused  a  deviation.  Respecting  the  form  of  baptism, 
therefore  (quite  otherwise  with  the  much  more  important  difference  respecting 
the  subject  of  baptism,  or  infant  baptism,  comp.  §  143),  the  impartial  historian  is 
compelled  by  exegesis  and  history  substantially  to  yield  the  point  to  the  Baptists, 
as  is  done  in  fact  (perhaps  somewhat  too  decidedly  and  without  due  regard  to  the 
arguments  just  stated  for  the  other  practice)  by  most  German  scholars,  e.  g. 
Neander :  Apostelgesch.  I.  p.  276  ;  Knapp :  Vorlesungen  uber  die  christliclie 
Glaubenslehre,  II.  p.  453 ;  Hofling  :  1.  c.  I.  p.  46  sqq.  ;  also  by  the  Anglican 
divines,  Conybeare  and  Howson,  Life  of  St.  Paul,  I.  471 :  "  It  is  needless  to  add 
that  baptism  was  (unless  in  exceptional  cases)  administered  by  immersion,  the 
convert  being  plunged  beneath  the  surface  of  the  water  to  represent  his  death  to 
the  life  of  sin,  and  then  raised  from  this  momentary  burial  to  represent  his  resur- 
rection to  the  life  of  righteousness.  It  must  be  a  subject  of  regret,  that  the 
general  discontinuance  of  this  original  form  of  baptism  (though  perhaps  necessary 
in  our  Northern  climates)  has  rendered  obscure  to  popular  apprehension  some 
very  important  passages  of  Scripture."  With  this  we  entirely  concur.  It  is 
well  known,  that  the  reformers,  Luther  and  Calvin,  and  several  old  Protestant 
liturgies,  gave  the  preference  to  immersion  ;  and  this  is  undoubtedly  far  better 
suited  than  sprinkling  to  symbolize  the  idea  of  baptism,  the  entire  purifying  of 
the  inward  man,  the  being  buried  and  the  rising  again  with  Christ.  But  the 
Baptists  go  too  far  in  making  immersion,  after  the  fashion  of  Jewish  legalism, 
the  only  valid  form  of  baptism.  The  application  of  water  is  necessary  to  this 
sacrament ;  but  the  quantity  of  it,  as  also  the  quality  (whether  sea,  spring,  or 
river  water,  whether  cold  or  warm),  is  certainly  not  essential.  Otherwise  we 
should  in  fact  bind  the  efficacy  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  what  is  material  and  acci- 
dental. Here  difference  of  climate,  state  of  health,  and  other  circumstances,  may 
certainly  claim  some  regard ;  and  hence  the  ancient  church  made  exceptions 
at  least  in  reference  to  sick  catechumens  and  children,  and  applied  to  them  the 
water  by  sprinkling. 


WORSHIP.]  §  143.       INFANT    BAPTISM.  571 

§  143.  Infant  Baptism. 

In  consequence  of  the  missionary  character  of  the  apostolic  church 
adult  baptism  in  this  period  predominated.  Infant  baptism  can  have  no 
significance,  save  on  the  ground  of  a  mother  church  already  existing,  and  in 
view  of  a  Christian  education,  which  heathen  and  Jewish  parents  of  course 
can  not  be  expected  to  give.  So  also  at  this  day,  a  missionary  will  not 
begin  his  work  with  baptizing  children,  but  with  instructing  adults. 

But  here  arises  the  question :  Was  there  not  at  that  day,  in  churches 
already  established,  along  with  the  baptism  of  adults,  which  in  the 
nature  of  the  case  was  most  frequent,  a  Christian  infant  baptism,  corres- 
ponding to  its  type,  circumcision,  which,  administered  first  to  the  patri- 
arch Abraham  as  the  seal  of  his  righteousness  of  faith  (comp.  Rom.  4  : 
11),  was  immediately  afterwards  performed  on  his  son,  Isaac,  on  the 
eighth  day  after  his  birth  (Gen.  21  :  4),  and  made  the  sign  of  the  cove- 
nant for  all  his  male  posterity  (Gen.  17  :  10  sqq.)?  This  question  we 
must  answer  decidedly  in  the  afSrmative,  though  we  here  encounter 
not  only  the  Baptists,  but  also  the  authority  of  many  celebrated  pedo- 
baptist  divines,  and  among  them  the  venerable  Dr.  Neauder,  who  denies 
the  existence  of  infant  baptism  in  the  apostolic  church.'  It  is  very 
often  asserted,  indeed,  even  by  friends  of  infant  baptism,  that  no  direct 
authority  for  it  can  be  shown  in  the  Kew  Testament,  not  excepting  the 
passages  in  Acts,  where  the  baptism  of  whole  families  is  spoken  of,  as 
c.  10  :  2,  44-48.  16  :  15,  30-33.  18  :  8.  1  Cor.  1  :  16.  16  :  15. 
In  none  of  these  places,  it  is  said,  are  children  expressly  mentioned,  and 
the  families  concerned  might  possibly  have  consisted  entirely  of  adults. 
But  this  is,  even  in  itself,  exceedingly  improbable,  since  we  have  here, 
not  one  case  only,  bat  five,  and  these  given  merely  as  examples,  whence 
we  may  readily  infer  that  there  were  many  others.  A  glance  at  any 
neighborhood  will  show,  that  families  without  children  are  the  excep- 
tions, not  the  rule.  But  besides,  it  is  hardly  conceivable,  that  all  the 
supposed  adult  sons  and  daughters  in  tliese  five  cases  so  quickly  deter- 
mined on  going  over  with  their  parents  to  a  despised  and  persecuted 
religious  society  ;  whereas,  if  we  suppose  the  children  to  have  been  still 
young  and  therefore  entirely  under  paternal  authority,  the  matter  pre- 
sents no  difficulty  at  all.  Moreover  we  need  not  insist  on  any  particular 
passage.  We  here  rest  the  case,  rather,  as  we  must  do  with  so  many 
other  articles  of  faith,  even  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  mainly  on  the 

*  Apostelgesch.  I.  278  sqq.  Here,  however,  we  must  not  overlook  the  essential  dif- 
ference, that,  while  the  Baptists  pronounce  infant  baptism  an  unscriptural  and  un- 
christian innovation,  Neander,  on  the  contrary,  represents  it  as  proceeding  from  the 
genuine  spirit  of  Christianity,  though  not  till  towards  the  end  of  the  second  century. 


572  §  143.     INFANT   BAPTISM.  [iV.  BOOK. 

whole  tone  and  spirit  of  the  Holy  Scriptnrcs,  which  involve  infinitely 
more  than  the  letter  directly  declares.  And  if  it  can  be  proved,  that 
infant  baptism  holds  a  necessary  place  in  the  entire  structure  and  design 
of  apostolical  Christianity,  we  may  certair.ly  infer  from  this  with  toler- 
able confidence,  in  the  utter  want  of  evidence  to  the  contrary,  that  it 
was  actually  practised. 

The  ultimate  authority  for  infant  baptism  in  the  bosom  of  a  regular 
Christian  community  and  under  a  sufficient  guarantee  of  pious  education 
— for  only  on  these  terms  do  we  advocate  it — lies  in  the  unicersnl  import 
of  Chrisfs  person  and  work,  which  extends  as  far  as  humanity  itself. 
Christ  is  not  only  able,  but  willing,  to  save  mankind  of  all  classes,  in  all 
circumstances,  of  both  sexes,  and  at  all  stages  of  life,  and  consequently 
to  provide  for  all  these  the  necessary  means  of  grace  (comp.  Gal.  3  : 
28).  Before  the  Saviour  of  the  world  these  distinctions  are  all  lost  in 
the  common  need  and  capability  of  redemption.  A  Christ,  able  and 
willing  to  save  none  but  adults,  would  be  no  such  Christ  as  the  gospel 
presents.  The  exclusion  of  a  part  of  our  race  from  the  blessings  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  on  account  of  age  has  not  the  slightest  warrant  in 
the  holy  Scriptures,  and  our  noblest  impulses,  our  deepest  religious 
feelings,  rise  against  such  a  particularism.'  In  the  significant  parallel, 
Rom.  5:12  sqq.,  the  apostle  earnestly  presses  the  point,  that  the  reign 
of  righteousness  and  life  is  in  its  divine  intent  and  intrinsic  efficacy  fully 
as  comprehensive  as  the  reign  of  sin  and  death,  to  which  children 
among  the  rest  are  subject ;  nay,  far  more  comprehensive  and  availing  ; 
and  that  the  blessing  and  gain  by  the  second  Adam  far  outweigh  the 
curse  and  the  loss  by  the  first.     Hence  he  emphatically  repeats  the 

'  And  yet  this  is  the  inevitable  consequence,  nay,  in  fact  the  principle,  of  the  Bap- 
tist theory.  Dr.  Alex.  Carson,  its  most  learned  advocate,  openly  declares  {Baptism  in 
its  Mode  and  Subjects,  p.  173),  that  children  cannot  be  saved  by  the  gospel  nor  by 
faith  :  "  The  Gospel  has  nothing  to  do  with  infants,  nor  have  Gospel  ordinances  any 
respect  to  them.  The  Gospel  has  to  do  with  those  who  hear  it.  It  is  good  news; 
but  to  infants  it  is  no  news  at  all.  They  know  nothing  of  it.  The  salvation  of  the 
Gospel  is  as  much  confined  to  believers,  as  the  baptism  of  the  Gospel  is.  None  can 
ever  be  saved  by  the  Gospel  who  do  not  believe  it.  Consequently,  by  the  Gospel  no 
infant  can  be  saved."  When,  however,  the  Baptists  suppose,  as  they  commonly  do, 
that  infants  are  saved,  and  saved  without  baptism,  without  faith,  without  the  gospel, 
they  reject  the  fundamental  principle  of  the  gospel,  that  out  of  Christ  there  is  no 
salvation,  that  faith  in  Him  alone  can  save.  "  Infants  who  enter  heaven,"  says  Carson, 
1.  c,  "must  be  regenerated,  but  not  by  the  gospel.  Infants  must  be  sanctified  for 
heaven,  but  not  through  the  truth  as  revealed  to  man."  (Is  there  then  another  truth 
besides  the  revealed ;  and  could  this  be  anything  else  than  an  untruth ;  and  can  such 
an  extra  and  anti-evangelical  truth  save  ?)  "  We  know  nothing  of  the  means  by 
which  God  receives  infants  :  nor  have  we  any  business  with  it."  Fine  consolation  Ibi 
Christian  parents,  especially  at  the  grave  of  their  beloved  child  ! 


WORSHIP.]         .  §  143,       INFAKT   BAPTISM.  573 

"much  more"  {i:o7Jm  fial7.ov)  in  the  second  chinse  (v.  15,  17).  The 
church,  like  Christ  himself,  is  above  all  limitations  of  nation,  language, 
sex,  or  age.  The  parable  of  the  leaven  (Matt.  13  :  33)  penetrating 
and  pervading  the  whole  mass,  is  expressly  intended  to  illustrate  the 
power  of  the  kingdom  of  God  to  work  in,  and  diffuse  itself  through  all 
the  relations  and  conditions  of  life  ;  and  when  the  Lord,  after  solemnly 
declaring,  that  all  power  is  given  to  him  in  heaven  and  in  earth,  com- 
mands his  apostles  to  make  all  natiovs  disciples  {fia-QriTEven)  by  baptism 
in  the  triune  Name  and  by  instruction  in  His  doctrine,  there  is  not  the 
least  reason  for  hmiting  this  to  those  of  maturer  age.  Or  do  nations 
consist  only  of  men,  and  not  of  youth  also,  and  children  ?  According 
to  Ps.  lit  :  1  "  all  nations,"  and  according  to  Ps.  150  :  6  "everything 
that  hath  breath,"  should  praise  the  Lord  ;  and  that  these  include  babes 
and  sucklings,  is  explicitly  told  us  in  Ps.  8  :  2  and  Matt.  21  :  16. 

With  this  is  closely  connected  the  beautiful  idea,  already  clearly 
brought  out  by  Irenaeus,  the  disciple  of  Polycarp,  and  the  faithful  me- 
dium of  the  apostolical  tradition  descending  from  John's  field  of  labor — 
the  idea  that  Jesus  Christ  became  for  children  a  child,  for  youth  a 
youth,  for  men  a  man,  and  by  thus  entering  into  the  various  conditions 
and  stages  of  our  earthly  existence  sanctified  every  period  of  life,  infancy 
as  well  as  manhood.'  The  Baptist  view  robs  the  Saviour's  infancy  of  its 
profound  and  cheering  significance. 

If  now  Christ  is  really  the  Saviour  of  infants  as  well  as  of  adults,  the 
means  of  this  salvation  must  be  available  for  both.  Christ  can  not  will 
an  end  without  willing  at  the  same  time  the  way  which  leads  to  it  ;  and 
we  must  therefore  either  deny  baptism  as  a  means  of  saving  grace,  or 
grant  it  to  all  whom  Christ  would  save,  if  the  proper  conditions  are  at 
hand. 

Most  certainly,  however,  is  faith  necessary  on  our  part,  as  the  indis- 
pensaljle  condition  of  salvation,  the  organ  by  which  we  appropriate 
Christ  and  receive  his  blessings  ;  and  here  we  meet  the  main  exegetical 
and  dogmatical  argument  of  the  Baptists.     Christian  baptism,  say  they, 

'  "  Omnes  enim,'"  says  Irenaeus,  Mv.  haer.  III.  22,  with  a  profound  view  of  the  mys- 
tery of  the  incarnation,  "  per  semetipsum  venit  salvare,  omnes,  inquam,  qui  per  eum 
renascuntur  in  Deum,  infantes  et  parvulos  et  pueros  et  juvenes  et  seniores.  Ideo  per 
omnem  venit  aetatem  et  infantibus  infans  factus,  sanctificans  infantes,  in  parvulis  par- 
vuliis,  sanctificans  hanc  ipsam  habentes  aetatem,  simul  et  exemplum  illis  pietatis 
effectus  et  justitiae  et  subjectionis.  in  juvenibus  juvenis,  exemplum  juvenibus  fiens  et 
sanctificans  Domino."  That  Irenaeus,  in  the  words  "  renascuntur  in  Deum"  has  in 
mind  baptism  as  the  sacrament  of  regeneration,  whereby  even  the  infant  is  consecrated 
to  God,  is  conceded  by  Neandcr  in  his  Kirchengesch.  vol  I.  p.  537,  where  he  says  of  this 
expression  of  the  church  father :  "  Thus  from  this  idea,  which  lay  deep  in  the  essence  of 
Christianity,  and  ruled  all  minds,  proceeded  the  practice  of  infant  baptism." 


574  §  143.    INFANT   BAPTISM.  [iv.  BOOK. 

requires  the  gospel  to  have  been  preached  to  the  subject,  and  the  subject 
to  have  exercised  repentance  and  faith  ;  but  infants  can  neither  under- 
stand a  sermon,  nor  repent  and  believe ;  therefore  neither  can  they  be  bap- 
tized. The  major  premise  is  in  the  main  correct  ;  the  minor  is,  in  such  a 
broad  application,  false  ;  hence  the  conclusion  falls  to  the  ground.  The 
connection  of  baptism  with  preaching  and  with  faith  is  placed  beyond  dis- 
pute by  the  words  of  the  institution  of  this  sacrament,  Matt.  28  :  19,  and 
especially  Mk.  16  :  16 — "  He  that  (first)  believeth  and  (then)  is  baptized, 
shall  be  saved  ;"  *  and  by  the  examples  in  the  book  of  Acts,  according 
to  wliich  the  act  of  baptism  was  always  preceded  by  the  preaching  of 
the  missionaries  and  the  faith  of  the  hearers."  But  even  here  we  have 
to  consider  what  the  Baptists  overlook,  that  in  all  these  cases  the  in- 
struction, which  preceded  this  rite  of  initiation  into  the  church,  was  very 
brief  and  general,  touching  only  the  main  facts  of  gospel  history,  and 
accompanied,  therefore,  by  only  a  small  degree  of  faith  ;  and  that  the 
complete  communication  of  the  apostle's  doctrine,  and  growth  in  the 
faith,  took  place  after  the  person  was  in  full  communion  with  the  church. 
The  primitive  Christian  baptism  was  neither  a  forced  act,  like  the  bap- 
tism of  the  Saxons,  for  instance,  at  the  order  of  Charlemagne,  nor  a 
ceremony  in  the  usual  Baptist  sense,  which  imparts  nothing  new  at  all, 
but  merely  seals  the  faith  already  possessed.  The  apostles  never  de- 
manded full  and  formal  regeneration  lefore  baptism,  but  simply  an  honest 
longing  for  salvation  in  Christ  ;  which  salvation  was  then  actually  ad- 
ministered and  sealed  to  them  by  baptism,  and  afterwards  nourished  and 
developed  by  the  other  means  of  grace.  "  Repent,"  says  Peter  to  the 
three  thousand,  who  were  baptized  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  after  anx- 
iously listening  to  one  short  sermon,  "  Repent,  and  be  baptized  every 
one  of  you  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ,  for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  ye 
shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ;"  thus  placing  these  two  bless- 
ings, the  negative  and  the  positive,  the  remission  of  sins  and  the  bestow- 
ment  of  the  Spirit,  as  the  effect,  not  the  condition,  of  baptism.  This 
view  is  corroborated  by  the  oft  mistaken  passage.  Matt.  28  :  19,  which, 
to  give  the  true  sense,  should  be  translated,  "  Go  ye,  therefore,  and 
make  disciples  {fia^TjTEvoaTe)  of  all  nations  (by)  baptizing  them  (jdaTrrl^ovTec) 
in  the  name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  (and 
by)  teaching  them  (SiSilanovTEc)  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have 

*  Or  more  accurately  :  "  Qui  crediderit  et  baptizatus  fuerit,  salvus  erit,"  as  the  Vul- 
gate translates  the  original. 

'^  Acts2  :37sqq.  8  :  5  sqq.,  35-38.  9:17sq.  10:42-48.  16:15,33.  18:8.  19:5. 
Full  use  is  made  of  these  passages  in  the  Bapti.st  sense  by  R.  Tengilly  :  The  Scripture 
Guide  to  Baptism,  p.  27  sqq.  ed,  of  Philadelphia,  1849  (also  translated  into  German); 
and  by  Js.  Taylor  Hinton  :  History  of  Baptism  from  inspired  and  uninspired  Writings 
(Philad.  1846),  ch.  III.  p.  88  sqq. 


I 


WORSHIP.]  §  143.       INFANT   BAPTISM.  575 

commanded  you."  Here  plainly  the  "  making  disciples"  (of  Jesus,  i.  e. 
true  Christians)  is  not  one  and  the  same  with  the  "  teaching," '  but  a 
more  general  idea,  denoting  the  object  to  be  attained  by  the  double 
means,  first  of  baptism,  and  then  of  teaching."  Were  it  possible  to  be  a 
complete  Christian  before  baptism,  therefore  out  of  the  church,  baptism 
were  useless,  or  at  least  unnecessary.  And  to  this  the  Baptist  theory 
virtually  comes.'  It  always  more  or  less  mistakes  the  nature  and  the 
pedagogical  character  of  the  church,  as  an  indispensable  saving  and 
sanctifying  institution,  and  regards  it  in  reality  merely  as  a  community 
of  the  saved.  Besides  the  demand  of  regeneration  and  conversion,  as  a 
necessary  prerequisite  for  baptism,  makes  the  latter,  properly  speaking, 
impossible,  or  indefinitely  postpones  it  ;  for  God  has  not  endowed  the 
ministers  or  congregations  with  the  gift  of  infallible  discernment  of  spirits. 
Even  a  Philip  was  deceived  by  the  hypocritical  profession  of  Simon 
Magus. 

But  now,  as  to  the  second  proposition  of  the  Baptist  argument,  the 
incapacity  of  children  for  faith,  whence  follows  their  exclusion  from  bap- 
tism :  this  is  granted,  if  by  faith  we  understand  a  self-conscious,  free 
turning  of  the  heart  to  God.  This  cannot  take  place  till  the  dawn  of 
intelligence  (for  which,  by  the  way,  no  certain  period  can  be  fixed),  and 
in  view  of  this  infant  baptism  needs  to  be  completed  in  the  subject,  ac- 
cording to  ancient  custom,  by  catechetical  instruction  and  by  confirma- 
tion, in  which  the  Christian,  arrived  at  the  age  of  spiritual  discretion, 
ratifies  his  baptismal  confession,  and  of  his  free  determination  gives  him- 
self to  God.  For  this  reason  also  the  baptism  of  the  children  of  unbe- 
lieving, though  nominally  Christian,  parents,  is  in  reality  unmeaning,  or 
rather  a  profanation  of  the  holy  transaction  ;  since  there  is  here  a  hypo- 
critical profession  of  faith,  and  no  guarantee  of  an  education  answering 
to  the  baptismal  vow.  But  the  grand  error  of  the  proposition  before  us 
is,  that  the  conception  of  faith  in  general,  and  with  it  the  agency  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  is  limited  to,  and  made  to  depend  on,  a  particular  stage 
in  the  development  of  the  human  mind,  and  that  the  various  forms  and 
phases  of  divine  operation  and  of  faith  are  overlooked.  The  ground  and 
the  conditions  of  salvation  lie  not  at  all  in  the  subject  or  creature,  but 
in  the  depths  of  the  divine  mercy  ;  and  in  faith  itself  we  must  observe 

'  Luther's  translation  of  this  is  inaccurate,  and  calculated  to  mislead;  he  renders 
Ixa&rjTEveLv  also  by  "  lehren,"  to  teach.  So  also  the  common  English  version. 

^  Not  without  reason,  therefore,  says  the  Danish  divine,  Dr.  H.  Martensen  (Die 
chrisll.  Taiifc  und  die  baptistische  Frage,  Hamburg,  1843,  p.  24)  :  '•  The  more  infant 
baptism  prevails  in  the  world,  the  more  are  the  words  of  the  Lord  fulfilled,  that  the 
nations  should  be  made  disciples  by  baptism  and  teaching." 

*  With  the  exception  of  the  "  Disciples  of  Christ,"  or  "  C  ampbellites,"  who  identify 
immersion  with  regeneration. 


57r.  §  143.       INFANT    BAPTISM.  b^ ■  BOOK. 

different  stages,  from  the  germ  to  the  pcrfeet  fru't.  The  Holy  Scriptures 
speak  of  a  little  aud  weak  faith/  of  a  growing,  a  strong,  and  a  firmly  root- 
ed faith,''  of  a  struggling  and  overcoming  faith, ^  and  of  a  perfected  faith.* 
Faitli  begins  with  religious  susceptibility,  with  an  unconscious  longing 
for  the  divine,  and  a  childlike  trust  in  a  higher  power.  It  is  not  a  pror 
duct  of  human  thought,  understanding,  feeling,  or  will,  but  a  work  of 
grace  and  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  who  is  bound  to  no  age  or  degree  of  in 
telligence,  but  operates,  as  the  wind  blows,  when  and  where  He  will."* 
Faith  does  not  produce  the  blessings  of  salvation,  but  simply  receives 
them,  and  only  in  this  aspect,  as  a  receptive,  not  a  productive  organ,  is 
it  saving  ;  otherwise  salvation  would  be  the  work  of  the  creature. 

Js'ow  this  receptivity  for  the  divine,  or  faith  in  its  incipient  form  and 
slumbering  germ,  may  be  found  in  the  child,  even  purer  than  in  the 
adult.  In  virtue  of  its  religious  constitution  and  endowments,  the  child 
is  susceptible  to  the  influences  of  grace,  aud  may  be  actually  regenerated. 
If  a  man  deny  this,  he  must,  to  be  consistent,  condemn  all  children 
vithout  exception  to  perdition.  For  they,  like  all  men,  are  conceived  in 
sin  (Ps.  51  :  5),  flesh  born  of  flesh  (Juo.  3  :  6),  and  by  nature  children 
of  wrath  (Eph.  2:3;  comp.  Rom.  3  :  22-24);  and  except  a  man  be 
born  again  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,  according  to  our  Lord's  unequi- 
vocal declaration,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God  (Jno.  3:5). 
'  He  that  believed  not  shall  be  damned"  (Mk.  16  :  16).  When  Bap- 
tist, and  some  other  theologians,  therefore,  admit  at  least  some  infants 
into  heaven  without  regeneration  or  faith,  they  either  deny  original  sin 
and  guilt  after  the  manner  of  Pelagianism,  or  open  a  way  of  salvation 
unknown,  nay,  directly  opposed,  to  the  gospel.  There  are  also,  how- 
ever, explicit  passages  in  the  Scriptures,  which  leave  no  doubt  respect- 
ing the  capacity  of  childhood  and  infancy  for  the  divine.  Not  to  men- 
tion the  extraordinary  case  of  John  the  Baptist,  who  even  in  his  mother's 
womb  was  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost  (Lu.  1  :  15,  41),  we  know  from 
Matt.  18  :  2-5.  19  :  14,  15.  Mk.  10  :  14,  15.  Lu.  18  :  16,  17,  that 
the  Saviour  himself  took  children  into  his  arms,  blessed  them,  and  ad- 
judged them  meet  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ;  nay,  He  required  all 
adults  to  become  children  again,  to  cultivate  the  simple,  unassuming, 
confiding,  susceptible  disposition  of  the  child,  if  they  would  have  part  in 
that  kingdom.  Should  the  church  refuse  baptism,  that  is  the  sign  and 
seal  of  entrance  into  Christ's  kingdom,  to  the  tender  age,  which  the 

'  Matt.  17  :  20.     Lu.  22  :  31  sq. 
-  2  Thess.  1:3.     1  Cor.  16  :  13.     Col.  2  :  7 
"   1  Tim.  6  :  12.     Eph.  6:10.     1  Jno.  5  :  4. 
*  2  Tim.  4  :  7  sq. 

^  Comp.  such  passages   as  Rom.   12  :    3.      Gal.  5:5.     1    Cor.  12  :  3,  9.      2  Cor. 
4:13.     Eph.  2  :  8.     Col.  2  :  12.     Phil.  1  :  29.     Jno.  3  :  8. 


WORSHIP.]  §  143.       INFANT   BAPTISM.  577 

Lord  himself  pressed  to  his  loving  heart  ?  Should  she  hold  off  from  her 
communion  as  incapable  and  unworthy  the  infants,  whom  the  Head  of 
the  church  presented  even  as  models  to  all  who  would  be  His  disciples  ? 
Rather  must  we  conclude  from  this,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  that  every 
bapiisfn,  even  in  the  case  of  adults,  is  really  an  infant  baptism  ;  because 
Christ  makes  the  childlike  spirit  an  indispensable  condition  of  entrance 
into  His  kingdom,  and  because  baptism  in  general,  as  the  sacrament  of 
regeneration,  demands  of  every  candidate  the  renunciation  of  his  former 
sinful  life  in  repentance,  and  the  beginning  of  a  new,  holy  life  in  faith. 

All  the  objections,  which  are  made  against  the  Christian  baptism  of 
infants,  are  of  equal  force  against  the  Jewish  institution  of  ciranndsion 
on  the  eighth  day.  For  this  was  not  an  unmeaning  ceremony,  but  a 
sacred  sign  and  seal  of  the  covenant,  admitting  the  circumcised  person 
to  its  privileges  and  blessings;  and  binding  him  also  under  its  obligations 
(comp.  Gal.  5:3),  which,  strictly  speaking,  he  could  only  assume  at 
the  age  of  discretion  and  by  a  voluntary  act.  As,  however,  the  circum- 
cision of  the  Israelitish  children  rested  undeniably  on  a  divine  command 
(Gen.  n  :  12.  Lev.  12  :  3),  we  may  draw  from  this  typical  rite  an 
inference  in  favor  of  infant  baptism.  For  the  latter  has  in  some  sense 
taken  the  place  of  the  former,  and  hence  is  called  the  "  circumcision  of 
Christ"  (Col.  2  :  11);  with  the  grand  difference,  indeed,  that  the  old 
covenant  with  all  its  institutions  was  but  a  shadow  of  good  things  to 
come,  while  the  new  covenant  of  grace  is  the  antitype  and  substance 
(Heb.  10  :  1.  Col.  2  :  1*1).  This  difference,  however,  is  all  in  our 
favor.  If  the  former,  according  to  the  promise  of  Jehovah,  Gen.  11  : 
7  sqq.,  embraced  the  whole  posterity  of  Abraham,  much  more  does  the 
latter,  which  is  in  fact  distinguished  from  the  other  by  its  very  largeness, 
depth,  and  fullness.  In  this  comprehensive  sense,  after  the  analogy  of 
the  ordinance  of  circumcision,  must  the  apostles,  being  Jews,  have  un- 
doubtedly taken  the  command  of  the  Lord  to  baptize  all  nations;  and 
had  Christ  intended  to  exclude  children,  he  would  have  somehow  signi- 
fied it.  In  fact  Peter,  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  in  calling  upon  his 
hearers  to  be  baptized,  explicitly  announces  this  extension  of  the  bless- 
ings of  the  gospel  to  children  :  "  For  the  promise  (of  the  remission  of 
sins  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost)  is  unto  you,  and  to  your  children,^  and  to 
all  that  are  afar  off,  even  as  many  as  the  Lord  our  God  shall  call" 
(Acts  2  :  39). 

This  important  idea  of  an  organic  connection  between  Christian  parents 
and  their  children,  by  virtue  of  which  the  latter  are  included  in  the 
covenant  obhgations  and  privileges  of  the  former,  meets  us  also  in  the 

'  If  we  take  this  in  the  wide  sense,  as  meaning  posterity  in  general,  still  we  in  no 
case  exclude  children. 

31  ' 


678  §    143.       INFANT   BAPTISM.  [iV.  BOOK. 

apostle  Paul.  He  considers  cliildren  as  already  belonging  to  the  church, 
and  requires  them  to  obey  their  parents  "in  the  Lord"  (Eph.  6  :  1. 
Col.  3  :  20) ;  which  is  possible,  properly  speaking,  only  on  the  ground 
of  their  vital  union  with  the  church,  the  body  of  the  Lord,  and  this 
union  is  formed  by  baptism.  In  1  Cor.  1  :  14  the  apostle  makes  an 
important  distinction  between  the  children  of  heathen  parents  and  those 
of  Christian,  calUng  the  former  unclean  {uKu^agra),  but  the  latter  holy 
(uyia),  by  virtue  of  their  organic  union  with  a  believing  mother  or  father.' 
As,  in  a  mixed  marriage,  of  which  he  just  before  speaks,  the  power 
of  the  divine  life  in  the  Christian  parent  is  mightier  than  the  power 
of  darkness  in  the  heathen  partner,  so  also  its  influence  on  the  offspring 
is  predominant.  For  God  is  stronger  than  Satan.  How  much  greater 
must  be  the  influence  of  the  divine  life  over  the  child  when  both  parents 
walk  in  the  fear  of  God  and  are  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  faith  !  Paul 
does  not  here  mean,  of  course,  to  deny  the  natural  corruption  of  the 
children  of  Christian  parents  ;  but  he  does  unequivocally  teach,  that  the 
blessing  of  the  covenant  is  transmitted  to  them  and  the  curse  of  nature 
so  far  removed,  that  those,  who  were  by  nature  unholy,  are  by  grace 
consecrated  to  God  and  brought  under  a  sanctifying  influence.  Infant 
baptism  itself  is  here  not  expressly  mentioned  indeed,  but  the  idea  and 
authorization  of  it  is  most  assuredly  implied. °  For  if,  by  virtue  of  their 
birth  from  believing  parents,  the  children  are  already  included  in  the 
covenant  of  grace,  why  should  they  be  excluded  from  the  sacrament 
which  puts  the  divine  seal  on  this  covenant  and  alone  makes  it,  so  to 
speak,  valid  and  available  in  law  ?  This  passage,  however,  at  the  same 
time  restricts  the  right  to  and  the  qualification  for  baptism  to  those 
children,  whose  parents,  at  least  on  one  side,  are  believei's  ;  because  it 
is  only  in  connection  with  a  Christian  family,  that  the  dcSdaKeiv,  which 
the  command  of  Christ,  Matt.  28  :  19,  annexes  to  the  {Sanri^Eiv,  and 
consequently  the  preservation  of  the  baptismal  grace  and  the  develop- 
ment of  it  to  the  independent  life  of  faith,  can  be  expected.' 

*  In  like  manner  Paul  says  of  the  relation  of  the  patriarchs  to  the  Jewish  nation, 
which  sprang  from  them  (Rom.  11  :  16)  :  "For  if  the  first-fruit  be  holy,  the  lump 
(the  bread  prepared  from  the  fruit)  is  also  holy ;  and  if  the  root  be  holy,  so  are  the 
branches." 

*  This  Neander  also  virtually  concedes,  when  he  says  of  the  above  passage  {jipos- 
telgesch.  I.  p.  282  sq.) :  "The  view  here  taken  by  Paul,  though  it  goes  against  the 
actual  existence  of  infant  baptism  at  that  time  ( ? ),  yet  includes  the  fundamental  idea, 
from  which  infant  baptism  was  afterwards  necessarily  developed,  and  by  which  it 
would  be  justified  in  the  mind  of  Paul,  viz.,  the  idea  of  a  pre-eminence  belonging  to 
children  born  in  a  Christian  communion  ;  of  a  consecration  for  the  kingdom  of  God 
thereby  granted  them  ;  of  an  immediate  sanctifying  influence,  to  be  brought  to  bear  on 
their  earliest  development." 

'  With  good  reason,  therefore,  do  the  so-caWed  Jpostolic  consiitutions  place  infant  bap- 


WORSHIP.]  §  143.       INFANT   BAPTISM.  579 

John  also,  like  Paul,  regards  tlie  children  of  believers  as  members 
of  the  Christian  church.  After  addressing  his  readers,  1  Jno.  2  :  12, 
as  TEKvia,  he  turns,  v.  13,  to  those  in  the  several  stages  of  life,  fathers, 
young  men,  children  ;  and  he  dwells  longest  upon  the  latter  (v.  15), 
because  they  are  encounteriug  seasons  of  temptation,  and  because  they 
are  mainly  the  hope  of  the  church.  In  his  second  epistle  the  same 
npostle  salutes  the  children  of  Cyria,  and  conveys  to  her  a  salutation 
from  the  children  of  her  sister  ;  nay,  in  v.  4  he  expresses  his  joy  to  find 
some  of  Cyria's  children  walking  in  the  truth  ;  which  can  be  said  only 
of  those  who  have  part  in  Christ,  the  way,  the  truth,  and  tlie  life. 

If,  according  to  what  has  now  been  said,  authoxity  for  infant  baptism 
is  to  be  found  in  the  universal  import  of  Christ's  person  and  redeeming 
office,  in  the  original  idea  of  Christianity,  in  the  extent  of  the  covenant 
of  grace,  in  the  analogy  of  circumcision,  and  in  the  organic  relation, 
spiritual  and  bodily,  of  believing  parents  to  their  offspring  ;  it  is  alto- 
gether probable,  that  the  introduction  and  exercise  of  this  ordinance  is 
as  old  as  the  independent  existence  of  any  Christian  community.  And 
under  these  circumstances  we  have  every  reason  to  believe,  that  it  was 
actually  practised  in  those  five  instances,  recorded  in  the  Xew  Testament 
without  the  least  qualification  (which  the  Baptist  theory  would  lead  us 
to  expect),  where  whole  households  were  baptized, — the  cases  of  Cornelius, 
of  Lydia,  of  the  jailer  at  Philippi,  and  of  Crispus  and  Stephanas  in 
Corinth  ;  especially  since  these,  as  before  remarked,  are  recorded  only 
as  examples,  leaving  us  to  infer  the  existence  of  many  similar  ones, 
while  yet  it  would  be  contrary  to  all  experience  to  suppose  all  the 
families  to  have  been  without  small  children. 

It  is  true,  a  witness  has  been  brought  from  the  end  of  the  second 
century  to  overthrow  this  exegetical  conclusion  and  to  prove  a  compara- 
tively late  introduction  of  the  ordinance  in  question.  We  mean  Ter- 
fullian,  in  his  well  known  attack  upon  infant  baptism.'  But  this  very 
testimony  of  Tertullian,  which  is  placed  even  by  such  distinguished 
scholars  as  Neander,  Gieseler,  and  other  pedobaptist  historians,  in  a 
distorted  posture  and  made  to  furnish  unwarrantable  inferences,  proves 
most  decidedly  the  existence  of  infant  baptism,  at  that  time,  as  well  as 
of  the  custom,  closely  connected  with  it,  of  having  god-parents  (spou- 
sores).  Nay  more,  Tertullian  is  aware,  that  the  practice  of  the  whole 
church  is  against  him,  and  he  comes  out,  though  unsuccessfully,  as  a 
reformer.     Had  he  been  able  to  appeal  to  antiquity  and  to  oppose  infant 

tistn    and   Christian  education  in    immediate    connection,    VI.  15:    B  a  tt  r  t  ^"e  t£  Je 
vjiuv  Kal  Tu  VTJTTLa,  Kal  EKToi<peTe  alru  kv   Traahia  Kal  vovdEaia  -dEov.     'Adsrs 
yao  K.  T.  \.     Mk.  10  :  U. 
'  Dc  baptismo.  c.  18. 


580  §  143.       INFANT   BAPTISM.  [iV.  BOOK. 

baptism  as  an  innovation,  he  would  certainly  have  taken  advantage 
of  this  position.  But  he  does  not  question  the  apostolical  origin  of  this 
ordinance,  nor  even  its  propriety  and  legality.  Of  an  assertion  of  the 
invalidity  of  infant  baptism  and  the  necessity  for  a  repetition  of  the 
sacrament,  there  is  not  the  slightest  trace  either  in  TertuUian  or  in  any 
other  ancient  Christian  writer.  TertuUian's  objections  relate  solely  to 
its  expediency  dM&  judiciousness,  and  arise  partly  from  his  notion  of  the 
magical  operation  of  the  baptismal  water,  and  partly  from  a  kind  of 
Christian  policy,  which  in  the  third  and  fourth  centuries  led  many  dis- 
tinguished men,  as  the  emperors  Constantiue  and  Theodosius,  the  church 
teachers  Gregory  of  Nazianzen,  his  brother  Caesarius,  and  Augustine, 
while  admitting  the  lawfulness  and  validity  of  infant  baptism,  to  put  off 
their  own  baptism  to  the  age  of  maturity  and  strong  faith,  or  even  to 
the  death-bed  ;  though  Augustine  at  the  same  time  explicitly  declares, 
that  he  considers  this  a  false  view,  and  that  it  had  been  better  for  him, 
had  he  in  tender  youth  been  taken  under  the  maternal  care  of  the 
church.  TertuUian  holds  an  early  baptism  to  be  dangerous,  because 
according  to  his  Montanistic  notions  a  mortal  sin  committed  after  bap- 
tism excludes  forever  from  the  communion  of  the  church,  and  probably 
incurs  eternal  damnation.  On  this  ground  he  advises  not  only  children, 
but  even  adults  also,  who  are  yet  unmarried  and  under  no  vow  of 
chastity,  to  put  off  baptism  until  they  are  secure  against  temptation  to 
gross  carnal  indulgence.'  This  whole  argument  of  TertuUian  then  rests 
on  false  premises,  which  were  not  admitted  by  the  church.  It  comes 
before  us  simply  as  an  individual  private  opinion  against  an  already  pre- 
vailing theory  and  practice,  and  goes  strongly,  therefore,  to  prove  the 
contrary  of  what  it  has  been  often  used  to  prove.  All  that  can  with 
any  certainty  be  deduced  from  it  is,  that  the  baptism  of  children  was 
not  yet  at  that  time  enjoined,  but  left  to  the  option  of  Christian  parents. 

'  "  Non  minore  de  causa,"  says  he,  1.  c,  "  innupti  quoque  procrastinandi,  in  quibus  ten- 
tatio  praeparata  est  tarn  virginibus  per  maturitatem,  quam  viduis  per  vacationem, 
donee  aut  nubant  aut  continentiae  corroborentur  "  So  TertuUian  would  limit  baptism 
to  decrepit  and  married  persons,  monks  and  nuns!  And  yet  he  asserts,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  a  man  can  be  saved  only  by  being  baptized  with  water,  De  bapt.  c.  1  : 
"  Nee  aliter  quam  in  aqua  permanendo  salvi  sumus."  The  vast  difference  of  Tertul- 
lian's  position  in  this  whole  controversy  from  that  of  the  Baptists  of  our  days  must  be 
clear  to  every  one  who  has  any  historical  or  critical  judgment.  And  for  this  reason  is 
it  so  preposterous  for  the  Baptists,  who  otherwise  concern  themselves  mighty  lillle 
about  tradition  and  ecclesiastical  antiquity,  so  zealously  (and  honestly  no  doubt)  to  ap- 
peal to  the  African  church  father.  But  they  feel  themselves  greatly  encouraged  by  the 
authority  of  some  great  German  historians,  especially  Neaiider,  who  although  a  pedo- 
baptist  himself,  was  yet  too  latitudinarian  on  this,  as  on  some  other  points,  and  suffered 
his  latitudinarianism  unconsciously  to  influence  his  historical  representation  of  the 
apostolic  and  post-apo£tolic  practice. 


WORSHIP.]  §  144.     THE  lord's  suppee.  581 

Otherwise  Tertullian  would  hardly  have  contested  it  with  so  much 
decision.  But  as  he  had  the  spirit  of  the  age  against  him  in  this  mat- 
ter, his  protest,  which,  moreover,  was  inconsistent  with  some  of  his  own 
principles,  had  no  influence  whatever.     It  fell,  without  an  echo. 

This  is  incontestibly  shown  by  the  next  age.  The  African  churcli 
itself,  in  the  year  246,  at  a  council  in  Carthage,  decided,  that  the  bap- 
tism of  infants  need  not  be  deferred  even  to  the  eighth  day,  like  circum- 
cision, but  might  (not  must)  be  administered  on  the  second  or  third  day 
after  birth  ;  and  Cyprian  (f  248),  who  in  other  matters  had  the 
greatest  respect  for  his  teacher,  Tertullian,  advocated  this  view.'  So 
completely  had  all  signs  of  opposition  to  infant  baptism  then  disappeared, 
that  the  only  question  was,  whether  the  ordinance  should  not,  according 
to  the  analogy  of  circumcision,  be  deferred  at  least  eight  days  1  About 
the  same  time  the  most  learned  representative  of  the  Greek  church, 
Origen  of  Alexandria,  who  was  himself  baptized  soon  after  his  birth 
(A.  D.  185),  and  was  at  the  death  of  Tertullian  (about  220)  some 
thirty-five  years  of  age,  speaks  in  the  most  unequivocal  terms  of  infant 
baptism  as  an  apostolical  tradition,  and  the  universal  practice  of  the 
church."  And  those,  who  interpret  the  silence  of  ecclesiastical  waiters 
before  Tertullian  respecting  infant  baptism  unfavorably  to  it,  do  not  con- 
sider, in  the  first  place,  that  we  have  very  few  written  memorials  of  any 
kind  from  this  age,  and  are  left  wholly  in  the  dark  on  many  other 
points  ;  and  in  the  second  place,  that  at  that  time  the  great  missionary 
zeal  and  the  rapid  spread  of  the  church  made  the  baptism  of  proselytes 
still  the  most  frequent  and,  in  the  nature  of  the  case,  most  thought  of. 
Finally,  even  in  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Irenaeus,  and  Justin  Martyr, 
there  is  no  lack  of  hints,  which  indicate  with  more  or  less  certainty  the 
existence  of  infant  baptism,  but  which  we  here  pass  over,  as  we  shall 
have  to  return  to  them  in  the  history  of  the  second  period. 

§  144.    The.  Lord's  Sniffer. 
The  holy  supper,  or,  as  it  is  called  in  the  New  Testament,  the  "Lord's 
supper""  or  "breaking  of  bread,"*  has  reference  to  the  preservation  and 

'  Epist.  59,  ad  Fidum. 

*  Horn,  in  Levit.  8;  Horn,  in  evang.  Lite.  14 ;  ^4d  Rum.  5  :  9  ("The  church  has  re- 
ceived it  from  the  apostles,  that  she  should  allow  baptism  to  little  ones"),  and  other 
passages.     Comp.  HiJfling  :  Das  Sacrament  der  Taufe,  etc.  I.  p.  108  sq. 

'  KvQiaKov  decnvov,  1  Cor.  11  :  20,  or  what  amounts  to  the  same,  rgdne^a  Kvgiov, 
1  Cor.  10  :  21  (comp.  noTTJgiov  Kvqiov,  ibid.),  i.  e.  the  meal  which  the  Lord  has  ap- 
pointed, which  is  eaten  in  honor  of  Him,  and  gives  us  the  enjoyment  of  His  spiritual 
and  eternal  blessings. 

*  KMaiQ  Tov  ugrov,  Acts  2  :  42,  comp.  20  :  7,  11.  1  Cor.  10  :  16.  This  term,  which 
perhaps  includes  the  agapae  or  feasts  of  brotherly  love,  is  derived  partly  from  the  Jew- 


582  §  IM.     THE  lord's  suppee.  [iv.  book. 

growth  of  the  Christian  life.  It,  therefore,  pre-supposes  faith  and  rege- 
neration. It  is  the  solemn  festival  for  the  thankful  commemoration  of 
the  atoning  death  of  Jesus,'  for  the  believing  appropriation  and  sealing 
of  the  fruits  of  this  death,  and  for  renewing  and  strengthening  the  vital 
union  of  believers  with  the  ever-living,  divine-human  Redeemer,  as  well 
as  with  one  another.  It  is  thus  the  sacrament  of  the  unio  mystica,  and 
of  the  communio  sanctorum  resting  upon  it.^  In  it  is  the  deepest  mys- 
tery of  our  faith,  as  it  were,  continually  embodied.  In  it  the  church, 
with  thanksgiving  and  prayer,  celebrates  and  enjoys  the  highest  and 
closest  union,  she  can  ever  enjoy  on  earth,  with  her  heavenly  Head, 
who,  though  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  and  thus  partaking  of 
his  almighty  and  omnipresent  power,  is  still,  and  in  fact  for  this  very 
reason,  invisibly  and  yet  truly  present  with  her  in  the  Spirit.  Hence 
this  sacrament  forms  the  culminating  point,  the  "  holy  of  holies,"  of  the 
Christian  worship  ;  and  so  it  has  been  regarded  by  the  church  in  all 
ages. 

In  the  apostolic  period  the  Lord's  supper  was  celebrated  daily,  at 
least  where  the  circumstances  allowed  daily  worship.'  After  the  manner 
of  its  institution  and  the  analogy  of  the  Jewish  feast  of  the  passover,  it 
was  connected  with  a  simple  meal  of  brotherly  love,  which  afterwards 
(first  in  Jude  12)  came  to  be  called  "agape,"  or  love-feast.  Originally 
this  arrangement  was  connected  in  the  church  at  Jerusalem  with  the 
community  of  goods,  the  Christians  considering  themselves  as  one  house- 
hold (comp.  §  114).  The  celebration  of  the  communion,  it  is  commonly 
supposed,  was  the  closing  act  of  the  daily  social  feast,  and  the  earthly 
food  was  thus  sanctified  by  the  heavenly  bread  of  life.^  Yet  it  is  pos- 
sible, that  even  in  the  apostolic  church,  as  in  the  second  century,  the 
communion  took  place  in  the  morning  and  the  love-feast  in  the  evening. 
Then  the  profanation  of  the  latter  in  the  Corinthian  congregation,  of 
which  we  are  about  to  speak,  can  be  better  explained  ;  whereas,  on  the 
supposition  of  the  immediate  union  of  the  two,  it  would  be  doubly 
strange. 

We  find  a  similar  custom,  however,  also  among  the  Gentile  Chris- 
tians, who  did  not  adopt  the  community  of  goods.     In  Corinth  the  be- 

ish  custom  of  breaking  the  bread  and  asking  a  blessing  before  the  meal  by  the  head  of 
the  family  (Matt.  14  :  19.  Lu.  24  :  30,  35.  Acts  27  :  35),  partly  from  the  symbolical 
reference  of  the  breaking  of  the  bread  to  the  crucifixion  of  Christ. 

'  Lu.  22  :  19  :  "This  do  in  remembrance  of  me."  1  Cor.  11  :  24-26.  Comp.  the 
name  eixagioTia. 

'' Matt.  26  :  26  sqq.     1  Cor.  10  :  16,  17.     11:27,29.     Jno.  6  :  47-58. 

'  Acts  2  :  46,  /cai?'  7//ii{Qav,  etc.     Comp.  6  :  1. 

*  The  term,  delnvov  KvgiaKov,  no  doubt  primarily  denotes  these  two  acts  considered 
as  one. 


WORSHIP.]  §  145.      OTHEK   SACRED   USAGES.  583 

lievers  celebrated  these  agapae,  in  which  differences  of  rank,  talent,  and 
education  were  supposed  to  be  forgotten  in  the  equal  relation  of  all  to 
the  Redeemer  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  communion  with  Him  ;  in  which 
all  were  to  feel  themselves  members  of  one  divine  family.  But  here  a 
gross  abuse  made  its  appearance,  arising  probably  from  the  influence  of 
an  old  Grecian  custom  of  having  sacrificial  feasts  and  public  entertain- 
ments, in  which  each  participator,  according  to  his  ability,  brought  with 
him  the  provision  for  his  own  use.'  This  custom  the  Corinthian  Christians 
adopted.  But,  instead  of  obliterating  all  inequalities  by  Christian  love, 
they  obtruded  even  here  their  social  distinctions.  The  rich  members 
sometimes  indulged  immoderately  at  the  love-feast,  while  the  poor  were 
left  in  want.  Of  course  the  apostle  most  emphatically  rebuked  this  hor- 
rible profanation,  by  which  the  celebration  of  the  holiest  love  was  made 
to  minister  to  the  spirit  of  discord,  pride,  envy,  and  revelry.'^  As  these 
and  similar  abuses  could  hardly  be  prevented  in  the  larger  churches,  it 
is  not  strange,  that  in  the  second  century  (perhaps  even  in  the  first)  the 
love-feasts  were  disjoined  from  the  communion,  and  by  degrees  entirely 
given  up,  having  been,  in  fact,  nowhere  expressly  commanded. 

As  a  preparation  for  the  Lord's  supper  Paul  requires  (1  Cor.  11  :  28) 
self-examination  on  the  part  of  the  communicant,  earnest  inquiry  as  to 
whether  he  possesses  faith,  which  receives  the  blessing  of  the  sacrament, 
and  without  which  the  ordinance  becomes  a  curse,  and  draws  down  upon 
the  unworthy  partaker  the  heavy  judgment  of  God.  On  this  prescription 
of  the  apostle  is  founded  the  appropriate  custom  of  holding  special  exer- 
cises of  divine  worship  preparatory  to  the  communion. 

§  145.   Other  Sacred  Usages. 

Besides  baptism  and  the  Lord's  supper,  mention  is  made  in  the  apos- 
tolic literature  of  other  sacred  usages,  which  come  at  least  very  near  to 
sacraments,  and  may,  therefore,  be  designated  as  in  a  certain  sense 
sacramental  acts. 

1.  The  washing  of  feet,  as  described  in  Jno.  13  :  4-16,  seems  to  an- 
swer fully  the  conception  of  a  sacrament,  combining  all  the  three 
elements  ;  an  outward  sign,  the  visible  act  of  washing  feet ;  the  promise 
of  an  interest  in  Christ,  connected  with  this  act,  v.  8  ;  and  the  express 
command,  "  I  have  given  you  an  example,  that  ye  should  do  as  I  have 

'  Comp.  Xenophon,  Memorab.  III.  14. 

'  1  Cor.  11  :  17  sqq.  Jude  attacks  a  similar  abuse,  when  he  says  of  the  false 
teachers,  v.  12 :  "  These  are  spots  in  your  feasts  of  charity  {aydnaig),  when  they 
feast  with  you,  feeding  themselves  without  fear."  So  2  Pet.  2  :  13,  if,  with  Lach- 
mann's  authorities,  w'e  read  kv  ralg  uydizaL^  avruv,  which  gives  a  better  sense  than 
the  reading  of  the  textus  rec,  dnaTaLg  avrdv. 


684  §  145.     OTHER   SACRED   TI8AGES.  [iV.  BOOK. 

done  to  you"  (v.  15).'  The  maiu  design  of  this  symbolical  act,  how- 
ever, evidently  was,  in  the  first  place,  to  set  forth  the  necessity  of  daily 
repentance  and  purification  from  the  pollution,  which  still  cleaves  to  the 
baptized  and  regenerate  ;  and  secondly,  not  so  much  to  impart  to  the 
disciples  a  special  gift  of  grace,  as  to  enforce  upon  them  an  important 
virtue,  namely,  the  duty  of  humble,  self-denying  charity.  Hence  also  the 
injunction  of  imitation  relates  not  so  much  to  the  outward  act  as  to  the 
inward  disposition.  At  least  so  it  was  understood  by  the  ancient  church, 
which  never  received  the  washing  of  feet  into  the  number  of  sacra- 
ments, though  it  occasionally  practiced  the  ceremony  as  a  holy  usage, 
mostly  as  an  appendage  to  the  administration  of  baptism.''  In  the  New 
Testament  it  never  appears  again,  except  in  1  Tim.  5  :  10,  where  it  is 
required  of  widows,  as  a  qualification  for  the  office  of  deaconess  (comp. 
§  135),  that  they  have  washed  the  saints'  feet.  Here  the  act  is  plainly 
not  a  sacrament  but  a  proof  of  a  self-denying  kindness  and  hospitality  to 
Christian  strangers,  which,  according  to  the  necessity  and  custom  of  the 
East,  showed  itself  particularly  in  the  washing  of  their  feet.^ 

2.  The  laying  on  of  hands.  This  is  in  general  the  symbol  of  blessing 
(Gen.  48  :  14)  ;  but,  in  a  special  sense,  the  medium  of  the  communica- 
tion of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  His  gifts,  mainly  for  a  particular  office  in 
the  kingdom  of  God.*     In  the  apostolic  church  it  was  performed  : 

a.  On  all  baptized  persons,  being,  as  it  were,  a  solemn  consecration 
to  the  universal  priesthood.  In  the  case  of  proselytes  it  was  commonly 
united  with  the  act  of  baptism  itself,  as  in  Acts  19  :  5,  6.  Yet  Acts 
8:17  shows  that  it  was  occasionally  deferred  till  some  time  after  the 
baptism  (as  would  naturally  be  the  case  in  infant  baptism).  Tlie  evan- 
gelist Philip  had  baptized  the  Samaritans  (v.  12),  and  afterwards  the 
apostles  Peter  and  John,  who  were  commissioned  for  the  purpose  by  the 
church  at  Jerusalem,  laid  their  hands  on  them,  and  thereby  imparted  to 
them  the  Holy  Ghost.  Commentators  generally  regard  this  as  the  be- 
stowmeut  of  the  extraordinary  spiritual  gifts — speaking  with  tongues, 

*  Hence  W.  Bohmer  of  Breslau  has  recently  endeavored  to  vindicate  the  washing  of 
feet  as  a  proper  sacrament  (though  without  any  new  arguments)  in  the  *'  Studien  und 
Kritiken,"  1850.  No.  4.  p.  820  sqq.  It  is  so  observed  by  the  Mennonites,  and  to  some 
extent  by  the  Moravian  Brethren. 

^  In  the  church  of  Milan  and  some  African  churches.  Comp.  Bohmer,  1.  c.  p.  839, 
and  Bingham,  Orig.  eccL  IV.  394  sqq. 

'  U  is  well  known,  that  in  the  hot  countries  of  the  East  bodily  impurity  is  more 
frequent,  on  account  of  the  freer  perspiration,  than  in  colder  climates,  and  very  easily 
induces  dangerous  diseases — such  as  leprosy.  Hence  also  the  greater  necessity  and  im- 
portance of  frequent  washings,  even  from  physical  considerations.  Comp.  the  article 
"Reinigkeit"  in  Winer's  Reallexikon,  II.  p.  312  sqq. 

*  Acts  8  :  17.  1  Tim.  4  :  14.  2  Tim.  1  :  6.  Heb.  6  :  2.  Comp.  Num.  27  :  18, 
23.     Deut.  34  :  9. 


WORSHIP.]  §  145.       OTHER    SACRED   USAGES.  585 

prophesying,  &c.  ;  comp.  Acts  10  :  46.  19  :  6.  These,  however,  do 
by  no  means  exclude,  but  rather  presuppose,  the  communication  of  the 
ordinary  spiritual  gifts,  which  every  Christian  is  to  possess.  This  apos- 
tolic practice  is  the  basis  of  the  rite  of  confirmation,  which  is  in  a  certain 
sense  required  by  infant  baptism,  as  the  completion  and  solemn  ratifica- 
tion of  that  act  on  the  part  of  the  subject.  For  in  it  (according  to  the 
beautiful  custom  of  several  evangelical  churches)  the  baptized  person, 
having  come  to  years  of  discretion,  deliberately  ratifies  upon  himself  the 
vow  which  his  parents,  as  his  responsible  representatives,  had  made,  and 
voluntarily,  before  the  whole  congregation,  gives  himself  up  to  the 
service  of  God,  and  enters  upon  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  privileges  of 
church  membership.  But  of  course  confirmation,  to  answer  its  full  im- 
port, must  be  only  the  crowning  act,  the  practical  completion  of  the 
whole  course  of  catechetical  instruction  and  religious  education  at  home 
and  in  the  church,  which  infant  baptism  sacredly  enjoins,  and  by  which 
alone  it  can  be  saved  from  utter  frustration,  and  be  made,  as  divine  seed 
in  a  good  soil,  to  bear  blossom  and  fruit. 

h.  At  the  inauguration  of  church  and  congregational  officers  ;  being 
here  the  consecration  to  the  special  priesthood,  if  such  can  be  spoken  of 
under  the  new  dispensation.  This  is  what  afterwards  came  to  be  called 
ordination,  of  which  we  have  already  sufficiently  spoken  in  §  126. 

c.  In  the  miraculous  healing  of  the  sick  and  infirm.  Acts  9  :  12,  It. 
28  :  8.     Comp.  Mk.  16  :  18.     Matt.  9  :  18,  &c. 

3.  Finally,  mention  is  made  in  two  places  in  the  New  Testament,  of 
another  sacred  usage,  anointing  with  oil,  on  which  the  Greek  and  Roman 
churches  found  their  sacrament  of  extreme  unction.  In  Mk.  6  :  13  it  is 
recorded  of  the  disciples  of  Jesus,  that  they  (no  doubt  at  the  direction 
of  their  Master,  who  had  just  given  them  instructions,  v.  t  sqq.)  "  anoint- 
ed with  oil  many  that  were  sick,  and  healed  them."  And  James  in  his 
epistle,  5  :  14,  15,  gives  the  general  advice  :  "  Is  any  sick  among  you  ? 
let  him  call  for  the  elders  (presbyters)  of  the  church  ;  and  let  them  pray 
over  him,  anointing  him  with  oil  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  And  the 
prayer  of  faith  shall  save  the  sick,  and  the  Lord  shall  raise  him  up  ;  and 
if  he  have  committed  sins,  they  shall  be  forgiven  him."  Here  again  all 
three  requisites  for  a  sacrament  seem  to  meet.  Yet  in  Mark  bodily  heal- 
ing is  most  prominent,'  and  even  James  has  in  view  perhaps  mainly  such 

^  Whereas  in  the  extreme  unction  of  the  Roman  church  the  forgiveness  of  remain- 
ing sins  is  the  great  thing,  and  bodily  recovery  something  accessory,  which  may  not, 
and  rarely  does,  follow  ;  this  sacrament  being  administered  only  on  the  apparent  ap- 
proach of  death.  The  evxe'^o-'-ov  of  the  Greek  church  comes  nearer  the  original  rite  as 
enjoined  by  James,  inasmuch  as  it  is  administered  lor  bodily  and  spiritual  strengthening 
not  only  to  the  dying,  but  to  all  sick  persons,  when  they  request  it. 


586  §  145.   OTHEK  SACEED  USAGES.  [iv.  BOOK. 

sins,  as  had  beeu  followed  by  some  particular  disease  by  way  of  punish- 
ment. Then  at  any  rate  the  context  requires  us  to  refer  the  first  passage 
to  the  miraculous  healing  of  diseases,  with  which  gift  the  apostolic  church 
was  endowed.  For  this  the  anointing  served  as  a  preparation  and  aux- 
iliary ;  as  in  fact  oil,  it  is  well  known,  was  and  is  in  the  East  frequently 
applied  to  mollify  and  strengthen.  Hence  in  the  Old  Testament  it  is 
used  as  an  emblem  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  His  regenerating,  new-creat- 
ing power.'  At  all  events  these  testimonies  leave  not  the  least  doubt 
about  the  high  antiquity  of  the  anointing  with  oil  in  connection  with 
prayer.  And  though  we  leave  out  of  view  the  power  of  miraculous  heal- 
ing, as  no  longer  present  in  the  church,  and  the  use  of  oil  as  peculiar  to 
the  East,  there  still  remains  of  James'  direction  thus  much  applicable  to 
all  ages  and  countries,  that  members  of  the  church  in  sickness  should 
send  for  the  ministers,  to  impart  the  exhortation  and  consolation  of  the 
gospel,  and  to  commit  the  bodily  and  spiritual  interests  of  the  patient  to 
the  heavenly  Physician  in  prayer. 

'  Comp.  Is.  61  :  1.  1  Sam.  10  :  1  sq.  Bengel  strikingly  remarks  on  Jas.  5  :  14 — 
"  Eral  haec  ecclesiae  summa  facultas  medica,  ut  juridicam  ejusdem  habemus,  1  Cor,  5. 
Beata  simpHcitas !  intermissa  vel  amissa  per  dinaTiavP 


BOOK    FIFTH. 


BOCTKIXE   AND  THEOLOGY   OF  THE   CHURCH. 


DOCTRINE  AND  THEOLOGY  Of  THE  CHUBCH. 


CHAPTEE   I. 

THE   APOSTOLIC  LITERATURE   AND   THEOLOGY  IN   GENERAL. 

§  146.  Rise  of  the  New  Testament  Literature. 

Christianity  entered  the  world  not  as  a  written  letter,  like  the 
Mosaic  law,  but  as  a  creative  fact,  as  life-giving  spirit.  It  is  primarily 
the  manifestation  of  the  eternal  Son  of  God  in  the  flesh  for  the  salva- 
tion of  the  world.  "  And  the  Word  was  made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among 
us,  and  we  beheld  his  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the 
Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth"  (Jno.  1  :  14).  This  personal  Word, 
the  God-man,  the  source  of  all  light  and  life,  communicated  himself 
through  the  oral  or  spoken  word,  the  most  appropriate  and  perfect 
medium  of  thought  and  the  best  representation  of  spirit ;  and  this  was 
then  committed  to  writing  by  the  apostles  and  their  disciples  for  the 
preservation  of  pure  Christianity,  and  for  the  instruction  and  edification 
of  all  succeeding  ages.  Thus  arose  the  seven-and-twenty  books,  which 
form  the  volume  of  the  New  Testament. 

The-  spoken  word  of  God,  however,  was  not  transformed  into  the 
written  by  one  sudden  act.  Christ  himself  wrote  nothing.'  He  had 
something  far  more  important  to  do.  It  was  his  great  object  to  perform 
acts,  as  matter  for  writing,  yet  never  to  be  fully  written  or  sung.     The 

^  The  pretended  letter  of  Jesus  to  king  Abgar  Bar  Manu  at  Edessa  in  Mesopotamia, 
of  which  Eusebius  speaks  {H.  E.  I.  13),  is  assuredly  spurious,  though  latterly  Rinck 
has  undertaken  (in  Illgen's  "  Zeitschrift  fiir  hist.  Theologie,"  1843,  No.  2)  to  establish 
the  contrary,  particularly  from  Moses  of  Chorene  (1470).  It  is  a  mere  compilation 
of  passages  from  the  Gospels  :  and  it  is  not  presumable,  that  a  genuine  letter  of  the 
Redeemer  could  have  remained  in  obscurity  till  the  fourth  century.  Still  less  can  the 
pretended  work  of  Jesus  on  the  observance  of  Sunday,  said  to  have  fallen  from  heaven 
(vid.  Thilo  :  Acta  Thoniae,  prolegg.  p.  85),  for  a  moment  stand  the  test  oi'  criticism. 


590        §  146.       RISE   OF    THE   NEW    TESTAMENT    I.ITEKATUKE.       [v.  BOOK. 

religious  wants  of  man  demand  not  a  letter-writing,  literary  Saviour, 
but  one  working  miracles,  bearing  the  cross,  blotting  out  sin,  rising  from 
the  dead,  ascending  into  heaven,  sitting  and  reigning  at  the  right  hand 
of  God  ;  though  assuredly  such  a  Saviour  is  at  the  same  time  the  inex- 
haustible theme  of  holy  thoughts,  discourses,  writings,  and  deeds.  Nor 
did  the  apostles  begin  with  literary  labor  ;  having  in  fact  received  no 
direct  instruction  on  this  point  from  their  Master.  They  preached  in 
the  fullness  of  the  Spirit  and  of  life,  as  the  bearers  and  interpreters 
of  the  divine  revelation  ;  and  with  their  words  the  new  life  itself 
streamed  into  those  who  earnestly  listened.  All  the  expressions  which 
they  use,  "preaching,"  "gospel,"  "tradition,"  "testimony,"  "word," 
&c.,  show  that  the  truth  was  first  promulgated  altogether  by  word  of 
mouth.'  The  oldest  book  of  the  New  Testament  was  probably  not 
written  before  the  year  50,  or  some  twenty  years  after  the  founding  of 
the  church.'  The  New  Testament,  therefore,  as  a  book  or  written 
volume,  is  not  the  principle,  but  the  inspired  record  of  Christianity  ; 
not  the  ground,  but  the  product  of  the  church  of  Christ,  then  already 
firmly  established.  But  on  the  other  hand  it  may  be  justly  said,  that 
the  substance  of  the  Scriptures,  the  saving  truth,  the  word  of  God,  was 
present  at  the  beginning,  and  was,  as  the  living  utterance  of  the  per- 
sonal Word,  Jesus  Christ  and  His  Spirit,  the  seed  of  the  church  (1  Pet. 
1  :  23.  Ja.  1  :  18).  It  is  one  and  the  same  word  of  God,  which  was 
heard  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  and  which  is  read  to-day.  For  us  the 
written  word  with  the  Spirit,  which  reigns  in  it,  holds  the  place  of  the 
personal  presence  and  oral  preaching  of  the  apostles,  and  is  at  the  same 
time  the  only  infallible  guide  to  their  pure  and  original  doctrine  ;  while 
the  church  tradition,  as  a  source  of  knowledge,  derives  all  its  value  from 
its  agreement  with  the  Scriptures,  and  is,  therefore,  subordinate  to 
them. 

The  apostolic  writings,  which,  as  such,  are  inspired  and  canonical,  i.  e. 
furnish  the  infallible  rule  of  Christian  faith  and  practice,  fall  into  three 
classes  :  (1)  The  historical  books,  embracing  the  four  Gospels  and  the 

^  KT/gvj/za,  evayyeliov,  TraguSoaLQ,  /lagrvQia,  loyoQ,  Myoc;  r^f  uicor/g,  KTjgvaaeiv, 
evayyE?u^£(r&ai,  napa6t66vaL,  [lapTvpela-daL,  Aalelv  ;  and  on  the  part  of  the  hearers  : 
TvapaXa/il3dv£LV,  ukoveiv,  uKpoua-&ai,  dexec^ai,  niaric  e|  ukovc-  Comp.  Rom.  10  :  14- 
17.     2  Tim.  2:1,2.     Heb.  2  :  1-4.     Gal.  3  :  2.  5,  &c. 

"  The  oldest  written  document  of  the  Christian  church  is  perhaps  the  epistle  of  the 
apostolic  council  at  Jerusalem  to  the  Gentile  Christians  in  Syria  and  Cilicia,  settling 
the  dispute  between  them  and  the  Jewish  Christians  respecting  the  continued  validity 
of  the  Mosaic  law,  Acts  1 5.  One  argument  for  its  antiquity  and  genuineness  is  also 
the  seemingly  trifling  circumstance,  that  the  name  of  Barnabas  is  placed  before  that 
of  Paul,  V.  2r>.  For  to  the  church  of  Jerusalem  Barnabas  appeared  at  that  time  (a.  50) 
the  more  important  person,  while  Luke  from  ch.  13  places  Paul  first. 


DOCTRINE.]  §  147.      HISTOKICAL   BOOKS.  591 

Acts  of  the  Apostles  ;  (2)  the  didactic  books,  comprisiug  twenty-one 
apostolical  epistles  ;  and  (3)  the  prophetic  book  of  the  Revelation  of  St. 
John. 

§  14*1.  Historical  Books.      The  Gospels. 

The  demand  for  a  written  record  of  the  life  and  doctrine  of  Jesus  and 
his  apostles  arose  from  two  causes  ;  (1)  the  nature  and  fate  of  all 
oral  tradition,  which,  as  it  spreads,  continually  gathers  legendary  addi- 
tions and  embellishments,  till  it  becomes  at  last  impossible  to  distinguish 
with  certainty  the  original  substance  ;  (2)  the  danger  of  willful  dis- 
tortion, with  which  Judaizing  and  Gnostic  errorists  threatened  the 
gospel  even  during  the  life-time  of  the  apostles,  as  the  warnings  in  the 
epistles  of  Paul  and  John  and  the  many  apocryphal  gospels  afterwards 
circulated  abundantly  prove. 

Of  the  four  canonical  Gospels,  or  rather  representations  of  one  and 
the  same  gospel,  the  first  and  the  last  are  the  work  of  immediate  disci- 
ples of  the  Lord  ;  the  two  others,  of  disciples  of  the  apostles,  and  thus 
likewise,  though  indirectly,  of  the  apostles  themselves.  They  were  not 
intended  to  be  complete  biographies  of  Jesus,  but  only  exhibitions 
of  certain  characteristic  features  of  His  life  and  works,  such  as  struck 
each  author  with  peculiar  force  and  were  most  interesting  to  his  particu- 
lar circle  of  readers.  The  object  was  to  awaken  faith  in  Jesus  as  the 
promised  Messiah,  the  Son  of  God,  and  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  and 
to  lead  the  readers  by  this  faith  to  true,  eternal,  divine  life  (comp.  Jno. 
20  :  30). 

As  to  the  date  of  these  books  ;  the  first  three  Gospels  appear,  both 
from  internal  marks  and  from  the  testimony  of  the  oldest  tradition,  to 
have  been  written  in  the  seventh  decade  of  the  first  century  ;  therefore 
before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  which  they  represent  in  the  pro- 
phetic discourses  of  the  Lord  as  future,  but  nigh  at  hand.  Single  por- 
tions of  the  life  of  Jesus,  however,  and  collections  of  his  discourses,  pre- 
pared in  some  instances  by  unskilled  hands,  were  in  private  use  before 
that  time  in  various  Christian  circles.  This  we  must  infer  from  Luke's 
preface,  1  :  1-4,  which,  accurately  translated,  reads  thus  :  "  Whereas 
many  have  undertaken  to  compose  a  narrative  of  the  things  accom- 
plished among  us,  as  those,  who  were  from  the  beginning  eye-witnesses 
and  ministers  of  the  word  (that  is  the  apostles),  have  delivered  them 
to  us  ;  it  seemed  good  to  me  also,  having  closely  followed  everything 
from  the  first,  to  write  it  out  in  order  for  thee,  most  excellent  Theo- 
philus,  that  thou  mightest  obtain  a  sure  and  reliable  knowledge  of  the 
things  in  which  thou  hast  been  instructed."  The  fourth  Gospel  was 
written  between  the  years  *I0  and  100,  at  any  rate  last  of  all  ;  for  it 


592  §  147.       HISTORICAL   BOOKS.  [v-    BOOK. 

eridently  pre-supposes  tlie  others,  and  exhibits  the  highest  positiou  and 
maturest  development  of  the  apostolical  theology  (comp.  §  105). 

The  relation  of  the  Gospels  to  one  another  is  one  of  the  most  impor 
tant,  but  at  the  same  time  most  diflScult  points  in  the  criticism  of  the 
evangelical  history.  We  must  here  of  course  confine  ourselves  to  the 
most  general  outlines.  We  cannot  enter  into  the  confused  and  confus- 
ing hypotheses  of  modern  hypercritics  ; — the  less,  since  by  their  wild 
extravagances  and  their  own  mutual  contradictions  they  have  already 
refuted  themselves."  Each  Gospel  has  its  peculiar  character,  which  cor- 
responds to  that  of  its  author,  of  its  circle  of  readers,  and  of  its  design. 
The  differences,  hoAvever,  are  not  contradictions,  but  simply  the  various 
aspects  of  one  and  the  same  picture.  The  character  of  the  God-man  is 
so  sublime  and  comprehensive,  that  one  hand  could  not  possibly  give  a 
full  delineation  of  it.  All  the  Gospels  together  are  required,  to  furnish 
a  complete  picture  of  His  life  and  works.  This  is  indicated  by  the 
ancient  comparison  of  the  evangelists  with  the  four  symbols  of  the 
cherubim,  the  representatives  of  creation  ;  to  Matthew  being  commonly 
(according  to  the  view  of  Jerome)  assigned  the  man,  to  Mark  the  lion, 
to  Luke  the  ox,  to  John  the  eagle.^  The  apparent  contradictions  in  the 
whole  conception  and  in  the  narratives  of  single  events,  when  carefully 
examined  by  the  unprejudiced,  truth-loving  reader,  resolve  themselves,  at 
least  in  every  point  at  all  essential,  into  a  higher  harmony,  and  go  to 
show  the  impartiality,  honesty,  and  credibility  of  the  authors.  If  all 
fitted  together  with  mechanical  precision,  it  would  awaken  suspicion  of 
concert  and  artful  calculation." 

'  The  detailed  discussion  of  this  matter  belongs  in  the  historico-crilical  introduction 
to  the  New  Testament.  The  modern  German  literature  on  this  subject,  especially 
since  the  appearance  of  the  notorious  "  Leben  Jesu  "  of  Strauss,  is  so  extensive,  that 
one  cannot  see  the  forest  for  the  trees,  and  it  is  high  time  to  come  out  of  the  labyrinth, 
which  men  have  built  around  themselves,  and  get  once  more  into  the  open  air.  The 
lavish  expenditure  of  ingenuity  and  power  of  combination,  which  has  gradually  piled 
up  a  whole  mountain  of  hypotheses  respecting  the  origin  and  mutual  relations  of  the 
Gospels,  we  should  have  to  mourn  over  deeply  as  labor  lost,  had  we  not  the  consoling 
thought,  that  by  calling  forth  able  replies  it  has  involuntarily  served  to  confirm  the 
evangelical  history  and  promoted  the  cause  of  tru  h 

■•'  In  like  manner  Dr  J.  P.  Lange,  in  the  third  volume  of  his  spirited  Life  of  Jesus, 
1847  (in  which,  however,  poetical  fancy  has  almost  as  large  a  share  as  scientific  inves- 
tigation), endeavors  to  follow  out  the  fruitful  thought,  that  the  four  Gospels  represent 
the  fourfold  relation  of  Christ  to  the  life  of  the  world  and  the  fourfold  susceptibility 
of  the  world  for  the  life  of  Christ.  He  exchanges,  however,  the  symbols  assigned  to 
Matthew  and  Luke,  giving  to  the  former  the  ox  and  to  the  latter  the  man. 

'  We  may  mention  also  in  this  connection,  as  a  proof  of  the  watchful  care  of  Provi- 
vidence  over  the  preservation  of  the  Scriptures,  that,  of  the  fifty  thousand  various  read- 
ings  or  more  hitherto  discovered  in  the  New  Testament,  by  far  the  majority  have  not 
the  slightest  influence  on  the  sense  or  doctrinal  import ;  and  where  they  touch  an  im- 


DOCTRINE.]  §    147.       THE    GOSPELS.  593 

The  first  Gospel  was  wi'itten  by  the  apostle  Matthew,  in  Palestine 
and  for  Jewish  Christians,  originally  in  Aramaic,'  and  afterwards,  most 
probably  by  himself,  in  Greek.  The  third  Gospel  is  the  production  of 
Luke,  the  disciple  and  attendant  of  Paul.  It  was  composed  plainly  un- 
der the  influence  of  Paul's  spirit  and  peculiar  theological  views,  probably 
during  that  apostle's  confinement  in  Caesarea  and  Rome,  and  for  Gen- 
tile-Christian readers  ;  primarily,  for  one  Theophilus.  The  Gospel  of 
Mark,  according  to  a  credible  account  preserved  in  Eusebius  (VI.  14), 
was  written  in  Kome,  and  designed,  as  may  be  seen  from  its  frequent 
Latinisms  *  and  explanations  of  Palestinian  peculiarities,  in  the  first  in- 
stance for  Roman  readers.  It  holds  a  position  of  mediation  between 
the  two  others,  like  that  of  Peter  between  James  and  Paul,  between  the 
strictly  Jewish-Christian  and  the  Gentile-Christian  views.  In  fact  tra- 
dition traces  it  back,  at  least  indirectly,  to  Peter  himself,  whose  con- 
fidential companion  Mark  was  at  first  in  Jerusalem  and  at  last  in  Rome 
(1  Pet.  5  :  13),  and  whose  "  interpreter "  he  is  stated  to  have  been  by 
the  apostolic  father,  Papias.  While  it  was  formerly  a  current  hypo- 
thesis, that  Mark  was  a  somewhat  superficial  epitomist  of  Matthew  and 
Luke,  important  critics  of  various  schools  latterly  incline  to  the  opposite 
view,  that  the  second  Gospel  is  the  oldest  and  forms  the  basis  of  the  first 
and  third.  This  furnishes  the  best  explanation  of  the  fact,  that  Mark's 
Gospel  contains  what  is  common  to  both  the  others,  while  it  exhibits 
neither  Matthew's  peculiar  order  of  subjects,  nor  Luke's  chronological 
arrangement,'  and  also  leaves  chasms,  particularly  in  the  history  of  the 
childhood  of  Christ  and  of  his  appearances  after  the  resurrection  ;  the 
conclusion,  c.  16  :  9-21,  being  the  work  of  a  later  hand.  It  relates  the 
sacred  history  in  its  simplest,  freshest  form,  reminding  one  of  the  short 

portant  dogma,  as  in  the  evidently  spurious  passage  on  the  Trinity,  1  Jro.  5  :  7,  which 
is  to  be  found  in  no  nnanuscript  before  the  tenth  century,  this  dogma  is  unequivocally 
taught  in  many  other  decidedly  genuine  passages.  So  in  the  case  just  referred  to,  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  not  only  by  the  baptismal  formula  and  the  apostolical  benedic- 
tion, but  by  all  that  the  New  Testament  teaches  of  the  divinity  of  Christ  and  the  Holy 
(ihost,  is  more  fully  and  firmly  established  than  it  could  be  by  any  single  expression. 

'  The  lost  Hebrew  original  was  in  our  view  a  complete  Gospel,  embracing  the  same 
historical  constituents,  and  substantially  identical,  with  our  Greek  Matthew ;  not  a 
mere  collection  of  sayings,  as  Schleiermacher  ingeniously  but  erroneously  gathered 
from  the  Koyia  in  the  well-known  deposition  of  Papias  in  Eusebius  III.  39. 

^  Such  as  6rjvdpi.ov  denarius,  6  :  37.  14  :  5 ;  Kevrvpiuv  centurio,  15  :  39,  44,  4.'); 
KTjvao^  census,  12  :  14;  /copdavrT^f  quadrans,  12  :  42;  KpdjSiSaTog  grabbatus,  2  ."4,  9,  11, 
12;  Xeyeuv  legio,  5  :  9,  15  ;  wpairupiov  praetorium,  15  :  16;  (jTreKovTidrup  speculator, 
6  :  27  ;  ^payellou  flagello,  15  :  15. 

^  To  this  want  of  strict  chronological  order  refers  the  oh  fit'vTOc  tu^pl,  vvhich  P;  pias 
uses  ill  his  much  talked  of  and  variously  interpreted  testimony  respecting  the  Gospel 
of  Mark  (in  Eusebius,  H.  E.  III.  39). 
38 


59i  §  148.       HISTORICAL   BOOKS    (CONTINUED).  1"^-  BOOK. 

but  graphic  accounts  of  Peter  in  tlie  Acts  (10  :  36-42).  "  Thus  would 
the  first  evangelist  stand  connected  with  the  first  apostle,  and  Peter, 
more  tlian  any  other  di8cii)le  of  the  Lord,  would  be  by  his  indirect  share 
in  the  Gospel  of  Alark  the  founder  of  the  church  in  reference  also  to  her 
permanent  records  of  the  history  of  Christ."  But  in  this  case  we  must 
certainly  suppose  an  error  in  the  statement  of  Clement  of  Alexandria, 
who  says  expressly,  that  the  Gospels  containing  the  genealogies  were 
written  before  that  of  Mark.' 

§  148.  Historical  Books  (continued).    John  and  the  Synoptical  Evangelists. 

The  first  three  evangelists,  however,  or  synoptical  writers,  as  they  are 
called  in  distinction  from  John,  with  all  their  individual  peculiarities,  are 
still  strikingly  similar.  They  are  alike  in  the  matter  of  their  Gospels,  all 
giving  substantially  the  same  representation  of  Christ  throughout ;  re- 
cording the  preparatory  work  of  John,  the  baptism  of  Jesus,  His  mira- 
cles in  Galilee,  His  last  journey  to  Jerusalem,  His  sufferings,  death,  and 
resurrection.  They  have  forty-two  portions  of  the  history  in  common. 
Then  they  are  alike  as  to  form,  often  to  verbal  coincidence,  particularly 
in  their  reports  of  the  discourses  of  Jesus  and  of  the  most  important 
events.  This  agreement  may  be  accounted  for  in  great  part  by  the 
fact,  that  the  oral  tradition  of  the  discourses  and  works  of  Jesus,  from 
which  the  evangelists  di'ew,  had  acquired  by  continual  repetition  among 
the  apostles  and  their  disciples  a  stereotyped  form,  which  the  synoptical 
writers  scrupulously,  but  not  pedantically,  transferred  to  their  books. 

The  fourth  Gospel  is  stamped  with  a  peculiarity,  which  most  clearly 
distinguishes  it  from  all  the  rest.  It  stands  alone  in  its  kind.  The  dif- 
ferences between  the  synoptical  evangelists  and  John  are,  indeed,  among 
the  most  remarkable  phenomena  of  the  New  Testament,  were  remarked 
in  a  general  way  even  by  the  church  fathers,  and  have  been  shown  up 
with  the  keenest  discrimination  by  modern  criticism.  But  they  have 
also  certainly  been  exaggerated  and  willfully  misrepresented  by  the 
assailants  of  the  Bible,  and  are  not  yet  satisfactorily  explained  in  all 
points  by  its  defenders.     They  fall  mainly  under  the  following  heads  : — 

1.  The  design.  In  this  the  fourth  Gospel  is  comprehensive  and  uni- 
versal. It  has  in  view,  not  a  particular  section  of  the  church,  but  the 
whole,  Jewish  and  Gentile-Christians  together.  And  by  setting  forth 
what  is  most  profound  and  spiritual,  the  esoteric,  so  to  speak,  in  tlie 

*  In  Eus.  H.  E.Yl.  14.  Thiersch  (DieKirche  im  apostol.  Zeitalter,  p.  103)  seeks  to 
remove  this  difficulty  by  the  hypothesis  that  Mark's  Gospel  existed  for  a  long  time 
merely  as  a  private  writing,  and  was  first  published,  with  the  addition  of  the  present 
conclusion,  after  the  death  ot  Peter,  and  received  among  the  sacred  books  of  the  church ; 
while  the  works  of  Matthew  and  Luke,  though  later  composed,  Were  earlier  pub- 
lished. 


DOCTRINE.]    g  148.      JOHN    AND   THE   SYNOPTICAL   EVANGELISTS.  5.05 

appearance  and  discourses  of  Jesus,  the  eternal  Logos  incarnate,  it  aims 
to  raise  the  church  to  the  highest  grade  of  believing  knowledge,  and 
thus  at  the  same  time  to  secure  her  against  the  seductions  of  the  false 
Gnosis,  which  in  the  last  decades  of  the  apostolic  period  was  threaten- 
ingly lifting  its  head.  This  combination  of  the  historical  with  a  clearly 
stamped  didactic  character  places  the  fourth  Gospel  in  a  certain  sense  in 
a  class  with  the  New  Testament  epistles. 

2.  The  theatre  of  events.  The  synoptical  evangelists  describe  chiefly 
the  labors  of  Jesus  in  Galilee  and  among  the  common  people  ;  John 
presents  his  activity  in  Judea  and  among  the  educated — the  Scribes  and 
Pharisees.  Yet  this  difference  is  merely  relative.  For  the  former  dis- 
tinctly take  for  granted  Christ's  labors  in  Judea,  as  in  Matthew  23  :  31. 
21  :  51;  and  John  records  several  miracles  in  Galilee,  and  that  plainly 
only  by  way  of  example,  as  the  turning  of  water  into  wine  (Jno.  2  :  1 
sqq.),  the  healing  of  the  son  of  a  nobleman  in  Capernaum  (4  :  41  sqq.), 
the  feeding  of  the  multitude,  and  the  return  over  the  sea  of  Galilee 
(6:1  sqq.),  and  he  expressly  declares,  that  Jesus  did  many  other  signs, 
which  are  not  written  in  this  book  (20  :  30.  Comp.  21  :  25).  One 
reason,  why  John  brings  us  so  often  into  the  theocratical  capital,  nn» 
doubtedly  is,  that  there  the  conflict,  which  he  wishes  to  describe,  between 
the  eternal  Light  and  the  darkness  (comp.  1  :  5  sqq.)  comes  to  view  in 
its  greatest  depth  and  strength,  and  is  at  last  decided  in  the  catastrophe 
of  the  crucifixion  and  the  triumph  of  the  resurrection. 

3.  The  synoptical  evangelists  give  us  more  of  Christ's  acts  and  mira- 
cles ;  John  more  of  His  discourses.  It  is  true,  xlie  latter  relates  six 
miracles,  and  among  them  the  two  greatest,  not  recorded  by  the  others, 
— the  changing  of  water  into  wine,  and  the  raising  of  Lazarus.  But  ho 
commonly  makes  the  works  only  the  starting-points  for  the  discourses  of 
Jesus,  which  are  with  him  of  paramount  importance.  The  wonderful 
deeds  are  the  practical,  sensible  demonstrations,  the  wonderful  words  are 
the  theoretical  and  more  inward  proof,  of  the  divine  glory  of  Christ. 
The  two  are  mutual  counterparts.  Only  one,  who  could  do  such  works 
as  the  first  three  evangelists  narrate,  could  deliver  such  discourses  as 
John  records  ;  and  conversely,  for  such  a  Christ  as  John's,  the  Only 
Begotten  of  the  Father,  it  must  be  a  small  thing  to  make  the  powers  of 
nature  subservient  to  the  moral  end  of  His  mission.  The  great  thing 
with  the  fourth  evangelist,  however,  is  always  the  person  of  the  Saviour, 
which  reveals  itself  most  immediately  in  His  creative  words  of  spirit  and 
life,  and  which  alone  imparts  even  to  his  outward  miracles  their  convinc- 
ing power.  This  is  the  living,  central  miracle,  and  all  the  miracles  prop- 
erly so  called  are  but  natural  emanations  from  it  ;  as  the  sun,  once 
existing,  must  radiate  light  and  heat  ;  as  the  tree  puts  forth  blossoms  and 


596  §  148.  HISTORICAL  BOOKS  (continued).  [v-  book. 

fruit  as  tlie  necessary  product  of  its  inward  life.  Hence  John  calls  the 
miracles  of  Christ  without  the  least  qualification,  His  "  works."'  Heal- 
ing the  sick  and  raising  the  dead  are  only  steps  l)y  which  to  lead  men 
gradually  from  a  lower  level  to  the  adoration  of  Him,  who  is  himself  the 
resurrection  and  the  Kfe,  and  in  whom  dwells  all  the  fullness  of  the  God- 
head bodily.  "  Believe  me  that  I  am  in  the  Father,  and  the  Father  in 
me  ;  or  else  believe  me  for  the  very  works'  sake.'"* 

4.  In  the  reports  of  the  discourses  of  Jesus  themselves  there  is  again 
a  difference  both  as  to  matter  and  form.  The  synoptical  evangelists 
record  for  the  most  part  those  speeches  which  relate  to  the  regulation  of 
the  conduct,  and  to  the  idea  of  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  and  these  they 
clothe  in  a  simple,  popular,  easily-remembered  form,  mostly  the  parabolic 
and  sententious.  John,  on  the  contrary,  chooses  those  in  which  the 
Redeemer  sets  forth  the  mystery  of  His  person.  His  relation  to  the 
Father  and  to  believers,  and  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost  ;  and  that 
generally  in  a  manner  so  mystical  and  profound,  that  not  only  the  unsus- 
ceptible Jews,  but  even  his  own  disciples,  at  that  stage  of  their  know- 
ledge, almost  uniformly  put  a  fleshly  misconstruction  on  his  words,  or,  at 
least,  had  but  a  faint  glimpse  of  their  spiritual  meaning.^  This  difference 
is  closely  connected  with  that  already  observed  in  the  design,  the  theatre 
of  events,  and  the  circle  of  readers.  Yet  we  find  occasionally  in  the 
synoptical  evangelists  also  dialectic  and  argumentative  conversations 
with  learned  opponents  (comp.  Matt.  12  :  22  sqq.  22  :  15-46),  and 
expressions  addressed  to  the  disciples,  which  in  their  simple  sublimity  and 
deep  tenderness  strikingly  resemble  the  discourses  in  John  (e.  g.  Matt. 
11  :  25-21) ;  while  on  the  other  hand  John  also  gives  a  couple  of  speci- 
mens of  his  master's  parabolical  mode  of  instruction,  viz.,  the  parables 
of  the  good  shepherd  (c.  10)  and  the  vine  (c.  15),  besides  detached, 
sententious  passages,  such  as  c.  4  :  1-26,  33-38.  6  :  32  sqq.  13  :  16, 
17.     12  :  24-26,  comp.  Matt.  10  :  39. 

Modern  assailants  of  this  gospel*  have  drawn  from  the  many  misappre- 
hensions of  the  discourses  of  Jesus  in  John  an  argument  against  either 
the  credibility  of  the  history  or  the  Lord's  wisdom  in  teaching.  But  it 
must  be  remembered,  that  these  mistakes  were  in  great  part  occasioned 
by  want  of  susceptibility  and  spiritual  discernment  in  the  hearers,  and 

'  Ch.  c')  :  36.     7:21.     10:25,32,38.     14:11,12.     15:24. 

'  Jno.  14  :  11.  Many  excellent  remarks  on  John's  conception  of  the  nniracles  of 
Jesus  may  be  found  in  R.  Ch.  Trench  :  Notes  on  the  Miracles  of  our  Lord^  London  (p. 
14,  Amer.  ed.).  Comp.  the  criticism  of  this  work  in  the  "  Mercersburg  Review," 
1850,  p.  573  sqq. 

*  Examples  of  such  misconceptions  are  Jno.  2  :  20-22.  3  :  4,  9,  10.  4  :  11,  15,  33. 
«  :  42,  52.     7  :  3.5,  ?6.     8  :  33,  57.     li  :  12,  13.     14  : 5,  8,  9.     16  :  17,  18. 

*  Especially  the  Tubingen  school. 


DOCTRINE.]    g    148.    JOHN  AND  THE  SYNOPTICAL    EVANGELISTS.  697 

are  to  this  day  repeatedly  occurring  under  the  simplest  preaching  of  the 
cross  ;  while  on  the  other  hand  even  a  child  or  an  untutored  peasant,  if 
of  truly  earnest  heart,  may  understand  at  least  so  much  as  is  necessary 
for  his  salvation,  and  does  in  fact  understand  it  far  better  than  many  a 
learned  and  ingenious  critic.  Of  every  word  of  Jesus,  also,  in  the  synop- 
tical Gospels,  the  old  comparison  of  the  stream,  which  bears  at  once  the 
lamb  and  the  elephant  on  its  current,  is  emphatically  true.  Then  again, 
our  Lord  purposely  introduced  obscure,  paradoxical,  and  seemingly  offen- 
sive expressions  in  his  discourses,  to  fix  the  attention  of  his  hearers  and 
excite  them  to  farther  reflection.  It  is  the  manner  of  every  great  pop- 
ular teacher  to  let  himself  down  to  his  disciples  only  so  far  as  is  neces- 
sary for  raising  them  up  to  his  higher  level,  and,  instead  of  repeating  in 
every-day  style  what  is  familiar  to  all,  to  rouse  their  slumbering  faculties 
by  presenting  something  original  in  an  original  form,  and  to  awaken  each 
to  a  consciousness  of  his  peculiar  gift.  Finally,  we  must  ever  keep  in 
mind  that  the  Saviour  of  the  world  spoke  words  of  eternal  life,  not  only 
for  his  contemporaries,  but  for  all  future  ages  and  generations  ;  and  that 
their  meaning,  therefore,  must  be  inexhaustible  as  Himself,  in  whom 
dwells  all  the  fullness  of  the  Godhead  bodily. 

Another  objection,  which  has  been  raised  against,  the  credibility  of 
John's  record  of  the  discourses  of  Jesus  is,  that  they  are  too  long  to 
have  been  retained.  But  in  the  first  place,  not  only  antiquity,  which 
had  not  books  to  depend  on,  as  we  have,  and  carried  its  learning  in  its 
head,  but  modern  times  also,  afford  examples  of  astonishing  power  of 
memory.'  Why  should  not  the  susceptible  John,  who  lay  on  his  Master's 
bosom,  have  been  able  to  retain  His  discourses,  especially  as  these  were 
not  merely  some  of  many  things  equally  important  to  be  remembered, 
but  the  apostle's  most  precious  treasure,  his  priceless  jewel,  the  centre  of 
his  thought  and  life  ?  Besides  this,  however,  it  was  expressly  promised 
(Jno.  14  :  26),  that  the  Holy  Ghost  should  remind  the  apostles  of  all 
they  had  heard  from  Christ,  make  it  intelligible  to  them,  and  fully  assim- 
ilate it  to  their  spiritual  being. 

A  third  objection  urged  by  the  negative  criticism  against  the  discourses 
of  Jesus  in  the  fourth  Gospel  is  their  subjectivity,  that  is,  their  adapta- 
tion to  the  writer's  style  and  system  of  thought.     Beyond  question  they 

'  Think,  for  example,  of  Themistocles,  who,  when  the  art  of  remeinbering  was 
offered  to  be  taught  him,  wished  ralher  to  learn  the  art  of  forgetting;  of  Mithridates, 
who  knew  by  heart  all  the  nanries  of  his  nnany  thousand  soldiers  and  could  address  each 
in  his  mother  tongue;  of  modern  scholars,  as  Lipsius,  Leibnitz,  Joh.  von  Muller,  who 
knew  almost  whole  authors  word  for  word  ;  of  the  cardinal,  Mezzofanti,  who,  if  I  am 
rightly  informed,  was  acquainted  with  near  forty  languages  and  dialects ;  finally,  of 
those  rude  Indians,  who  were  able  to  repeat  verbatim  the  sermons  of  missionaries, 
which  they  only  half,  if  at  all,  understood. 


698  §  148,       HISTORICAL   BOOKS    (CONTINUED).  [v.  BOOK. 

strikingly  resemble  the  first  epistle  of  John  in  matter  and  language. 
Undoubtedly  the  apostle  has  not  merely  mechanically  memorized  his 
Master's  words  of  life  and  as  mechanically  repeated  them  ;  he  has 
assimilated  them  to  his  inmost  being  and  reproduced  them  in  a  living 
way,  so  that  they  are  as  much  his  as  they  were  Christ's.  But  this  pro- 
cess of  reproduction  was  preceded  by  another,  viz.,  the  entire  sinking  of 
the  beloved  disciple's  personality  into  that  of  his  divine  Master,  so  that 
thenceforth  he  could  not  think,  speak,  or  write  otherwise  than  in  the 
Saviour's  way.  He  truly  formed  himself  on  his  Lord's  bosom  ;  that  was 
his  school.  He  first  went  into  Christ,  and  then  Christ  came  forth  again 
from  his  spirit  and  consciousness.  It  is  well  known,  that  very  indepen- 
dent and  original  authors  may  so  completely  live  themselves  into  another 
genius,  that  their  productions  become  strikingly  similar  in  thought  and 
style.'  This,  considering  all  we  know  from  the  other  evangelists,  from 
his  own  writings,  and  from  tradition,  of  his  tender,  susceptible,  self- sur- 
rendering nature,  and  his  intimate  friendship  with  Jesus,  must  have  been 
particularly  the  case  with  John.  Rather  must  we,  therefore,  reverse  the 
matter,  and  say,  that  the  epistles  of  John  are  a  sequel,  an  echo,  of  the 
discourses  of  Jesus  in  the  fourth  Gospel,  and  not  the  latter  an  arbitrary 
imitation  of  the  fovmer.  From  the  affinity  in  question  an  inference  un- 
favorable to  the  accuracy  of  John's  reports  of  our  Lord's  discourses 
could  be  drawn,  only  when  these  reports  should  contradict  those  of  the 
other  Gospels.  But  such  contradiction  no  critic  has  yet  been  able  to 
^rove.  There  is  none.  John's  record  presents  the  same  Christ,  the 
same  inexhaustible  theme,  only  in  a  different,  peculiar  aspect,  in  that 
aspect,  which  John  by  his  peculiar  character  was  specially  fitted  to  ap- 
prehend.    This  leads  us  to  the  last  point  of  difference. 

5.  The  whole  peculiarity  of  the  fourth  Gospel  centres  in  its  conception 
of  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  of  which  the  discourses  are  the  immediate 
expression.  This  difference  may  be  briefly  stated  thus  :  The  synoptical 
evangelists  set  before  us  mainly  the  glorified  humanity,  John  the  incar- 
nate divinity,  of  the  Lord.  There  the  Saviour  appears  as  the  sinless, 
faultless  "  Son  of  Man,"  in  whom  the  idea  of  our  race,  the  full  image  of 
God,  is  first  perfectly  realized  ;  here,  as  the  true  "Son  of  God,"  who 
was  one  with  the  Father  before  the  creation  of  the  world,  and  who 
everywhere  reveals  through  the  veil  of  the  flesh  His  eternal  glory,  full  of 
grace  and  truth.     Matthew  portrays  him  as  the  last  and  greatest  pro- 

'  Compare,  for  example,  the  Odyssey  with  the  Iliad,  which  can  hardly  have  come 
from  the  same  author;  Hoiace  with  his  Grecian  models;  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
and  that  of  Clement  to  the  Corinthians  with  PauFs  epistles;  Joh.  von  Muller  with 
Tacitus;  Schleiennacher  with  Plato.  Or  go  to  the  poets,  as  Shakspeare  and  Gothe, 
who  can  enter  into  and  speak  in  the  most  diverse  characters. 


DOCTBINE.]    §  148.    JOHN  AND  THE  SYNOPTICAL  EVANGELISTS.  599 

phet,  the  Messiah  and  King  of  the  Jews,  the  Fulfiller  of  the  law  and  the 
prophets  ;  Mark,  in  brief,  graphic  sketches,  as  the  mighty  Wonder-worker, 
the  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah,  the  embodiment  of  omnipotence  ;  Luke,  as 
the  ever  ready  and  kind  Physician  of  body  and  soul,  as  the  Shepherd  of 
lost  sheep,  the  Saviour  of  poor  sinners,  the  merciful  Philanthropist,  the 
demolisher  of  the  partition-wall  between  Jews  and  Gentiles  ;  John,  as 
the  centre  of  the  universe.  The  first  three  proceed  from  below  upwards, 
beginning  with  the  birth  of  the  Lord  from  the  womb  of  a  virgin,  and  fol- 
lowing him  through  his  mighty  works,  as  also  through  the  toil  and  priva- 
tion of  his  earthly  life,  through  the  bitter  death  of  the  cross  and  the 
repose  in  the  tomb,  to  his  victory  over  death  and  the  grave,  and  his 
triumphant  ascension  on  high,  where  "all  power  in  heaven  and  in  earth" 
is  given  him  as  the  reward  of  his  labor.  John  proceeds  from  above 
downwards,  from  heaven  to  earth,  from  the  eternal  pre-existeuce  of  the 
Logos  to  his  appearance  in  human  flesh.  He  traces  the  pedigree  of  his 
hero,  not  merely  to  Abraham,  the  patriarch  of  the  Jews,  as  does  the  He- 
brew Matthew  ;  nor  to  Adam,  the  progenitor  and  representative  of  all 
men,  as  does  the  Pauline  Luke  ;  but  to  the  absolute  beginning  in  the 
depths  of  eternity  ;  makes  Him  proceed  from  the  bosom  of  the  Father  ; 
accompanies  Him,  the  Source  of  all  light  and  life  in  the  world,  through  the 
creation  and  preservation  of  all  things,  and  through  the  successive  steps 
of  the  general  revelation  to  all  men  and  the  special  revelation  to  the  Jews 
down  to  the  incarnation  ;  depicts  his  victorious  conflict  with  the  darkness 
of  the  ungodly  world  ;  makes  His  unity  with  God  in  essence  and  will  gleam 
forth  in  all  His  discourses  and 'works  ;  and  shows  Him  to  us  after  the 
complete  victory,  glorified  with  "  the  glory  which  He  had  with  the  Father 
before  the  world  was."  If  in  the  synoptical  Gospels  we  behold  with  ad- 
miration and  astonishment,  faith  and  love,  the  divine  Son  of  Man,  in  the 
Gospel  of  John  we  are  rapt  in  adoration  of  the  human  Son  of  G  od,  and 
exclaim  with  Thomas  :  "  My  Lord  and  my  God  !" 

Hence  the  Alexandrian  fathers  styled  the  fourth  Gospel  "  pneumatic" 
or  spiritual,  and  the  three  others  "  somatic  "  or  bodily.  Thus  Clement 
of  Alexandria,'  following  the  statements  of  fathers  before  him  :  "  Last 
of  all  John,  perce'ving  that  in  those  Gospels  the  bodily  was  set  forth, 
encouraged  by  his  friends,  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  composed  a  spiritual 
Gospel."  To  this  incomparable  picture  of  Christ's  person  is  chiefly  due 
the  irresistible  attraction  of  John  for  the  most  profound  and  genial  theo- 
logians of  all  ages,  from  Clement  and  Origen  to  Schleierraacher  and 
Neander.  But  his  gospel  must  not  be  extolled  at  the  expense  of  the 
others.'^     The  synoptical  Gospels  are  also  spiritual  and  ideal.     Not  seldom 

*  In  Eusebius,  H.  E.  VI.  14. 
As  it  is,  for  example,  in  the  school  of  Schlelermacher.     Against  this  the  criticism  of 


600  §  149.      THE    ACTS    OF   THE   APOSTLES.  L^-    EOOE. 

do  they  lift  the  veil  from  the  wonderful  mystery  of  the  Godhead  iu  Jesus 
of  Nazaretii.  Iu  fact,  that  mystery  glimmers  through  all  their  records 
of  the  Saviour's  words  and  deeds,  and  furnishes  the  only  key  to  their  full 
meaning.  Then,  on  the  other  hand,  John  is  radically  opposed  to  all 
false  spiritualism  and  Docetism,  and  declares  with  the  strongest  emphasis, 
that  Christ,  though  one  with  the  Father,  is  yet  at  the  same  time  truly 
man,  flesh  of  our  flesh,  and  bone  of  our  bone,  whom  the  discijjles  saw 
with  their  own  eyes,  heard  with  their  ears,  and  handled  with  their 
hands.* 

In  short,  John  and  the  synoptical  evangelists  complete  and  confirm 
each  other  in  setting  forth  Him,  who  combines  the  divine  and  human 
natures  in  the  indissoluble  unity  of  His  person,  and  is  thus  constituted 
Mediator  between  God  and  man,  between  eternity  and  time,  between 
heaven  and  earth,  the  immovable  foundation  of  the  Christian  church  and 
the  eternal  source  of  her  life  and  peace. 

§  149.    T/ie  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 

Last  among  the  historical  books,  though  belonging  not  to  the  "  Evan- 
gelion,"  but  according  to  the  old  division  to  the  "  Apostolos,"  is  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles  by  Luke.  Of  this  we  have  already  had  occasion  more 
than  once  to  speak,  since  it  is  our  principal  authority  for  the  external 
history  of  this  period.  It  announces  itself  at  the  outset  as  an  immediate 
continuation  of  the  third  Gospel,  which  is  hence  called  "  the  former  treat- 
ise" (Acts  1:1).  It  is  addressed  to  the  same  Theophilus,  probably  a 
distinguished  Roman,  and  is  evidently,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  very 
afiSnity  of  language  and  style,''  the  work  of  the  same  author  Luke, 
having  been  for  many  years  an  attendant  and  faithful  friend  of  Paul 
(comp.  2  Tim.  4  :  11),  was  best  qualified  to  be  his  biographer  ;  and  his 
residence  in  Jerusalem  and  Ca;sarea,  during  his  teacher's  two  years'  imi)ris- 
onment,  gave  him  an  excellent  opportunity  to  collect  documents  respecting 
the  earlier  history  of  the  church  in  Palestine.  Probably  he  began  his 
work  at  Csesarea,  and  with  the  aid  of  these  older  documents,  of  his 
own  observation,  and  of  the  additional  communications  and  correct' ons 
of  Paul,  finished  it  during  the  two  quiet  years  of  the  apostle's  confine- 
ment in  Rome,  A.D.  61-63. 

As  the  Gospels  aim  at  no  complete  biography  of  Jesus,  so  the  book  of 

Strauss  and  Baur  was  a  natural  reaction,  which  went  to  the  opposite  extreme,  running 
out  at  last  into  absolute  impossibilities  and  absurdities,  and  thereby  condemning  itself. 

^  Jno.  1  :  14.     19  :  34,  35.     21  :  20,  27.     1  Jno.  1  :  1. 

^'That  is,  in  the  parts  composed  by  Luke  himself.  For  his  reports  of  Peter's  dis- 
courses bear  a  marked  resemblance  to  the  doctrinal  system  and  the  style  of  Peter  :  and 
the  discourses  of  Paul,  an  equally  striking  affinity  with  the  epistles  of  that  apostle, — 
no  trifling  proof  of  the  historical  fidelity  and  the  credibility  of  the  book  of  Acts. 


DOCTRINE.]  g  150.       THE   DIDACTIC   BOOKS.  601 

Acts  gives,  not  a  full  history  of  the  life  aud  labors  of  the  apostles,  as  the 
old  title  (not  however  given  it  by  Luke)  would  indicate  ;  but  a  simple 
and  invaluable  history  of  the  planting  of  the  Christian  church,  first  among 
the  Jews  by  the  labors  chiefly  of  Peter,  and  then  among  the  Gentiles  in 
Syria,  Asia  Minor,  Greece,  and  Rome,  principally  by  the  labors  of  Paul. 
It  begins  with  the  ascension  of  our  Lord  (or  the  taking  possession  of  his 
throne  and  the  commencement  of  his  mediatorial  reign)  and  the  outpour- 
ing of  tlie  Holy  Ghost  for  the  founding  of  the  church,  and  closes  with 
the  joyful  preaching  of  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  in  the  world's 
metropolis  ;  which  virtually  decided  the  victory  of  the  Gospel.  Of  the 
labors  of  the  other  apostles  Luke  gives  scarcely  any  information,  and 
even  respecting  the  end  of  the  two  leading  apostles  he  leaves  us  in  the 
dark  ;  either  because  it  did  not  belong  to  his  design  to  record  this,  or, 
more  probably,  because  he  completed  so  much  of  his  book  before  the 
decision  of  their  fate,  and  was  afterwards  by  circumstances  or  considera- 
tions unknown  to  us  prevented  from  continuing  it. 

§  150.    The  Didactic  Books. 

The  doctrinal  portion  of  the  New  Testament  consists  of  thirteen 
epistles  of  Paul,  two  of  Peter,  three  of  John,  one  epistle  of  James,  one 
of  Jude,  aud  the  anonymous  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  written  according  to 
one  view  by  Paul  himself,  according  to  another  conjecture,  by  one  of  his 
pupils  aud  fellow-laborers,  Luke,  Barnabas,  or  Apollos.  Most  of  Paul's 
epistles,  the  two  to  the  Thessalonians,  the  one  to  the  Galatians,  the  first 
to  Timothy,  the  one  to  Titus,  the  two  to  the  Corinthians,  the  one  to  the 
Romans,  and  the  epistle  of  James,  were  composed  before  the  Gospels 
and  the  Acts,  between  the  years  50  aud  60,  as  has  been  shown  in  detail 
in  the  first  book.  The  epistles  to  the  Ephesians,  to  the  Colossiaus,  to 
Philemon,  to  the  Philippians,  the  second  to  Timothy,  as  also  the  epistle 
to  the  Hebrews  and  the  two  epistles  of  Peter,  and  probably  that  of 
Jude,  belong  in  the  seventh  decade,  most  of  them  between  the  years  62 
and  6-1.  John's  epistyles  with  the  fourth  Gospel  bear  all  the  internal 
marks  of  having  been  written  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  aud  to- 
wards the  end  of  the  first  century. 

This  second  class  of  primitive  Christian  documents  was  called  forth  in 
general  by  the  necessity  of  correspondence,  which  naturally  arose  with 
the  spread  of  the  church,  and  even  preceded  the  demand  for  written  Gos- 
pels. As  it  was  impossible  for  the  Apostles  to  be  present  in  all  their 
churches  at  once,  and  yet  necessary  that  they  should  oversee  them  and 
lead  them  forward  in  tlie  Cliristian  faith  and  life,  they  had  no  other 
way,  but  to  compensate  for  their  personal  presence  by  sending  delegates 


602  §  150.     THE   DIDACTIC   BOOKS.  [v.  BOOK. 

and  written  communications.  To  this  general  necessity  were  added,  in 
each  case,  special  occasions  for  writing,  particularly  dangers  of  theoreti- 
cal and  practical  error  and  division,  which  everywhere  more  or  less 
threatened  these  young  churches.  While  the  Gospels  and  the  so-called 
catholic  epistles  (not  including  the  second  and  third  of  John)  were  writ- 
ten with  reference,  more  or  less  distinctly,  to  the  church  at  large,  or  at 
least  the  greater  part  of  it,  and  for  future  as  well  as  present  use  ;  all 
Paul's  epistles,  on  the  contrary,  are  in  the  first  instance  specially  intended 
for  single  congregations  or  private  persons,  as  Timothy,  Titus,  and 
Philemon.     So  far,  they  are  all  occasional  writings. 

But  God  in  His  wonderful  wisdom  and  grace  so  ordered,  that  these 
individual  and  apparently  incidental  occasions  and  wants  represented  all 
the  principal  wants  and  occasions,  which  should  arise  in  the  church  ;  so 
that  those  epistles  answer  for  all  ages,  and  cover  the  whole  province  of 
Christian  faith  and  practice,  "  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction, 
for  instruction  in  righteousness."  The  early  defects  and  errors  of  the 
natural  man,  whether  on  Jewish  or  Gentile  ground,  are  in  substance  per- 
petually returning,  and  the  old  exhortations  and  warnings  are,  therefore, 
always  applicable  and  quite  as  forcible,  fresh,  and  effectual  as  in  the  first 
century.  What  is  extraordinary  and  divine  about  this  apostolic  litera- 
ture is,  not  that  it  arose  in  a  magical  way,  without  occasion,  but  precisely 
the  contrary  ;  that  it  arose  by  an  altogether  natural  process,  organically 
growing  out  of  special  existing  necessities,  and  yet  conceals  under  this 
truly  opportune  and  concrete  individual  form  an  inexhaustible  store  of 
matter  legitimately  applicable  in  all  places  and  circumstances.  The  most 
subjective  is  here  at  the  same  time  the  most  objective  ;  the  most  strictly 
individual  is  absolutely  universal.  We  must  accordingly  say  also  of  the 
written  word  of  God,  that  it  "  was  made  flesh  "  like  the  eternal  personal 
Logos,  and  subjected  to  all  the  conditions  and  laws  of  natural,  human 
development,  but  that  its  servant-form  was  radiant  with  eternal  glory, 
"full  of  grace  and  truth."  The  Bible  is  throughout  truly  divine,  yet 
throughout  truly  human,  and  thus  alone  adapted  to  men. 

As  to  their  design  ;  the  didactic  books  are  all  addressed  to  baptized 
Christians,  not  to  unconverted  heathens  or  Jews.  They  pre-suppose  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  and  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  life,  and 
hence  serve  not  so  much  to  awaken  as  to  nourish  and  strengthen  that 
life.  The  historical  books,  therefore,  as  preparatory,  are  pro}>erly  placed 
first  in  order,  though  composed  in  some  cases  later.  Only  the  gospel  of 
John,  as  before  observed,  has,  besides  its  historical,  also  a  didactic 
character,  and  aims  to  advance  Christian  knowledge  to  the  higliest  stage 
of  intuition. 

But  now  as  all  Christian  doctrine  rests  upon  the  facts  of  the  Gospel, 


DOCTRINE.]      g  151.       THE    PROPHETIC    BOOK  OF  THE  EEVELATION.       603 

SO  on  the  other  hand  it  is  not  confined  to  the  head,  but  reproduces  itself 
in  new  life  and  new  acts.  Hence  all  the  epistles,  especially  those  of 
Paul,  besides  their  doctrinal  portion,  have  also  an  ethical  or  hortatory 
part,  and  this  not  limited  merely  to  the  last  chapters,  but  everywhere 
interwoven  with  or  immediately  attached  to  the  exposition  of  doctrine. 
Thus  doctrine  is  at  once  the  fruit  and  the  seed  of  life. 

§  151.    Thz  Pro-phetic  Book  of  the  Revelation.     (Comp.  §  101  and  lOt.J 

The  Revelation  of  St.  John  forms  the  third  species  of  apostolic  litera- 
ture, and  the  most  appropriate  and  sublime  conclusion,  the  divine  seal  of 
the  whole. 

The  mode  of  its  production  was  different  from  that  of  the  other  New 
Testament  books.  The  Gospels  and  Epistles  proceeded  from  a  state  of 
divine  illumination  united  with  entire  self-control  and  clear  consciousness. 
The  Apocalypse  is  the  result  of  a  special  act  of  inspiration,  an  immediate 
revelation  of  Jesus  Christ  respecting  His  advent,  dictated,  as  it  were,  to 
the  entranced  seer  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  Tlie  sacred  penman  should  not, 
indeed,  even  here,  be  deprived  of  all  agency  of  his  own  and  made  a  per- 
fectly passive  tool.  But  the  state  of  mind,  in  which  he  received  and 
communicated  the  revelation,  was  not  that  of  ordinary  intellectual 
reflection  (vovc) .  It  was  that  of  extraordinary,  ecstatic,  immediate  in- 
tuition {-Kvevfia),  in  which  the  finite  reaches  over  into  the  infinite-  All 
the  prophecy  of  the  Scriptures  rests  on  direct,  divine  inspiration,  though 
it  has  a  subjective  basis  in  man's  faculty  of  presaging  (often,  especially 
in  momentous  transition  periods,  greatly  elevated),  and  his  impulse  to 
lift  the  veil  of  the  future. 

In  matter  and  form  tlie  Revelation  is  closely  allied  to  the  prophetic 
literature  of  the  Old  Testament,  particularly  the  book  of  Daniel,  com- 
bining its  boldest  and  most  powerful  tones  in  an  overwhelming  harmony. 
But  with  the  poetical,  symbolical  style  it  unites  also  the  epistolary  in  the 
letters  to  the  seven  churches.  It  intersperses  its  visions  with  lyric  songs 
of  praise,  which  afford  the  soul  a  delightful  resting-place  amidst  the  rush- 
ino-  crowd  of  events.  And  it  surpasses  all  the  Hebrew  prophecies  in  the 
sublimity  of  its  views,  the  majesty  of  its  imagery,  the  variety  of  its  sym- 
bols, the  dramatic  vividness,  unity,  and  finish  of  its  composition,  the 
progress  of  its  action,  and  finally  in  its  specifically  Christian  element, 
the  reference  of  all  the  parts  to  the  crucified  and  now  glorified  God-man. 

Prophecy  alike  in  the  Old  Testament  and  in  the  new  is  founded  on 
the  idea  of  the  divine  government  of  the  world,  unavoidably  presuppos- 
ing, that  history  is  not  a  product  of  chance,  but  an  unfolding  of  the 
thoughts    and  plans  of  eternal  wisdom,  justice,   and  love,    and   must, 


604  §    151.      THE  PKOPHETIC  BOOK  OF  THE  KEVELATION.     [v.  BOOK. 

therefore,  always  issue  in  the  glory  of  God,  the  salvation  of  His  people, 
and  the  confusion  of  His  enemies.  The  grand  theme  of  Old  Testament 
prophecy  is  the  first  coming,  that  of  New  Testament  prophecy  the 
second  coming  of  the  Lord  and  His  kingdom,  with  all  the  preparatory 
and  attendant  events.  We  expect  not  a  Messiah,  as  did  the  Jews,  but 
the  reappearing  of  the  Lord  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead,  and  to 
glorify  his  bride.  Hence  hope  is  a  cardinal  virtue  of  the  church  mili- 
tant. Hence  too  the  New  Test-ament,  though  it  devotes  not  so  much 
space  to  prophecy  as  the  Old,  could  not  be  without  it. 

We  find  several  prophetic  passages  scattered  through  the  Gospels  and 
Epistles.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  especially  the  discourses  of 
our  Lord  himself  respecting  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  His  final 
advent,  Matt.  24.  Mk.  13.  Lu.  17  :  22  sqq.  18  :  8.  21  :  6-36  ; 
and  the  frequent  references  of  the  apostles  to  Christ's  second  coming, 
and  its  presages,  such  as  the  great  apostasy,  the  spread  of  dangerous 
errors,  and  also  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  all  the  world,  1  Thess. 
4  :  16  sqq.     2  Thess.   2  :  1-12.     Rom.   11  :  25.     1   Cor.  15  :  51  sqq. 

1  Tim.  4  :  1-3.     2  Tim.  3  :  1-5.     4  :  3,  4.     1  Jno.  2  :  18,  22.     4  :  3. 

2  Jno.  1.     2  Pet.  2  :  1  sqq.     3  :  3  sqq.     Jude  18,  19. 

All  these  elements  John's  Apocalypse  combines  in  one  dramatic  pic- 
ture, giving  us  in  grand,  highly  poetical  visions  and  symbols  a  represen- 
tation of  the  sufferings  and  triumphs  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  down  to 
its  consummation  in  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth.  The  Lord 
comes,  the  Lord  is  at  hand,  Christ  struggles,  Christ  conquers  and  leads 
His  church  through  much  persecution  and  tribulation  to  certain  glory  ; 
— this  is  the  grand  thought  of  the  mysterious  book. 

The  practical  design  of  the  Revelation,  as  also  of  prophecy  in  gene- 
ral, is,  not  to  gi'atify  idle  curiosity,  to  encourage  subtle  and  presumptuous 
speculations,  but  to  remind  us  of  our  entire  dependence  on  God  and  of 
our  sacred  duties  ;  to  exhort  and  comfort  the  faithful.  By  unveiling  the 
future  and  the  hidden  present  the  seer  would  incite  the  seven  churches 
of  Asia  Minor,  which  represent  the  whole  church  in  its  various  forms 
and  tendencies,  to  watchfulness,  patience,  fidelity  and  perseverance  in 
their  struggles  and  hardships,  and  at  the  same  time  would  comfort  and 
animate  them  by  the  divine  assurance  of  the  infallible  victory  of  Christ 
over  all  His  enemies,  and  of  the  eternal  triumph  of  His  bride. 

The  Apocalypse  accordingly  is  a  book  of  warning,  encouragement, 
and  hope,  and  is  best  understood  practically  in  times  of  trial  and  perse- 
cution.'    This  purpose  of  edification  it  has  in  fact  ever  served,  notwith- 

This  is  remarked  by  the  venerable  Bengel,  whose  merits  as  an  expositor  of  the 
Revelation  are  very  great,  even  though  his  historical  application  of  the  beast  to  the 


DOCTRINE.]    g  151.       THE  PKOPIIETIO  EOOK  OF  THE  KEVELATION.  605 

standing  the  very  various  and  sometimes  altogether  contradictory  histor- 
ical expositions,  which  it  has  met  even  at  the  hands  of  truly  pious  theo 
logians,  who  in  other  more  important  points  perfectly  agree-  We  may 
fully  concede  the  unsatisfactory  character  of  all  attempts  yet  made  to 
explain  it,  from  Irenaeus  down  to  Ijiicke  and  Hengstenberg, — and  for  our 
own  part  we  must  confess,  that  none  of  the  many  commentaries  are  alto- 
gether satisfactory,  however  much  light  they  may  throw  on  the  details, 
— we  may  be  honestly  persuaded,  that  the  proper  key  to  the  full  scien- 
tific and  historical  understanding  of  this  remarkable  book  has  not  yet 
been  found,  without  thereby  being  obliged  in  the  least  to  doubt  its 
divine  origin  and  high  practical  value.*  It  belongs  in  fact  to  the  nature 
of  every  divine  prophecy  to  unveil  itself  but  gradually,  and  to  be  fully 
intelligible  only  in  the  light  of  its  fulfillment.  So  the  prophetic  writings 
of  the  Old  Testament  remained  half  understood  or  misunderstood  till  the 
appearance  of  Christ ;  as  in  fact  the  whole  Old  Testament  becomes  clear 
only  in  the  New.'  Nay,  even  the  apostles  were  long  entangled  in  all 
sorts  of  carnal  prejudices.  It  was  only  by  degrees  and  under  the  special 
guidance  of  their  Master,  that  they  rose  to  a  deeper  spiritual  knowledge 
of  the  Messianic  promises.  Nevertheless,  to  souls  anxiously  waiting  for 
the  salvation  of  Israel  these  prophecies,  though  in  many  points  misappre- 
hended, were  an  inexhaustible  source  of  spiritual  strength,  comfort,  and 
refreshment."     Precisely  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  last  strains  of  the 

papacy  ^houk^  be  wholly  wrong,  as  well  as  his  chronological  system,  which,  at  least 
in  amain  point,  the  year  1836  has  been  actually  refuted.  He  says  :  "This  book  is  a 
book  of  the  cross.  It  was  given  to  John  in  his  affliction,  and  under  trial  it  is  best  un- 
derstood and  appreciated.  In  seasons  of  quiet  security  it  was  almost  forgotten,  but 
under  the  persecutions  by  the  heathen  emperors,  and  those  subsequently  endured  by  the 
Waldenses.  the  Bohemian  brethren,  &c.,  it  has  been  turned  to  good  account.  Many  a 
one  too  may  soon  be  glad  of  the  book,  who  now  refuses  to  receive  it." 

'  As  sometimes,  it  is  to  be  regretted,  even  great  and  pious  men  have  done;  Luther, 
for  example,  in  his  honest,  but  very  hasty  and  irreverent  judgment  of  the  Apocalypse 
{Vorrede  of  A.  D.  1522,  and  also  of  1534),  which  he  would  consider  neither  apostolic 
nor  prophetical,  because  no  one  knew  what  was  in  it :  though  he  employed  it,  when  it 
suited  him,  against  the  papacy. 

"^  According  to  the  striking  expression  of  Augustine :  "  Novum  Testamentum  in 
Vetere  latet,  Vetus  in  Novo  patet,"  or  "  V.  T.  est  occultatio  Novi,  N.  T.  manifestatio 
Veteris."     1  he  same  may  be  said  of  the  relation  of  prophecy  to  fulfillment. 

^  This  is  remarked  also  by  Herder  in  his  commentary  on  the  Apocalypse,  which 
abounds  in  glowing  eloquence,  although  we  must  consider  it  as  on  the  whole  entirely 
erroneous,  since  it  refers  every  thing  to  the  Jewish  war  and  the  destruction  of  Jerusa- 
lem. "  How  many  prophets  have  we  in  the  Old  Testament,"'  says  he  finely,  p.  194  sq. 
(Werke  zur  Theol.  Part  12) ,  '"  in  many  of  whose  passages  we  do  not  know  the  primary 
historical  references,  while  yet  these  passages,  containing  divine  truth,  doctrine,  and 
consolation,  are  manna  for  all  hearts  and  all  ages  !  Should  it  not  be  so  with  the  book, 
which  is  an  abstract  of  almost  all  prophets  and  apostles?     This  book  (though  sealed 


606  §    151.       THE   PROPHETIC  BOOK  OF  THE  REVELATION.     [V-    BOOK. 

beloved  discq-le,  in  which  at  the  close  of  the  apostolic  age  aud  the  cen- 
tury of  miracles,  soaring  yet  once  more  on  eagle's  wings  to  behold  the 
eternal  triumph  of  his  divine  Master  and  the  glory  of  the  bride  "  adorn- 
ed for  her  husband"  on  the  sanctified  earth,  he  lequeathed  to  the 
church  militant  these  precious  visions  under  the  seal  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
as  a  cordial  for  all  her  hours  of  temptation  and  affliction.  As  such  the 
Apocalypse  has  already  been  in  fact  of  the  most  valuable  service  to  the 
people  of  G'>6  ;  during  the  bloody  j  ersecutions  by  the  Roman  power  in 
the  first  three  centuries  ;  at  the  descent  of  the  barbarian  hordes  amid 
the  storms  of  the  migration  ;  under  the  conquests  of  Mohammedanism  ; 
and  in  every  heavy  calamity  and  persecution  which  has  since  befallen  the 
church.  Hence  also  its  significance  did  not  cease  with  the  dissolution  of 
the  old  Roman  heathenism,  any  more  than  did  the  fulfillment  of  the  Old 
Testament  prophecies  stop  with  the  events  of  Jewish  history,  to  wliich 
they  primarily  refer.  The  age  of  the  Neronian  and  Domitianic  persecu- 
tions is  not  the  goal,  but  only  the  historical  starting-point,  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse, and  the  basis  of  its  interpretation.  As  the  kingdom  of  Christ 
advances,  so  rises  also  the  empire  of  Antichrist  and  false  prophecy  in 
ever  new  and  more  dangerous  forms  ;  and  every  new  conflict  of  the  two 
and  every  new  victory  follow  the  same  general  laws,  and  form  a  new  and 
higher  fulfillment  of  the  prophecy. 

We  cannot  but  agree,  therefore,  with  the  genial  Herder,  when  he 
styles  the  Revelation  of  St.  John  "  a  book  of  instruction  and  comfort, 
manna  for  all  hearts  and  all  ages."  If  curious  minds  have  occasionally 
been  led  astray  by  it,  it  is  their  own  fault.  They  would  have  been  led 
astray  without  it,  by  the  twenty-fourth  chapter  of  Matthew,  or  by  any 
other  book,  whose  meaning  does  not  lie  immediately  upon  the  surface. 
It  is  in  every  respect  well,  that  the  spirit  of  inquiry  and  attentive  obser- 
vation of  the  signs  of  the  times  in  the  light  of  the  Scriptures  should  be 
constantly  re-awakened.  While  it  accumulates  much  hay  and  stubble, 
which  the  fire  consumes,  it  also  continually  brings  out  new  treasures  of 
gold  and  silver  from  the  mines  of  the  prophetic  word.  The  Apocalypse 
furnishes  each  generation  just  what  its  peculiar  dangers,  conflicts,  and 
necessities  require,  and  for  each  succeeding  period  of  church  history  it 
has  some  new  significance  and  some  higher  fulfillment.  Hypercritics, 
brino-ing  to  the  study  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  not  the  thankful 
disposition  of  children  and  heirs,  but  the  heartless  analytics  of  a  special 
pleader,  may  say  what  they  please  against  it ;  their  own  wisdom  will  be 
forgotten,  but  the  book  they  despise  will  be  hereafter,  as  heretofore,  to 
thousands  of  the  best  and  noblest  souls  a  star  of  hope  in  the  darkness 
to  many  a  plain  Christian  as  to  its  scientific  interpretation)  is  a  book  of  instruction  and 
contifort  for  all  churches,  in  which  Christ  walks." 


DOCTRINE.]       I  152.    ORGANISM    OF   THE   APOSTOLIC   LITERATURE.        607 

of  nLcluiglit,  a  stimulaut  to  I10I3'  desire,  an  earnest  of  future  blessings, 
and  will  afTord  them  from  time  to  time  a  foretaste  of  the  new  heavens 
and  the  new  earth,  till  the  Lord  shall  come  to  take  home  His  longing 
bride. 

§  152.    Organis?)i  of  the  Apostolic  Literature. 

If  from  this  point  we  look  back  upon  the  New  Testament  canon,  we 
observe  in  it  a  beautiful  organism,  the  three  parts  charmingly  fitting  to- 
gether in  one  whole.  The  historical  books  form  the  foundation,  the 
didactic  the  edifice  itself,  and  the  Apocalypse  the  dome.  Or,  to  use 
another  figure,  the  first  are  the  root,  the  second  the  branches,  the  third 
the  ripe  fruit.  The  three  classes  bear  the  same  relation  as  conversion, 
sanctification,  and  glorification,  or  as  the  cardinal  Christian  virtues, 
faith,  love,  and  hope.  The  substance,  the  all-absorbing  theme,  the  be- 
ginning, middle,  and  end  of  the  whole  is  Jesus  Christ.  In  the  Gospels 
He  walks  in  bodily  presence  before  us.  In  the  Epistles  He  assumes  an 
invisible,  but  none  the  less  real  existence,  in  the  Holy  Ghost.  In  the 
first  chapters  of  Acts  we  see  Him  glorified,  hovering,  as  it  were,  on  the 
confines  of  the  two  worlds  ;  then  a  cloud  removes  hhn  from  the  sight  of 
the  apostles,  and  puts  an  end  to  his  visible,  finite  presence,  but  only  to 
make  room  for  his  mystical  omnipresence  in  the  life  of  the  church,  which 
is  for  this  reason  styled  "  his  body,  the  fullness  of  him  that  filleth  all  in 
all."  In  the  Apocalypse  He  re-appears  visibly,  but  no  longer  in  the 
form  of  a  servant  and  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh.  He  comes  forth  in 
the  full  splendor  of  His  spiritual  and  bodily  glory,  with  the  crown  of 
stars,  and  his  face  shining  as  the  sun.  All  His  enemies  are  vanquished. 
All  tears  wiped  away  ;  all  pains  banished  ;  all  mysteries  solved.  The 
ideal  of  beauty,  truth,  and  holiness  is  perfectly  realized  ;  body  is  all 
glorified  in  spirit ;  heaven  and  ^arth  are  one  ;  the  city  of  God  is  finish- 
ed and  prepared  as  a  bride  adorned  for  her  husband.  "  Behold  the 
tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men,  and  he  will  dwell  with  them,  and  they 
shall  be  his  people,  and  God  himself  shall  be  with  them,  and  be  their 
God."     "  Surely  I  come  quickly.     Even  so  come.  Lord  Jesus  !" 

We  have  now  to  exhibit  in  the  next  chapter  the  organism  of  the  apos- 
tolic doctrine^  as  it  comes  to  view  in  the  Epistles.  But  a  few  remarks, 
first,  respecting  the  language  in  which  these  writings  have  come  down 
to  us. 

§  153.  Laiiguage  and  Style  of  the  New  Testament. 
In  the  language  of,  the  apostolic  writings  we  must  distinguish  three 
elements,  the  Greek,  the  Hebrew,  and  the  specifically  Christian.'     The 
The  Latin  element  is  very  insignificant,  confined  almost  entirely  to  single  technical 


60S      §  153.    LANGUAGE  AND  STYLE  OF  THE  NEW  TISTAMENT.    [v.  liOOIC. 

union  of  these  makes  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  an  altogether 
peculiar  genus  of  literature,  and  furnishes  evidence  no  less  of  their 
genuineness  than  of  the  universality  of  their  destination.' 

The  Greek  of  the  New  Testament  is  not  the  pure  Attic  idiom,  as  we 
find  it  in  Plato,  Xenophou,  Thucydides,  and  the  great  tragedians  ;  but 
the  later  colloquial  dialect,  KOLvfi  didleKTog,  as  it  is  called.  This  arose, 
indeed,  on  the  basis  of  the  Attic  literary  language,  but  took  up  ingre- 
dients from  other  dialects,  chiefly  the  Macedonian,  in  the  time  of  Alex- 
ander the  Great  and  his  successors.  It  meets  us  in  the  works  of  Aris- 
totle, Polybius,  Diodorus,  Plutarch,  Aelian,  and  most  of  the  Greek 
authors  in  the  days  of  the  emperors,  except  such  as  Josephus,  Lucian, 
Libanius,  who  affected  the  Attic.  It  was  spoken  especially  in  Alexan- 
dria, the  metropolis  of  Graeco-Oriental  culture,  and  is  hence  sometimes 
called  the  Alexandrian  dialect. 

This  idiom  was  employed  by  almost  all  the  Jews  of  the  dispersion, 
who  thus  came  to  be  called  Hellenists"  (Acts  6:1.  9  :  22),  to  distinguish 
them  from  the  Hellenes  or  proper  Greeks  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the 
other  from  the  Hebrews  or  Palestinian  Jews,  who  spoke  the  Aramaic. 
The  Greek,  moreover,  was  at  that  time  quite  prevalent  in  Palestine. 
There  were  regular  Hellenistic  synagogues  there,  and  it  is  very  probable 
that  the  Saviour  himself  sometimes,  as  in  conversation  with  proselytes  and 

terms,  occurring  mostly  in  the  Gospel  of  Mark,  such  as  6-qvuqiov,  TrgaiTugicv,  KovGruifla, 
KevTvgicjv,  Kf/vaog,  KopduvTrjc  (quadrans) ,  ^eottjc  (sextarius),  Isyeuv,  etc. 

'  To  this  the  "  Northern  Magus,"  Hamann,  has  drawn  attention  in  his  genial  way. 
"The  books  of  the  New  Testament,"  says  he  in  his  Klccblatt  hellenistischer  Brief e  (Part 
II.  p.  204  sq.  of  his  complete  Works),  '■  are  written  tj3()alaTi,  eATit^vlgti,  ()UfiatGTi, 
like  the  title  of  the  cross,  Jno.  19  :  20.  If  it  be  true,  that  they  were  put  forth  in  the 
Jewish  land,  under  dominion  of  the  Romans,  by  people  who  were  no  literati  of  their 
age,  the  character  of  their  style  is  the  most  authentic  evidence  respecting  the  writers, 
the  place,  and  the  time  of  these  books."  From  this  apologetic  point  of  view,  and 
with  special  reference  to  this  remark,  Dr.  H.  W.  J.  Thiersch  particularly  has  recently 
investigated  the  language  and  style  of  the  New  Testament  books  in  the  first  chapter  of 
his  Versiirh  zur  Herstellung  dcs  historischen  Standpunkts^  etc.  1845,  p.  43  sqq. 

^  From  D.T^Tjvl^eLv,  to  aci  the  Greek  or  imitate  the  Greeks,  primarily  in  language, 
then  in  manners  and  customs,  in  mode  of  thinking  and  acting  (as  Josephus,  De  bello 
Jud.  II.  20,  3,  uses  the  term  ^u/iat(^eLv  of  those  Jews,  who  held  with  the  Romans  in 
the  Jewish  war.  Comp.  nXarcjvii^siv  and  other  such  expressions).  'E?i?-Tiviarai  are 
therefore  primarily  Jews  who  speak  Greek ;  and  these  also  were  mostly  less  stiff  and 
bigoted  in  religion  than  the  'EjSpaloi.  The  representatives  of  the  more  liberal-minded, 
Gentile-Ohristian  tendency  in  the  apostolic  church,  were  almost  all  Hellenists  ;  Bar- 
nabas of  Cyprus,  Luke,  perhaps  of  Aiiticrch,  Apollos,  probably  of  Alexandria,  Timothy, 
a  half-Jew,  of  Lystra,  and  Paul,  of  Tarsus,  who,  however,  was  of  a  strictly  Jewish 
family,  the  son  of  a  Pharisee  (Acts  28  :  6) ,  and  received  his  education  in  Jerusalem. 


DOCTRINE.]   §  153.    LANGUAGE  AND  STYLE  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.    600 

heathens/  and  before  Pilate,  used  the  Greek."  And  on  the  other  hand 
there  were  also  in  the  Greek  provinces  Jewish  families,  which  rigidly 
adhered  to  the  sacred  language  and  customs  of  their  fathers.  In  this 
sense  Paul  calls  himself  "a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews"  (Phil.  3  :  5). 
The  Jews,  however,  spoke  this  Greek,  not  pure,  but  largely  adulterated 
with  their  native  Hebrew  or  rather  the  closely  allied  Aramaic,  that  is, 
the  vulgar  Syro-Chaldaic  or  Babylonian  dialect,  which  since  the  Baby- 
lonish exile  had  supplanted  the  pure  or  ancient  Hebrew  in  ordinary  in- 
tercourse. This  Judaizing  Greek  has  accordingly,  since  Scaliger,  been 
very  aptly  styled  the  Hellenistic  idiom,  with  reference  to  the  appellation 
of  the  Jews,  who  spoke  Greek.  It  meets  us,  not  only  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, but  also  in  the  Septuagint  translation  of  the  Old,  in  the  apocry- 
phal books  of  the  Jews,  in  the  works  of  the  theological  philosoplier 
Philo,  and  to  some  extent  in  the  historian  Josephus,  who,  however,  cer- 
tainly not  without  affectation,  aimed  at  the  old  Grecian  Attic  elegance. 
This  Hebrew  element  in  the  apostolic  writings  is  to  be  imputed  to  the 
influence  of  the  Old  Testament  and  of  the  current  Aramaic.  It  does 
not,  however,  enter  to  the  same  extent  in  all,  but  varies  in  prominence 
according  to  the  peculiar  character  of  the  author,  or  more  especially  of 
the  contents.  The  tincture  is  strongest  in  the  historical  and  prophetic 
literature  ;  for  this  was  modeled  on  the  Old  Testament.  We  observe  it 
in  the  first  two  Gospels,  and  in  those  parts  of  the  Gospel  of  Luke,  where 
the  author  gives  sacred  traditions  just  as  they  stood,  above  all  in  the 
songs  of  Mary  and  Zacharias  (1  :  46-55  and  68-79),  which  bear 
throughout  an  old  Hebrew  psalmodic  stamp,  and  are  probably  literally 
translated  ;  again  in  the  first  part  of  the  Acts,  where  the  history  has  its 
theatre  in  Palestine,  and  is  drawn  almost  wholly  from  Jewish-Christian 
sources  ;  finally,  and  most  of  all,  in  the  Apocalypse,  to  the  ideas  of 
whicli  the  language  of  the  classical  literature  was  utterly  inadequate. 
The  didactic  books  of  the  New  Testament,  for  which  the  Old  afforded 
no  model,  come  nearer  the  pure  Greek  idiom.  The  best  style  on  puristic 
principles  is  that  of  Luke,  particularly  in  the  second  part  of  the  Acts, 
where  he  ceases  to  follow  the  accounts  of  others  and  describes  the  labors 
and  fortunes  of  Paul  mostly  as  an  eye-witness  ;  that  of  James,  whose 
glowing,  forcible  use  of  the  language  is  the  more  surprising,  because  he 

*  As  with  the  yvvfi  'YJXjiviq  of  Phenicia,  Mk.  7  :  26,  and  with  the  "E/i27?j.'ef,  Jno. 
12  :  20. 

*  Respecting  the  condition  of  the  vernacular  in  Palestine  we  refer  especially  to  the 
learned  investigations  of  Hug,  in  his  Einleitung  in's  N.  T.  II.  §  10.  Also  to  Thiersch, 
1.  c.  p.  48  sq.,  who  gives  it  as  his  opinion  '•  that  Christ  was  master  of  the  Greek  lan- 
guage, that  he  could  use  it,  but  in  his  intercourse  with  his  disciples  and  with  the  peo- 
ple he  preferred  the  vernacular  (Aramaic),  so  nearly  akin  to  the  sacred  Hebrew." 

39 


610      §  153.    LANGUAGE  AJSTD  STYLE  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT,  [v.  BOOK. 

was  SO  decidedly  Hebrew  in  sentiment,  and  probably  always  lived  in 
Palestine  ;  and  that  of  the  author  of  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  who 
evinces  a  familiar  acquaintance  with  the  rarer  forms  and  turns  of  Greek 
expression,  and  frequently  (as  in  the  first  four  verses,  and  in  the  eleventh 
chapter)  rises  to  real  rhetorical  elegance.  Paul  too,  however,  con- 
sidering his  Rabbinical  training,  possessed  great  skill  in  the  use  of  the 
Greek.  His  full  and  well-turned  periods  are  in  perfect  accordance  with 
its  genius  ;  and  at  times,  especially  in  his  epistles  to  the  Corinthians,  he 
introduces  delicacies  of  style  well  timed  for  readers  in  a  city  of  Grecian 
culture.  On  the  other  hand,  James,  in  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  chap- 
ter of  his  epistle,  assumes  the  tone  and  style  of  prophetic  rebuke  ;  show- 
ing that  the  preponderance  of  one  or  the  other  linguistic  element  varied 
in  the  same  author  with  the  character  of  his  subject.  The  style  of  John 
in  his  Gospel  and  epistles  is,  in  words  and  phrases,  mostly  pure  Greek, 
but  in  construction  exceedingly  simple  and  artless,  without  many  con- 
nectives, and  without  periods, — very  Hebrew  like. 

The  crude  and  pitiable  view  of  the  vulgar  Rationalism,  that  the  He- 
braisms of  the  New  Testament  are  so  many  grammatical  blunders  and 
violations  of  the  Greek,  a  more  thorough  phUology  and  exegesis  (espe- 
cially since  Winer)  has  banished  from  all  truly  learned  circles.  With 
equal  reason  might  the  Grecisms  of  the  Latin  poets,  the  Germanisms  of 
the  Romanic  languages,  and  the  many  Latin  and  French  elements  of  the 
English  be  condemned  as  corruptions  and  errors.  The  Hebraisms  form, 
on  the  contrary,  a  peculiar  and  necessary  modification,  extension,  and 
enrichment  of  the  Greek,  wherever,  in  its  previous  form,  by  reason  of  the 
close  connection  between  thought  and  word,  that  language  was  found 
inadequate  ;  as,  especially,  in  the  prophetic  literature.  The  Hebrew 
tinge  imparts  to  the  New  Testament  literature  a  peculiar  beauty,  to 
appreciate  which,  however,  requires  more  than  a  mere  knowledge  of 
grammar.  It  gives  the  apostolic  writings  the  attractive,  childlike  char- 
acter, the  elevated  simplicity,  and  the  venerable  antiqueness  of  the  sacred 
language  of  the  patriarchs,  and  has  its  share  in  setting  forth  the  inse- 
parable unity  of  the  two  testaments,  the  old  and  new  revelations 
of  God. 

But  to  the  Greek  basis  and  the  Hebraisms  of  form  and  structure  must 
be  added  the  third  element,  the  Christian^  which  is  the  soul  of  the  whole 
New  Testament,  distinguishes  it  specifically  from  all  Greek  and  Grgeco- 
Jewish  writings,  and  gives  it  a  place  of  its  own  in  the  history  of  literature. 
The  spirit  of  the  Christian  revelation  shows  itself,  in  the  province  of 
language,  not  so  much  in  coining  new  words  and  phrases  as  in  making  a 
new  use  of  old  ones.  The  apostles  made  words  already  at  hand  the 
vehicles  of  infinitely  profounder  ideas  than  they  had  ever  conveyed  before, 


DOCTRINE.]  §  153.    LANGUAGE  AND  STYLE  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.    611 

or  continued  to  express  afterwards  in  heathen  authors.'  Even  the 
Seventy  were  compelled  to  put  into  many  Greek  expressions  an  Old 
Testament  idea,  which  it  requires  a  sympathy  with  the  whole  spirit  of  the 
divine  revelation  to  understand.  To  a  far  greater  extent  is  this  the  case 
in  the  New  Testament,  which  contains  a  universe  of  new  ideas,  throwing 
even  the  Old  Testament  far  into  the  shade.  The  very  terms  of  most 
frequent  occurrence  and  of  the  greatest  importance  for  Christian  faith 
and  practice,  as  light,  life,  truth,  resurrection,  atonement,  redemption, 
saviour,  apostle,  church  (assembly),  election,  calling,  justification,  sancti- 
fication,  faith,  love,  hope,  peace,  liberty,  humility,  blessedness, — dark- 
ness, flesh,  unbelief,  sin,  death,  condemnation,  etc.,  have  a  far  more 
comprehensive  and  profound  sense  than  in  any  profane  writings,  or,  in 
most  cases,  even  in  the  Old  Testament ;  though  this  sense  is  certainly 
agreeable  to  the  natural  import  and  the  etymology  of  the  word.  In  this 
view  it  may  be  said,  that,  as  Christianity  is  the  perfection  of  humanity, 
so  the  Christian  language  is  the  full  development  of  the  natural.  Hence 
the  knowledge  of  Greek  and  Hebrew  is  not  enough  for  understanding  and 
theologically  interpreting  the  Bible.  To  this  must  be  added  above  all 
an  experimental  sympathy  with  the  spirit,  which  fills  the  words  and 
makes  them  vehicles  of  its  profound  ideas. 

In  this  use  of  the  Hellenistic  idiom  for  conveying  the  Christian  revela- 
tion we  must  admire  particularly  the  powerful  genius  of  the  apostle  Paul, 
struggling  with  the  language  to  create  the  most  suitable  expression  for 
his  idea.  His  style,  in  general,  is  a  fitting  channel  for  the  bold  majestic 
stream  of  his  thought.  True,  it  is  often  harsh,  abrupt,  and  irregular, 
like  nature.  It  has  none  of  the  careful  polish  and  artistic  exactness  to 
be  found  where  a  writer  depends  on  his  mode  of  expression  for  much  of 
his  effect.  Paul  says  himself,  2  Cor.  11:6,  that  in  speech,  but  not  in 
knowledge,  he  was  rude  ;  that  is,  according  to  the  standard  of  the  Greek 
philosophers  and  rhetoricians,  whose  taste,  however,  had  undoubtedly 
already  become  very  corrupt.  He  is  always  too  full  of  his  subject,  too 
much  occupied  with  the  matter,  to  waste  time  on  the  form.  His  mighty 
spirit  breaks  away  from  the  trammels  of  ordinary  rules,  and  often  rises 
to  the  height  of  sublimity.  It  is  well  known  that  the  heathen  rhetori- 
cian, Longinus,  placed  him  among  the  greatest  orators  ;  and  the 
accomplished  critic,  Erasmus,  remarks  on  Rom.  8  :  31-39  :  "  Quid  us- 
quam  Cicei-o  dixit  grandiloquentius  !"  In  fact,  this  passage,  as  well  as 
that  seraphic  hymn  on  love,  1  Cor.  13,  is,  even  on  merely  esthetic  and 

'  Comp.  Dr.  Robinson,  in  the  preface  to  the  new  edition  of  his  New  Testament 
Lexicon^  p.  v.  sqq.  :  "The  language  of  the  N.  T.  is  the  later  Greek  language,  as  spoken 
by  foreigners  of  the  Hebrew  stock,  and  ap[)lied  by  them  lo  subjec/s  on  which  it  had  never 
been  cmp/oijcd  by  native  Greek  ic/ iters,''  etc. 


612       §  153.    LANGUAGE  AND  STYLE  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT,   [v.  BOOK. 

rhetorical  princiijles,  beyond  all  question  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
sublime  things  in  the  history  of  literature.  Paul's  writing  is  always 
manly  and  noble,  fresh  and  vigorous,  clear  and  exact,  terse  and  concise,' 
fascinating  and  suggestive,  sometimes  plying  the  lash  of  irony'  and  sar- 
casm,^ but  also  melting  into  the  tenderest  strains,^  or  ingeniously  and 
winningly  playing  on  words. ^  He  delights  in  colossal  antithesis"  and  the 
massive,  dialectic  progressions  of  the  Greek  periods.  Even  his  many 
anacolut/ia  are  usually  only  the  excess  of  a  virtue,  the  result  of  his  ardent 
temperament  and  overflowing  fullness  of  soul ;  emotion  crowding  upon 
emotion,  thought  upon  thought.  The  prominent  characteristics  of  his 
style  are  fervor  and  force,  and  it  has  not  unjustly  been  styled  a  "  perpe- 
tual battle."'  But  his  polemic  zeal  is  always  under  the  control  of  sober 
reflection,  and  at  times,  as  in  the  incomparable  description  of  love, 
1  Cor.  13,  gives  place  to  the  most  delightful  calmness  and  benignity.* 

On  the  other  hand,  the  style  of  John,  "  the  son  of  thunder,"  while  it 
breathes  the  gentle  air  of  peace,  as  it  were,  from  the  celestial  regions  of 
the  church  triumphant,  also  rolls  along  at  times,  especially  in  the  Apo- 

'  In  conciseness  and  precision  there  is  a  striking  resennblance  between  Paul  and  the 
renowned  historian  Thucydides.  Comp.  Bauer  :  Philologia  Thucydideo-Faullina,  1773, 
and  Baur  :  Paulus,  der  Apost.  Jesu  Christi,  p.  663. 

*  E.  g.  1  Cor.  4:8.     2  Cor.  1]  :  18  sq. 
'  Phil.  3:2;  TrspiTo/xT/  and  KaraTO/i?]. 

*  Acts  26  :  29.     2  Cor.  2  :  5,  7,  10. 

^  Phil.  V.  10  sq.,  where  he  touchingly  alludes  to  the  meaning  of  the  nanne  Onesimus, 
i.  e.  useful ;  Rom.  13  :  8,  "  Owe  no  man  anything,  but  to  love  one  another." 

«  Comp.  Rom.  2  :  21-23.     2  Cor.  4  :  7-12.     6:9-10.     11:22-30. 

'  Tholuck  :  Vcrmischte  Schriften,  Pt.  11.  p.  320.  Calvin  also,  on  2  Cor.  11:6,  observes 
cf  the  writings  of  Paul :  "  Fulmina  sunt,  non  verba." 

*  "  In  the  letters  of  St.  Paul,"  says  an  able  writer  in  the  "  Edinburgh  Review  "  for 
January,  1853,  "while  every  matter  relating  to  the  faith  is  determined  once  for  all  with 
demonstrations  of  the  spirit  and  power,  and  every  circumstance  requiring  counsel  at 
the  time  so  handled  as  to  furnish  precepts  for  all  time,  the  whole  heart  of  this  wonder- 
ful man  is  poured  out  and  laid  open.  Sometimes  he  pleads,  and  reminds,  and  conjures, 
in  the  most  earnest  strain  of  fatherly  love  :  sometimes  playfully  rallies  his  converts  on 
their  vanities  and  infirmities  :  sometimes,  with  deep  and  bitter  irony,  concedes  that  he 
may  refute,  and  praises  where  he  means  to  blame.  The  course  of  the  mountain  torrent 
is  not  more  majestic  and  varied.  We  have  the  deep,  still  pool,  the  often  returning 
eddies,  the  intervals  of  calm  and  steady  advance,  the  plunging  and  foaming  rapids,  and 
the  thunder  of  the  headlong  cataract.  By  turns  fervid  and  calm,  argumentative  and 
impassionate,  he  wields  familiarly  and  irresistibly  the  varied  weapons  of  which  Pro- 
vidence had  taught  him  the  use.  With  the  Jew  he  reasons  by  Scripture  citation,  wjth 
the  Gentile  by  natural  analogies ;  with  both,  by  the  testimony  of  conscience  to  the 
justice  and  holiness  of  God.  Were  not  the  Epistles  of  Paul  among  the  most  eminent 
of  inspired  writings,  they  would  long  ago  have  been  ranked  as  the  most  wonderful  of 
uninspired," 


DOCTRINE.]  g  153.    LANGUAGE  AND  STYLE  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.     613 

calypse,  according  as  the  subject  requires,   with   the   awful   power  of 
thunder. 

To  sum  up  all ;  the  language  and  style  of  the  apostolic  writers  has  its 
peculiar  beauty,  appearing  in  diflferent  forms,  according  to  the  character 
of  the  author  and  the  subject  ;  a  beauty  not  lying,  indeed,  on  the  sur- 
face, veiled  rather  in  the  garb  of  humility  and  poverty,  in  the  form  of  a 
servant,  like  the  Lord  himself ;  but  for  this  very  reason  affording  the 
freer  scope  to  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  divine  grace,  and  all  the 
more  wonderful  in  its  effects.  The  weak  and  the  despised  has  God 
chosen  to  confound  the  great  and  the  brilliant,  that  the  glory  may  be  the 
Lord's  and  not  man's.  Were  thg  IS'ew  Testament  written  with  the  Attic 
elegance  of  a  Plato  or  a  Xenophon  or  a  Sophocles  or  a  Demosthenes,  it 
would  be  perhaps  a  book  for  philosophers,  for  the  educated  few,  but  not, 
as  it  is  this  day  and  ever  will  be,  a  book  for  the  people,  the  bread  of  life 
for  all  ages,  conditions,  and  classes  of  men. 


614  §  154.       ORIGIN    AND    UNITY   OF  [>'•  BOOK. 


CHAPTEK  II. 

DIFFERENT  TYPES  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  DOCTRINE. 

§  154.   Origin  and  Unity  of  the  Apostles'  Doctrine. 

Christianity  is,  primarily,  not  doctrine,  but  life,  a  supernatural  fact 
and  testimony  extending  its  leaven-like,  transforming  influence  -equally  to 
all  the  faculties  of  the  human  soul,  thought,  feeling,  and  will.  It  came 
into  the  world  as  the  climax  of  the  revelation  or  self-communication  of 
God,  as  a  divine  saving  fact,  a  new  moral  creation,  deposited  originally 
in  Jesus  Christ,  the  incarnate  Word,  the  God-man  and  Saviour  of  the 
world,  to  be  propagated  from  Him  to  the  entire  human  race, — not, 
indeed,  necessarily  to  the  numerical,  but  to  the  organic  whole  of  human- 
ity. So  also  in  the  individual  believer  it  exists  first  in  the  form  of  life, 
or  the  communion  of  the  whole  man  with  God  through  Christ.  The 
measure  of  this  divine  life  (not  the  amount  of  theoretical  knowledge,  or 
of  practical  morality,  or  of  feeling,'  separately  considered)  is  the  meas- 
ure of  the  man's  piety  ;  and  perfect  communion  with  God  is  perfect 
religion.  Doctrine  is  only  the  clear  consciousness  of  the  life  made  an 
object  of  reflection,  and  presupposes,  therefore,  the  presence  of  the  life 
as  the  general  and  primordial. 

The  doctrine  of  the  apostles  in  the  New  Testament  everywhere  ap- 
pears in  this  close,  organic  connection  with  the  original  fountain  of  life. 
It  is  not  abstract  theory,  not  a  product  of  speculation,  but  something 
experienced  in  actual  life,  and  for  this  very  reason  in  turn  productive  of 
life,  thoroughly  practical,  full  of  the  unction  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of 
moral  power.  It  comes  before  us,  too,  not  as  a  logical,  scientific  system, 
but  in  an  humble,  unpretending,  generally  intelligible  form.  The  Bible 
is  intended  to  be,  not  merely  a  work  for  the  learned,  but  a  popular  book, 
in  the  highest  and  noblest  sense,  a  book  for  all  mankind.     Nevertheless 

'  As  Schleiermacher  holds,  whose  view  on  religion,  identifying  it  with  feeling  (the 
feeling  of  absolute  dependence  upon  God),  is  just  as  one-sided  and  erroneous  as  the  other 
lv\o  which  he  so  keenly  and  successfully  refutes. 


DOCTRINE.]  THE  apostles'  doctkine.  G15 

it  has  a  systematic  structure,  though  not  outwardly  marlied.'  The  apos- 
tles start  from  a  living  principle,  from  which,  as  biblical  theology  has 
minutely  to  demonstrate,  the  several  points  of  doctrine  necessarily  follow. 
Yet  in  this  respect  again  they  differ.  Paul,  who  had  no  small  philosoph- 
ical talent  and  had  received  a  learned  education,  proceeds  far  more 
methodically  than  the  others.  The  epistle  to  the  Romans,  particularly* 
is  almost  a  scientific  treatise,  and  it  is  not  difficult  to  show  the  strictest 
logical  connection  among  all  its  parts. 

The  common  source  of  the  apostles'  doctrine  is  partly  outward,  partly 
inward  ;  partly  the  objective,  theanthropic  history  of  the  crucified  and 
risen  Saviour,  of  which  they  were  eye-witnesses  ;  partly  the  immediate 
illumination  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  was  promised  them  by  the  depart- 
ing Redeemer'  and  communicated  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  the  birth-day 
of  the  church  (Acts  1:4),  and  which  alone  could  enable  them  fully  to 
understand  the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus.  This  illumination  or  inspira- 
tion is  to  be  regarded  as  central ;  in  other  words,  one,  which  acted  with 
creative  power  on  the  very  essence  and  centre  of  their  being  ;  which 
transferred  not  only  their  knowledge,  but  their  whole  personality,  with 
all  their  intellectual  and  moral  faculties,  into  a  new  and  higher  sphere  of 
existence,  into  the  heart  of  the  Christian  truth  ;  and  which  thence  per- 
vaded and  determined  all  their  particular  views  and  relations,  their 
words,  their  writings,  and  their  actions. 

The  common  subject  of  the  doctrine  of  the  apostles  is  the  person  of 
Jesus  Christ,  the  promised  Messiah,  the  true  God-man  ;  and  the  divine 
life  and  salvation,  which  was  manifested  in  Him,  was  secured  to  man- 
kind by  his  self-revelation,  death  and  resurrection  :  shaped  itself  through 
the  Holy  Ghost  into  a  church  of  the  redeemed,  a  means  and  a  fellowship 
of  salvation  ;  is  communicated  to  the  individual  sinner  through  faith  and 
the  means  of  grace,  the  word  and  sacraments  j  works  his  conversion, 
justification,  sanctification,  and  eternal  blessedness  ;  and  will  fully  devel- 
ope  itself  in  the  glories  of  Christ's  second  coming. 

These  are  the  essential  articles  of  faith,  on  the  living  appropriation 
of  which  salvation  depends,  and  which  the  Apostles'  Creed  (justly  call- 
ed apostolical  as  to  its  contents)  so  beautifully  arranges  under  the  three 
divisions  of  God  the  Father  and  the  work  of  creation,  God  the  Son  and 
the  work  of  redemption,  and  God  the  Holy  Ghost  and  the  work  of  sanc- 
tification, ending  with  life  everlasting.  And  in  all  these  points  James, 
Peter,  Paul,  and  John  perfectly  agree.  We  cannot  acknowledge  the 
least  inconsistency  among  the  various  books  of  the  New  Testament, 
either  in  respect  to  faith  or  practice.  They  are  all  animated  by  the 
same  spirit,  aim  at  the  same  end,  and  form  a  truly  wonderful  harmony. 

Jno.  14  :  26.     15  :  26.     16  :  7.     Lu.  24  :  49. 


616  §  155.    DIVERSITY    OF   THE    APOSTLES'   DOCTRINE.        [v.  BOOK. 

All  the  apostles  and  evangelists  teach,  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  the 
highest  revelation  of  tlie  only  trne  God  ;  that  He  perfectly  fulfilled  the 
law  and  the  prophets  ;  by  His  death  and  resurrection  reconciled  human- 
ity with  God  and  redeemed  it  from  the  curse  of  sin  and  death  ;  by  the 
outpouring  of  His  Spirit  has  established  an  indestructible  church  and 
furnished  it  with  all  the  means  for  the  regeneration  and  sauctification  of 
the  world  ;  that  out  of  Him  there  is  no  salvation  ;  that  a  man  must  re- 
pent and  believe  in  Him,  and  express  this  faith  in  his  entire  life,  in  order 
to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  Christ's  mission  ;  and  that  this  life  of  faith  de- 
velopes  itself,  in  individuals  and  in  the  church,  under  the  continual  direc- 
tion of  the  Holy  Ghost  through  much  suffering  and  tribulation  ;  triumphs 
at  last  over  all  its  foes  ;  and  becomes  gloriously  complete  at  the  second 
advent  of  the  Lord.  In  short,  there  is  in  the  apostolic  church  "  one 
Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God  and  Father  of  all,  who  is  above 
all,  and  through  all,  and  in  you  all"  (Eph,  4  :  5  sq.). 

"  But  unto  every  one  of  us,"  the  apostle  immediately  adds,  "  is  given 
grace  according  to  the  measure  of  the  gift  of  Christ ; "  that  is,  to  each 
for  a  particular  purpose  and  within  certain  limits,  according  to  the  wis- 
dom of  the  Lord  and  the  wants  of  the  church.  For  unity  should  never 
be  confounded  with  monotonous  uniformity.  All  living  unity  involves 
diversity,  multiplicity,  and  fullness.  So  with  the  unity  of  the  apostolic 
doctrine.  And  as,  on  the  one  hand,  we  discard  the  rationalistic  theory, 
which  on  the  principles  of  the  natural  understanding  implicates  the 
synoptical  evangelists  with  John,  James  with  Paul,  in  irreconcilable  con- 
tradiction, thus  undermining  all  reverence  for  the  holy  word  of  God  ;  so, 
on  the  other  hand,  must  we  guard  against  the  opposite  extreme  of  a 
stiff,  lifeless  orthodoxy,  which  looks  upon  the  literature  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament as  a  thing  of  abstract,  mechanical  and  colorless  uniformity  of 
structure,  and  makes  no  due  account  of  the  human  authors  and  their 
several  peculiarities  of  character. 

§  155.  Diversity  of  the  Afoslks'  Doctrine. 

The  eternal  substance  of  this  truth,  comprised  in  the  absolute  union  of 
Deity  and  humanity  in  the  person  of  the  Redeemer,  each  of  the  leading 
apostles  held  in  a  peculiar  historical  form,  and  in  that  particular  form, 
too,  which  was  specially  adapted  to  his  individual  character,  his  training, 
and  his  field  of  labor.  The  gospel  may,  in  this  respect,  be  compared  to 
a  jewel,  which  at  every  turn  emits  a  new  radiance,  yet  remains  the 
same  ;  or  to  the  one  beam  of  light,  which  breaks  into  diverse  colors 
according  to  tlie  nature  of  the  substance  it  falls  on,  yet  always  emanates 
from  the  Muue  sun.  These  pecul'ar  modifications  or  shapings  of  the 
Christian  i)riuciple  in  the  New  Testament  Scriitures  we  call   the  differ- 


DOCTRINE.]     g  155.    DIVERSITY   OF   THE   APOSTLEs'    DOCTKINE.  617 

eut  systems  or  types  of  the  apostolic  doctrine.  They  originate  in  the 
various  modes  of  conceiving  the  relation  of  Christianity  to  the  two  grand 
religions  of  the  old  world,  Judaism  and  Heathenism. 

As  all  the  apostles  were  Jews,  and  as  their  knowledge  was  rooted  in 
the  Old  Testament,  they,  very  naturally,  first  brought  the  new  principle 
of  life,  which  was  given  them  in  Christ,  into  connection  with  their  former 
religious  views,  and  then  applied  it  to  their  respective  spheres  of  labor 
in  different  ways,  according  as  they  had  to  deal  entirely,  or  at  least 
mainly,  with  Jews  or  with  Gentiles.  To  them  all  Christianity  appeared 
as  the  completion  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  Jesus  as  the  true  Messiah, 
the  fulfiller  of  the  law  and  the  prophets.  Christ  himself  had  declared  : 
"  I  am  not  come  to  destroy  the  law  or  the  prophets,  but  to  fulfill" 
(Matt.  5  :  17).  This  very  expression,  however,  implied  a  two-fold 
relation  between  Judaism  and  Christianity,  a  unity  and  a  difference. 
The  two  religions  are  both  covenants,  but  differ  as  old  and  new.  Both 
are  revelations  of  the  same  God  for  the  same  end,  the  glory  of  the  Lord 
and  the  salvation  of  mankind  ;  but  the  one  is  preparation,  the  other 
completion  ;  that  is  law  and  prophecy,  this  gospel  and  fulfillment  ;  the 
former  is  revealed  in  the  latter,  the  latter  latent  in  the  former.  There 
God  appears  chiefly  as  the  just  and  holy  Lord,  and  the  pious  as  His 
obedient  servants  ;  here  God  is  the  loving  and  merciful  Father,  and  be- 
lievers His  children  and  heirs.  Judaism  is  "  the  letter,  which  killeth," 
and  a  shadow  of  good  things  to  come  ;  Christianity  is  the  "spirit,  which 
giveth  life,"  and  the  substance  itself.  The  one  is  the  religion  of  author- 
ity, the  other  the  religion  of  freedom.  That  was  intended  for  a  single 
nation  and  a  certain  time  ;  this  is  designed  for  all  nations  and  all  times, 
— the  absolute  religion  for  the  world.  The  permanent  truth  in  the  Old 
Testament  is  taken  up  by  the  New,  confirmed,  brought  into  connection 
with  the  person  of  Christ,  and  transformed  by  His  Spirit,  but  by  this 
very  process  divested  of  its  restricted  national  and  temporary  form. 
Christianity  is  at  once  an  organic  growth  out  of  Judaism,  and  a  new 
creation,  which  could  never  have  sprung  from  the  old  alone,  without  a 
creative  act  of  God. 

Now  it  is  essential  to  apostolical  and  all  sound  Christianity,  to  com- 
bine these  two  views,  the  unity  and  the  difference  of  the  Jewish  and 
Christian  revelations  ;  both  to  place  the  New  Testament  in  close  connec- 
tion with  the  Old,  and  yet  to  maintain  its  new  and  peculiar  character. 
The  denial  of  either  gives  rise  to  a  fundamental  heresy  ;  and  of  such  we 
observe  the  germs  even  in  the  apostolic  period.  The  denial  of  the  dis- 
tinction between  Judaism  and  Christianity  is  Ebionism  ;  the  denial  of 
the  unity  of  the  two  is  Gnosticism.     From  both  these  extremes  the 


618  §  156.     JEWISH    AND    GEKTILE   CHEISTIANITY,  L^-    BOOK. 

New  Testament  Scriptures  are  equally  removed,  and  in  fact  against  both 
they  contain  express  warnings. 

But  this  double  relation  admits  of  being  viewed  from  two  positions, 
which,  while  they  keep,  in  principle,  both  the  distinction  and  tne  unity 
of  the  two  revelations,  give  the  chief  prominence,  'one  to  the  unity,  the 
other  to  the  distinction  ;  two  positions,  therefore,  not  contradictory, 
but  mutually  supplemental.  The  first  view,  exhibiting  Christianity  pre- 
dominantly in  its  harmony  with  the  religion  of  the  Old  Testament,  was 
most  congenial  to  the  older  Jewish  apostles  of  Palestine,  and  best  suited 
for  the  Jewish  mission.  The  other,  which  saw  in  the  gospel  a  new  crea- 
tion, the  spirit  of  absolute  freedom,  was  best  adapted  to  the  Hellenistic 
apostle,  who  was  called  in  a  sudden,  extraordinary  manner  by  the 
transforming  grace  of  God,  and  destined  to  labor  among  the  heathen. 
For  the  Jews,  even  after  their  transition  to  Christianity,  felt  the  need  of 
adhering  as  closely  as  possible  to  the  sacred  traditions  of  their  fathers  ; 
while  the  Gentiles  found  in  their  previous  religion  little  or  no  connection 
with  the  Christian,  though  the  latter  of  course  met  the  deepest  wants  of 
their  nature  ;  and  towards  the  precepts  of  the  Mosaic  law,  which  had 
not  been  given  to  them,  they  had  no  such  reverence  nor  sense  of  obliga- 
tion as  the  Jews. 

§  156.  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christianity  and  their  higher  Unity. 

Thus,  from  the  twofold  relation  of  Christianity  to  Judaism,  and  from 
the  difference  in  the  callings  of  the  apostles,  arose  two  different,  but 
mutually  supplemental  theological  tendencies,  which  we  may  call  the 
Jewish- Christian  and  the  Gentile-Christian.  The  first  was  represented  in 
the  beginning  by  all  the  older  apostles,  the  twelve,  who  had  gradually 
come  out  of  the  bosom  of  their  ancestral  religion,  and  labored  chiefly 
among  the  circumcision  ;  particularly  by  Peter  and  James.'  The  second 
appeared  in  Paul,  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  so  abruptly  and  irregularly 
called  at  a  later  time,  and  in  his  coadjutors,  particularly  Barnabas 
(comp.  Gal.  2  :  8,  9).  This  antagonism  between  Jewish  and  Gentile 
Christianity  reaches  through  the  whole  apostolic  age,  until  at  the  end  of 
the  first  century,  in  the  writings  of  John,  it  is  lost,  so  to  speak,  in  a  third 
view,  which  may  be  styled  the  absolutely  Christian  or  the  ideal. 

■  Paul.  Gal.  2,  names  John,  indeed,  along  with  James  and  Cephas,  among  the  pil- 
lars  of  the  apostles  of  the  circumcision.  But  this  refers  to  an  earlier  time  ;  since  the 
epistle  to  the  Galatians  was  written  in  the  year  56.  We  must  distinguish  in  the  life  and 
labors  of  John  two  periods,  that  before  and  that  after  his  transfer  to  Paul's  sphere  of 
labor  in  Asia  Minor;  and  his  writings,  from  which  we  learn  his  theological  views,  all 
date  during  his  residence  at  Ephesus  and  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  More- 
over, he  seems  to  have  held  from  the  first  a  conciliatory  position  between  the  two 
parties,  and  to  have  observed  a  mysterious  silence.     Comp.  §  100  above. 


DOCTRINE.]  AND  TIIEIK    HIGHER    UNITY.  619 

We  may  accordingly  distinguish  in  the  development  of  the  apostolic 
theology  three  stages,  the  Peirine,  the  Pauline,  and  the  Johannmn. 
They  run  parallel  with  the  three  sections  of  the  history  of  missions  as 
presented  in  the  first  book — the  Jewish  mission,  centering  in  Jerusalem, 
the  Gentile  mission,  with  its  seat  in  Autioch,  and  the  activity  of  John, 
which  took  up,  combined,  and  completed  these  two,  and  had  its  centre 
in  Ephesus. 

Christianity  naturally  addressed  itself  first  to  the  Jews,  from  the  midst 
of  whom  it  proceeded,  and  who,  according  to  God's  gracious  promise, 
had  the  first  claim  to  it.  The  church  in  Jerusalem,  with  the  apostles  at 
its  head,  was  essentially  distinguished,  indeed,  from  the  Jews  around,  by 
its  faith  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth  as  the  Messiah,  the  Son  of  God,  who  had 
risen  from  the  dead,  and  by  its  possessing  in  this  faith  true  divine  life  ; 
but  this  faith  itself  wrought  in  them  under  the  hallowed  forms  of  the  old 
covenant.  While,  therefore,  they  imputed  their  justification  not  to  the 
ceremonies  of  the  Mosaic  law,  but  to  Christ  (comp.  Acts  4  :  12),  they 
still  continued  to  observe  those  ceremonies,  and  keep  as  close  as  possible 
to  the  temple  worship  of  the  theocracy  (comp.  §  137). 

The  distinction  of  two  tendencies,  a  more  constrained  and  a  more 
free,  a  strictly  conservative  and  a  progressive,  made  its  first  appearance 
in  the  opposition  between  the  Jews  of  Palestine  and  those  of  other 
lands,  or  Hebrews  and  Hellenists  (Acts  6  :  1  sqq.).  It  was  brought 
out  by  the  deacon  Stephen,  a  Hellenist  of  bold  spirit,  skillful  in  the 
Scriptures,  and  dialectically  trained.  By  him  the  Christian  system, 
which  had  hitherto  been  at  issue  chiefly  with  Sadducism  on  the  doctrine 
of  the  resurrection,  was  put  in  conflict  with  Pharisaism  or  stifl",  self-right- 
eous legalism.  Stephen  rose  to  the  view  of  the  approaching  emancipation 
of  the  church  from  the  religious  and  national  exclusiveness  of  the  Jewish 
economy,  which  was  hastening  to  its  doom.  Thus  he  was  the  forerunner 
of  the  apostle  Paul,  who  was  converted,  as  it  would  seem,  immediately  after 
the  death  of  this  first  martyr,  in  order  to  save  and  gloriously  f^arry  out 
the  idea,  for  which  he  died  (Acts  6-8.  Comp.  §  58).  This  first  bloody 
persecution  was  the  occasion  of  spreading  the  gospel  out  of  Judea  by  the 
fugitive  Christians,  and  at  the  same  time  of  enlarging  their  views.  Soon 
came  the  conversion  and  reception  into  the  church  of  the  semi-pagan 
Samaritans  through  the  labors  of  the  evangelist,  Philip,  probably  also 
a  Hellenist,  and  the  apostles,  Peter  and  John  (c.  8).  Still  more  im- 
portant was  the  founding  of  the  first  mixed  church  at  Antioch,  which 
was  firmly  established,  and  made  the  starting  point  and  centre  of  the 
Gentile  mission,  chiefly  by  Barnabas  of  Cyprus  and  Saul  of  Tarsus. 
Nor  is  it  by  any  means  accidental,  that  this  mother  church  of  Gentile 
Christianity  originated  the  proper  name  of  the  followers  of  Jesus  (11  : 


620  §  156.      JEWISH    AND    GENTILE   CHKISTIANITT,  [v.  BOOK. 

26),  by  which  they  have  since  been  distinguished  as  well  from  Jews  as 
from  heathen.  About  the  same  time  a  change,  which  marks  an  epoch, 
was  produced  in  the  leaders  of  Jewish  Christianity  themselves  by  the 
vision  of  Peter,  and  the  reception  of  the  uncircumcised  Cornelius  into 
the  Christian  communion  (Acts  10).  From  that  time  not  only  Peter, 
but,  in  consequence  of  his  public  recital  of  the  incontrovertible  facts,  the 
whole  church  at  Jerusalem  also  (comp.  Acts  11  :  18),  were  convinced 
that  the  Gentiles  need  not,  as  had  formerly  been  thought,  become  Jews, 
before  they  could  have  part  in  the  Christian  salvation.  Thus  they 
acknowledged,  that  tlie  same  Holy  Ghost,  who  wrought  in  them,  wrought 
also  in  the  uncircumcised  ;  and  with  this  they  gave  up  the  idea  of 
the  absolute  nature  and  design  of  Judaism,  though  for  their  own  part^ 
not  in  order  to  justification,  but  from  traditional  reverence  and  for  the 
sake  of  their  influence  with  their  countrymen,  they  continued  as  before 
to  keep  the  Mosaic  law,  till  God  himself  actually  destroyed  the  theo- 
cratic system,  and  formally  released  them  from  it.  A  few  disturbers 
only,  "false  brethren  unawares  brought  in,"  as  Paul  styles  them  (Gal. 
2:4),  willfully  set  themselves  against  these  signs  of  the  times,  this  ad- 
vance in  knowledge,  and  maintained  that  circumcision  and  the  observ- 
ance of  the  whole  ceremonial  law  was  necessary  to  salvation ;  thus  de- 
nying that  we  are  saved  by  faith  in  Christ  alone.  These  were  the 
heretical  Jewish-Christians,  the  precursors  of  the  Ebionites.  These  bigot- 
ed Judaizers  raised  a  mighty  hue  and  cry  particularly  against  the 
apostle  Paul,  who  meanwhile  had  already  labored  with  great  success 
among  the  heathen,  and  had  admitted  them  into  the  church  without 
imposing  on  them  the  yoke  of  the  law. 

In  this  state  of  things  the  apostles  thought  it  best  to  settle  the  contro- 
versy and  prevent  the  threatened  rupture  by  a  public  convention.  This 
was  the  council  at  Jerusalem,  A.  D.  50  (Acts  15.  Gal.  2).  Here  the 
difference  of  the  two  tendencies,  the  Jewish-Christian  and  Gen*^,ile-Chris- 
tian,  was  not  concealed  or  wiped  out.  It  was  fully  acknowledged  ;  but 
at  the  same  time  the  deeper  unity,  which  bound  both  parties  to  the  same 
faith  in  the  all-availing  merits  of  Christ,  was  openly  brought  out  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  Pharisaical  Christians,  and  a  compromise  was  agreed  upon, 
which,  while  calculated  to  secure  the  peace  of  the  church  in  its  present 
posture,  encroached  on  the  rights  of  neither  party.  The  Jews  it  left  to 
their  national  form  of  religion,  undisturbed  in  their  observance  of  the 
law  ;  and  upon  the  heathen  converts  it  placed  no  burdensome  yoke,  but 
only  such  requisitions  as  a  regard  for  pure  morality  and  the  principles  of 
Christian  charity  would  lead  them  readily  to  fulfill.  The  apostles  of  the 
circumcision  and  the  apostles  of  the  uncircumcision  recognized  each 
others'  peculiar  mission  and  gifts,  and  in  the  consciousness  of  unity  in 


DOCTRINE.]  AND    TUEIR   HIGHER    UNITY.  621 

difFerence  and  difference  in  unity  exchanged  the  hand  of  brotherly  fellow- 
ship (Gal.  2  :  9.  Comp.  §  68  and  69).  And  so  they  labored  thencefor- 
ward in  different  spheres  and  with  d.fferent  gifts,  but  harmoniously 
towards  the  same  great  end.  For  the  collision  between  Paul  and  Peter 
in  Antioch  sprang  not  from  a  conflict  of  principles,  but  from  a  momentary 
inconsistency  (Gal.  2:11  sqq.),  and  was  merely  a  passing  cloud.  The 
exception  only  proves  the  rule,  which  was,  in  this  matter,  as  is  abundantly 
clear  from  all  their  writings,  the  fraternal  unanimity  of  the  two  apostles. 

The  following  years,  from  50  to  64,  witnessed  the  imposing  labors  of  Paul 
and  the  development  of  the  Gentile-Christian  principle  in  doctrine  and  in 
practice.  All  Paul's  numerous  churches  in  Asia  Minor  and  Greece,  as 
well  as  that  at  Rome,  were  composed,  indeed,  of  Jews  and  Gentiles  to- 
gether, so  that  the  deep-seated  national  and  religious  antagonism  could 
not  fail  to  show  itself  also  in  the  province  of  Christian  faith.  The  Jewish 
Christians  were  more  strict,  scrupulous,  legal,  conservative,  than  the 
others.  But  it  is  in  dealing  with  these  that  Paul  shows  his  genuine  spiritual 
freedom.  He  does  not  take  forcible  measures  to  annihilate  or  suppress 
the  antagonism  in  question,  but  freely  indulges  it,  provided  only  all  hold 
the  common  foundation,  Christ  the  only  author  of  salvation  ;  and  in 
subordinate  points,  such  as  eating  particular  kinds  of  food,  observing 
feasts,  etc.,  he  exhorts  to  mutual  fraternal  charity,  patience  and  accom- 
modation (1  Cor.  8  and  9.  Rom.  14  :  1  sqq.)  ;  as  in  fact  he  himself  in 
love  became  to  the  Jews  a  Jew,  to  the  Greeks  a  Greek,  that  he  might, 
if  possible,  gain  all  (1  Cor.  9  :  19-23).  It  was  only  against  the  "false 
brethren  "  of  the  circumcision,  who  were  creating  disturbance  and  schism 
in  almost  all  his  churches,  particularly  in  Galatia,  and  sought  salvation 
in  lifeless  ceremonies  and  mechanical  actions  instead  of  living  faith  in  the 
Redeemer,  as  also,  on  the  other  hand,  against  the  opposite  sort  of 
errorists,  who  perverted  the  freedom  of  Christ  to  the  shameless  indulgence 
of  the  flesh  ; — it  was  only  against  these,  that  he  came  out  on  every 
occasion  in  inflexible  firmness  with  refutation,  warning,  and  rebuke. 

Thus  stood  matters  in  the  seventh  decade  at  the  decease  of  most  of  the 
apostles.  The  church  was  almost  everywhere  divided  between  two 
national  tendencies,  the  two  parties  being  mutual  counterparts,  agreeing 
in  essentials,  loving  one  another  as  brethren,  but  not  yet  grown  together 
in  full  unity,  and  still  exposed  also  each  to  a  corresponding  morbid  ultra- 
ism.  The  Jewish  Christians,  especially  in  Palestine,  were  in  danger  of 
sinking  back  into  carnal  Judaism,  as  the  Galatian  false  teachers  and  the 
later  Ebionites  actually  did  ;  and  in  view  of  this  the  epistle  to  the  He- 
brews lifted  its  voice  of  fearfully  earnest  warning.  The  Gentile  Chris- 
tians, on  the  contrary,  particularly  in  Paul's  churches  in  Asia  Minor, 
were  threatened  with  the  more  subtle  seduction  of  the  false  Gnosis,  with 


622  §  156.      JEWISH   AND   GENTILE   CHRISTIANTTT,  [v.   BOOK. 

its  spiritual  licentiousness  and  its  dissipation  of  all  Mstorical  Christianity 
into  the  thin  air  of  speculation,  which  even  Paul,  Peter,  and  Jude,  but  espe- 
cially John  in  his  day,  found  it  necessary  to  resist  as  antichrist.  Then 
broke  the  long  predicted  judgment  of  God  on  stiff-necked  Judaism. 
Jerusalem,  and  with  it  the  whole  temple  cultus,  was  overthrown,  and 
thus  the  last  cord  severed,  which  had  hitherto  bound  the  Christian 
church  to  the  old  economy.  The  Jewish-Christian  churches  now  had  no 
alternative,  but  to  apostatize  and  petrify,  or  to  advance  from  their  nar- 
row legalism  to  a  position  of  greater  freedom,  and  coalesce  with  the  Gen- 
tile Christians.  Besides,  the  national  differ  en  c©v  between  Jewish  and 
Gentile  Christianity  must  necessarily  disappear  so  fast  as  the  church 
should  become  an  independent  power,  till  she  should  bring  forth  a  new 
generation,  in  whose  veins  neither  Jewish,  nor  Gentile,  but  specifically 
Christian  blood  should  circulate,  as  it  were,  from  the  very  womb. 

At  this  third  and  highest  point  of  view,  from  which  the  two  previous 
types  of  doctrine  and  forms  of  practice  fall  into  a  compact,  organic 
unity,  stands  St.  John,  who  survived  the  leaders  of  Jewish  and  Gentile 
Christianity,  and  after  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  combined  in  his 
writhigs  the  results  of  the  whole  preceding  development  of  the  apostolic 
church,  both  theoretical  and  practical.' 

This,  in  brief  and  general  survey,  is  the  course  of  the  apostolical  theo- 
logy, as  it  lies  before  us  in  the  canonical  records  of  primitive  Christianity. 
Its  development  goes  hand  in  hand  with  the  spread  of  the  church,  and 
to  some  extent  also  with  the  shaping  of  religious  life  and  of  the  systems 
of  government  and  worship. 

We  have  then  three  leading  forms  of  apostolic  doctrine,  under  which 
all  the  books  of  the  New  Testanaent  may  without  any  violence  be  dis- 
tributed :  — 

1.  The  Jewish-Christian  theology,  or  the  system  of  Christian  doc- 
trine in  its  unity  with  the  Old  Testament.  This  is  represented  by  the 
leaders,  or,  as  Paul  styles  them  (Gal.  2),  "  pillars  "  of  Jewish  Christianity, 
James  and  Peter  ;  with  this  difference,  that  James  presents  especially  the 
unity  of  Christianity  with  the  law,  Peter  its  unity  with  prophecy,  forming 
at  the  same  time  the  transition  from  the  position  of  James  to  that  of 
the  Gentile  apostle."  Under  this  head  fall  the  Gospels  of  Matthew  and 
Mark  and  the  epistle  of  Jude. 

'  Comp.  above.  §  100. 

"^  Were  it  preferred  to  make  James  and  Peter  the  representatives  of  two  distinct  ten- 
dencies, w^'should  have  four  types  of  apostolic  doctrine,  which  would  beautifully  cor- 
respond to  the  four  Gospels,  that  of  James  to  Matthew,  of  Peter  to  Mark,  of  Paul  to 
Luke,  of  John  to  his  own  Gospel.  We  think  the  triple  division  best,  however,  because 
James  and  Peter  after  all  present  only  the  two  necessary  aspects  of  Jewish  Chris- 
tianity, the  legal  and  the  Messianic. 


DOCTRINE.]  AND   THEIE    HIGHER    UKITY.  623 

2.  The  Gentile-Christian  theology,  or  Christianity  in  its  distinction 
from  Judaism,  and  viewed  as  a  new  creation.  This  is  the  type  of  doc- 
trine presented  by  the  Gentile  apostle,  Paul,  and  embraces  also  the 
Gospel  and  the  book  of  Acts  by  his  attendant  Luke,  and  the  anonymous 
epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 

3.  The  JoHANNEAN  thcology,  which  adjusts  the  differences  of  Jewish 
and  Gentile  Christianity,  and  merges  the  systems  of  Peter  and  of  Paul  in 
its  sublime  and  profound  conception  of  the  mysterious  theanthropic  per- 
son of  the  Saviour.  Here  belong  the  Gospel,  Epistles,  and  Revelation 
of  the  beloved  disciple. 

These  three  forms  of  doctrine  cover  the  whole  field  of  saving  truth,  as 
it  is  in  Jesus,  and  at  the  same  time  exhibit  the  leading  tendencies  of  the 
human  miud  in  its  relation  to  the  Gospel.  They,  therefore,  satisfy  all 
doctrinal  wants,  as  the  Gospels  meet  all  the  demand  in  the  sphere  of 
history.  It  is  true,  the  whole  difference  in  the  views  of  the  apostles 
centres,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  grand  practico-religious  question  of  their 
day,  the  relation  of  Christianity  to  Judaism,  or  the  import  of  the  Mosaic 
law.  But  from  this  historical  centre  it  extends  its  influence  more  or 
less  to  all  the  several  departments  of  doctrine  or  life,  and  involves  ideas 
which  underlie  the  religious  conditions  and  wants  of  all  ages  of  the 
church. 

To  translate  the  relations  of  these  doctrinal  types  from  the  language 
of  history  into  that  of  philosophy,  and  reduce  them  from  concrete,  tem- 
porary form  to  abstract  principle,  we  may  say,  that  Jewish  Christianity 
is  the  Christian  religion  viewed  mainly  from  the  standpoint  of  law, 
authority,  and  objectivity  ;  Gentile  Christianity  is  the  same  religion  con- 
ceived and  expressed  predominantly  as  gospel,  freedom,  and  subjectivity. 
The  former  represents  the  conservative  element,  the  latter  the  progress- 
ive. But  as  law  and  gospel,  authority  and  freedom  by  no  means  abso- 
lutely contradict  each  other,  as  in  their  lowest  root  and  ultimate  aim 
they  are  one  ;  so  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christianity,  the  Petrine  and  the 
Pauline  systems,  are  far  from  being  inconsistent  ;  and  the  theology  of 
John  is  but  the  full  development  and  expression  of  the  unity  which 
secretly  bound  the  two  together  from  the  beginning.  Every  real  and 
proper  advance  in  history  involves  the  cooperation  of  conservative  and 
progressive  forces  ;  thus  necessarily  occasioning,  however,  many  collisions 
and  struggles.  The  Jewish  apostles'  preserved  the  historical  connection 
between  the  present  and  the  past,  the  new  revelation  and  the  old,  both 
of  which  in  fact  came  from  the  same  God.  Thus  they  put  a  salutary 
check  upon  the  bold  spirit  of  freedom  and  independence.  The  Gentile 
apostle  gave  free  scope  to  the  creative  energy  of  Christianity,  thus  pre- 


62i     §  157.     THE  JEWISH  christian  type  of  doctrine,     [v.  book. 

venting  stagnation  and  relapse  into  religious  pupilage  and  national  qs 
clusiveness. 

In  this  living  organism  of  the  primitive  Christian  doctrine  we  see  only 
a  new  proof  of  its  divinity,  universality,  and  inexhaustible  fullness. 
The  magical  introduction  of  one  fixed,  abstract  system  of  ideas  into  the 
heads  of  the  apostles,  regardless  of  tlieir  gifts,  education,  and  mission, 
would  have  been  unworthy  as  well  of  God  as  of  man.  Instead  of  this 
we  have  the  eternal  Truth  becoming  flesh,  entering  into  essential  con- 
junction with  human  nature,  inwardly  and  vitally  uniting  itself  with  the 
individuality  of  each  apostle,  and  expressing  itself  in  the  way  most  suit- 
able to  him  and  those  of  like  mental  character.  In  every  one  there  is 
accomplished  a  true,  free  reconciliation  between  his  mind  and  God's,  be- 
tween reason  and  revelation,  nature  and  grace.  Here  again,  therefore, 
must  we  repeat,  that  in  the  Bible  all  is  divine  and  at  the  same  time  truly 
human,  and  for  this  very  reason  most  admirably  fitted  to  meet  the  deep- 
est wants  of  our  nature,  and  to  reconcile  man  with  God. 

§  157.  (1)    The  Jeivish- Christian  Type  of  Doctrine. 

The  Jewish- Christian  system  of  doctrine  looks  upon  the  New  Testa- 
m.ent  in  its  closest  connection  with  the  Old,  as  the  fulfillment  and  com- 
pletion of  the  old  dispensation.  It  was,  therefore,  peculiarly  adapted  to 
win  to  the  gospel  the  Jews,  who  were  possessed  with  a  holy  awe  of  the 
records  of  their  religion  and  were  immovably  persuaded  of  their  divine 
origin. 

But  the  Old  Testament  itself  presents  two  aspects,  laio  and  prophecy. 
In  both  it  prepares  the  way  for  Christianity  ;  in  the  law,  by  eliciting  and 
strengthening  the  sense  of  sin  and  of  the  need  of  redemption  ;  in  proph- 
ecy, by  the  cultivation  of  hope  and  desire  for  the  promised  redemption 
from  the  curse  of  the  law.  Hence  also  the  gospel  might  be  set  forth 
predominantly  either  in  its  affinity  with  the  Mosaic  law,  or  in  its  agree- 
ment with  the  prophetic  Scriptures.  This  gives  us  the  two  mutually 
completive  forms  of  Jewish  Christianity  ;  the  first  appearing  in  James, 
the  second  in  Peter.  The  legal  Jewish  Christianity  is  more  anthropo- 
logical ;  the  prophetic  is  Messianic  or  christological.  Hence  in  James 
the  doctrine  of  the  person  and  work  of  Christ  is  far  less  prominent  than 
in  Peter.' 

*  Dr.  Dorner  has  the  same  view  of  this  relation  in  his  Entwicklungsgeschichte  der 
Lehre  von  der  Person  Christi,  2nd  ed.  I.  p.  97  :  "  If  James  clings  more  to  the  law, 
though  not  to  the  ceremonial  law,  but  to  the  eternal  moral  law  embodied  in  it,  whose 
ideal  existence  becomes  through  Christ  reality  in  the  free  man,  in  love  ;  Peter  sees  in 
Christianity  above  all  the  fulfillment  of  Old  Testament  prophecy,  as  much  in  his  dis- 
courses in  Acts  as  in  his  epistles."  For  the  above  view  of  the  relation  of  Peter's  doc- 
trinal system  to  that  of  James.  I  am  indebted  sub.stantially  to  the  oral  instruction  of  my 


DOCTRINE.]  g  158.       LEGAL    JEWISH  CIIKIStlANITT.  6'2^0 

A  second  distinction  between  James  and  Peter,  closely  connected  with 
this,  is,  that  the  former  is  still  more  strictly  Jewish  than  the  latter  iti 
doctrine  and  practice,  and  that  Peter,  after  the  conversion  of  Cornelius, 
as  his  appearance  at  the  apostolic  council  and  his  epistles  sufBciently 
show,  forms  the  connecting  link  between  James  and  Paul,  between  the 
church  of  the  Jewish,  and  the  church  of  the  Gentile  Christians.  The 
two  must  accordingly  be  separately  considered.* 

§  158,  (a)  Legal  Jewish- Christianity,  or  the  Doctrinal  System  of  James. 
{Comp.  §  95  and  96.) 

The  sources  of  our  knowledge  of  this  doctrinal  type  are  the  epistle  of 
James  to  the  dispersed  Jewish-Christian  congregations  and  his  address  at 
the  apostolic  council,  in  connection  with  what  we  learn  from  Acts  21, 
Gal.  2,  and  some  later  accounts,  respecting  his  position  in  general  in  the 
apostolic  church. 

James  the  Just  we  know  already  as  a  strict  legalist,  who  after  Peter's 
removal  to  other  lands,  A.  D.  44  (Acts  12  :  It),  presided  over  the 
church  of  Jerusalem  and  of  all  Palestinian  Christianity,  down  almost  to 
the  great  catastrophe,  and  stood  as  mediator  between  Jews  and  Christ- 
ians. In  conformity  with  this  character,  education,  and  office,  he  con- 
ceives objective  Christianity  as  law  (Ja.  1  :  25.  2:12),  thus  standing 
on  the  ground  of  the  Mosaic  system,  while  at  the  same  time  he  rises 
above  it  in  representing  Christianity  as  the  "perfect  law  of  liberty.^^' 
From  this  we  gather,  that  he  regards  Judaism  as  imperfect  and  as  a  law 
of  bondage,  though  prudence  forbids  his  expressly  saying  so.  Then 
again,  he  does  not  mean  by  this  law  the  mass  of  ceremonial  precepts, 
nor  does  he  anywhere  intimate,  that  the  observance  of  these  is,  as  the 
heretical  Jewish  Christians  and  the  later  Ebionites  asserted,  essential  to 
salvation.  On  the  contrary  he  agreed  with  Peter  and  Paul  at  the  apos- 
tolic council  in  acknowledging  the  uncircumcised  Gentile  converts  as 
brethren  and  members  of  Christ's  church.  He  views  the  law  in  its  deep 
moral  import,  and  as  such  an  organic  unit,  that  whoever  transgresses  a 
single  precept,  violates  the  whole,  and  incurs  the  full  penalty  (2  :  10, 
11).     With  him  the  soul  of  the  law,  which  animates  and  binds  together 

respected  and  beloved  teacher,  the  late  Dr.  C.  Fr.  Schmid,  of  Tubingen,  one  of  the  most 
solid  and  pious,  but  also  one  of  the  most  modest  and  silent  theologians  of  Germany, 
It  is  much  to  be  lamented,  for  the  interests  of  the  church  and  of  sound  theology,  that 
he  did  not  before  his  death  (IS.'iS)  publish  his  excellent  lectures  on  the  Biblical  Theol- 
ogy of  the  New  Testament  and  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 

*  It  is  a  singular  defect  in  the  epoch-forming  work  of  Dr.  Neander  on  the  Apostolic 
Church,  that  it  entirely  passes  over  the  doctrinal  system  of  Peter,  while  yet  it  treats  of 
that  of  James  quite  at  large. 

"  Ja.  1  :  25  :  Elg  vofiov  teXelov  tov  T^f  i?.£VT&egtag,  where  v6/xog  refers  to  ?u6yoQ,  v. 
23  and  to  Aoyoc  r^f  uXriT^Eiag,  v.  18. 
40 


626  §  158.     {a)  legal,  jewish-chkistianity.  [v.  book. 

all  its  parts,  is  love.  This  he  therefore  styles  the  "  royal  law,"  or  the 
all-ruling,  fundamental  law  in  the  kingdom  of  God.'  He  even  reaches 
the  view  that  Christianity  is  a  new  creation  ;  though  the  further  devel- 
opment of  this  is  left  to  be  the  special  work  of  Paul.  James,  for  exam- 
ple, reminds  his  readers,  that  God  has  begotten  them  according  to  his 
gracious  will  by  the  word  of  truth  (by  which  we  can  only  understand 
the  gospel),  so  that  they  are  the  first-fruits  of  his  creatures,  the  crown 
of  the  creation  (1  :  18);  and  this  engrafted  word,  abiding  in  the  souls 
of  believers,  he  represents  as  able  to  save.''  Thus  the  gospel  is,  in  his 
view,  an  efficient,  creative,  saving  principle.  Such  hints  place  his  eleva- 
tion above  Ebionism  and  the  genuinely  Christian  ground-work  of  his 
much  mistaken  epistle  beyond  all  doubt.  But  the  legal,  practical  view 
of  morality  is  unquestionably  the  predominant  one.  He  contents  him- 
self with  furnishing  a  commentary  on  our  Lord's  significant  words  :  "I 
am  not  come  to  destroy  the  law,  but  to  fulfill  it." 

In  harmony  with  this,  James,  in  his  exhortations,  gives  special  promi- 
nence to  the  dealings  of  God  with  men  as  Lawgiver  and  Judge, 
and  often  refers  to  the  sternness  of  his  justice  and  holiness,  of  which 
the  law  is  the  expression,^  though  without  overlooking  his  long-suf- 
fering and  mercy."  The  doctrine  of  the  person  and  the  work  of  Christ, 
on  the  contrary,  particularly  of  his  sacerdotal  office,  is  left  quite  in  the 
back  ground  ;  though  it  should  not  here  be  forgotten,  that  the  epistle  is 
short,  and  presupposes  an  acquaintance  with  the  Gospel  history.  This 
consideration  is  necessary  to  give  it  its  full  meaning.  The  proper  name 
of  the  Redeemer  occurs  only  twice,  viz.,  in  the  superscription,  1:1, 
where  James  humbly  terms  himself  "a  servant  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ," 
and  in  2  :  1,  where  he  describes  Christ  as  "  the  Lord  of  glory  ; "  thus  in 
both  instances  mentioning  the  Saviour  v/ith  the  greatest  reverence  and 
with  allusion  to  his  royal  dignity.  Elsewhere  he  employs  the  solemn  title 
of  honor,  "Lord"  (5  :  *I,  8,  11,  15),  which  in  this  sense,  especially 
la  the  mouth  of  a  Jew,  can  be  used  only  of  a  divine  being.  Christ's 
atoning  death"  and  resurrection  are,  indeed,  passed  over  in  silence,  but 
instead  of  them  his  second  coming  to  judgment,  which  of  course  presup- 
poses them,  is  clearly  set  forth  (5  :  t,  8). 

'  Ja.  2  :  5.  Comp.  the  precisely  similar  declarations  of  our  Lord,  Matt.  22  :  39.  Jno. 
13  :  35,  and  of  Paul,  Gal.  5  :  14.     Rom.  13  :  8-10.     1  Cor.  13  :  1  sqq. 

*  V.  21  :  Tdv  EfK^VTOv  "koyov  rov  6vvd/i£Vov  auaai. 
«C.  4:12.     1:13,17.     2:13. 

*  C.  1  :  5,  17.     5  :  11,  15. 

*  In  c.  5  :  11,  it  is  true,  the  Telog  kvqlov  is  spoken  of;  but  according  to  the  context 
this  would  present  the  Lord's  death  only  in  its  representative  aspect,  as  a  model  of  patience 
under  suffering.  Some  commentators  refer  the  words,  not  to  Christ  at  all,  but  to  the 
issue,  with  which  the  gracious  God  crowned  the  sufferings  of  Job. 


DOCTRINE.]  §  159.       JAMES   AND   PAUL.  627 

With  this  view  of  objective  Christianity  perfectly  corresponds  that 
here  presented  of  subjective  Christianity  or  personal  religion.  The  law 
requires  actual  observance  and  fulfillment,  a  conduct  conformed  to  its 
precepts.  Hence  James'  hostility  to  all  lifeless  intellectual  and  nominal 
Christianity,  and  his  earnest  stress  on  works,  the  fruits  of  faith,  the  pal- 
pable proof  of  justification.'  And  as  he  sees  in  the  law  an  indivisible 
unit,  so  he  requires  the  Christian  life  to  be  one  efi"usion,  one  complete 
and  faultless  work.'  Finally,  as  with  him  the  sum  and  substance  of  the 
law  is  love,  so  the  fulfilling  of  the  law  consists  in  undivided  love  to  God 
and  our  neighbor,  with  which  the  love  of  the  world  and  of  self  is  abso- 
lutely incompatible  (4:4  sqq.  2:8).  Consequently  James  places  the 
essence  of  the  Christian  religion  in  a  holy,  irreproachable  walk  of  love, 
and  of  a  love  too  based  ultimately  on  a  new  birth  (1  :  17,  18,  21)  and 
on  faith  in  Christ,  the  Lord  of  glory  (2  :  1,  22). 

These  are  the  leading  thoughts  of  the  epistle  of  James.  The  book 
is,  on  the  one  hand,  a  voice  of  persuasion  to  Jews  and  Jewish-Christian 
readers,  leading  them  to  the  threshold  of  the  "holiest  of  all,"  showing 
them,  as  through  a  narrow  crevice,  the  glory  of  the  new  covenant  and 
of  the  ideal  law  of  liberty,  and  awakening  a  desire  for  the  full  posses- 
sion ;  and,  on  the  other,  it  still  comes  to  us  as  an  earnest  exhortation  to 
holy  living,  and  especially  as  a  warning  to  all  who  content  themselves 
with  mere  theory  and  the  oral  profession  of  Christianity,  and  seek  to 
escape  the  discipline  of  the  law,  wholesome  and  necessary  even  for 
believers.  James  is  the  apostle  of  the  law  in  its  pedagogical  import,  as 
leading  to  Christ,  regulating  the  Christian  life,  and  promoting  moral 
earnestness. 

§  159.  James  and  Paul. 

Finally  ;  as  to  the  much-talked-of  relation  between  the  doctrinal  sys- 
tems of  James  and  Paul.  It  must  certainly  be  admitted,  that  the  two 
systems,  especially  in  their  soteriology,  are  constructed  from  entirely 
different  points  of  view  ;  the  positions,  also,  and  missions  of  the  two 
being  quite  distinct.  Yet  if  we  logically  follow  out  their  principles, 
taking  into  account  the  whole  mental  state  of  each  writer,  we  shall  find, 
that  in  all  essential  points  they  ultimately  coincide. 

Both  James  and  Paul  have  in  view  particularly  the  relation  of  the 
Gospel  to  the  law  and  to  the  wants  and  the  moral  destiny  of  man  ;  and  thus 
both  treat  of  religion  mainly  in  its  anthropological  aspect.  But  while 
James,  in  opposition  to  an  unproductive  formalism  of  knowledge  without 
works,  presents  the  Gospel  in  its  union  w'.th  the  law,  and  even  calls  it  a 

^  C.  1  :  3-6.     2  :  1  sqq,,  14  sqq.     3  :  1  sqq. 

"  1  :  4,  14  fqq.  'E^yov  tD.eiov  .  .  .  ha  t/re  reXtioi  kol  dAonXTigoi,  kv  ju7]6t:vl 
"KeinbuEvot.     Comp.  Matt   .'5:48. 


628  §  159.       JAMES   AND   PAUL.  L^-  BOOE. 

law  ;  Paul,  in  opposition  to  a  hypocritical  formalism  of  works  without 
faith,  contends  against  the  law  as  a  letter,  which  "  kil'eth  "  (2  Cor.  3:6) 
and  as  a  yoke  of  bondage  (Gal.  5:1).  They  plainly  differ,  therefore, 
as  well  in  their  theses  as  in  their  antitheses.  We  have  already  seen, 
however,  that  James  has  not  his  eye  upon  external  ceremonies  in  the 
Judaizing  and  Ebionistic  sense,  but  goes  back  to  the  unchangeable 
moral  principle  of  the  law  as  regenerated  by  the  Gospel,  and  derives  the 
Christian  life  ultimately  from  a  new  creation  by  the  gracious  will  of  God. 
Paul,  on  the  other  hand,  gives  no  countenance  whatever  to  antinomian- 
ism.  He  too  speaks  of  a  "law  of  faith"  (Rom.  3  :  21),  a  "law  of 
Christ"  (Gal.  6  :  2),  and  a  "law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus," 
which  makes  us  free  from  the  "law  of  sin  and  death  "  (Rom.  8  :  2)  ;  —  thus 
approaching  from  another  point  of  view  the  same  ideal  conception  of  law. 
In  the  same  way  may  be  solved  the  apparent  contradiction  between 
their  respective  views  of  subjective  Christianity.  This  conflict,  it  is  well 
known,  is  most  violent  in  the  doctrine  of  justification,  as  well  in  the  pro- 
position,' as  in  the  argument  and  the  application  of  the  examples  of 
Abraham''  and  Rahab.'  We  cannot,  indeed,  consistently  with  any  un- 
prejudiced view,  compose  the  difference  by  considering  both  apostles  as 
saying  precisely  the  same  thing.  Here  also  they  occupy  entirely  different, 
points  of  view,  and  are  contending  against  opposite  errors.  James  insists 
especially  on  good  works,  on  acting  out  justification  in  the  life,  in  oppo- 
sition to  a  dead  orthodoxy,  a  purely  intellectual  faith,  which  is  in  fact 
no  faith  at  all,  at  least  none  that  can  justify  or  save.  "  Thou  believest," 
he  addresses  these  conceited  theoretical  formalists,  "  that  there  is  one 
God  ;  thou  doest  well."  "  The  devils,"  he  adds,  with  cutting  irony,  "  also 
believe  and  tremble"  (2  :  19).  Paul,  on  the  contrary,  lays  chief  stress 
on  true,  Ymng  faith  and  the  divine  ground  of  justification,  to  exclude  all 
boasting,  all  Pharisaical  self-righteousness  and  hypocrisy.  But  on  the 
other  hand,  James  also  recognizes  the  true,  living  faith,  which  prompts 
to  good  works,  completes  itself  in  them  (2  :  22J,  produces  patience  and 
thereby  a  perfect  work  (1  :  3  sq.),  and  secures  the  hearing  of  prayer 
(1:5  sqq.  5  :  15).  So  he  acknowledges  the  imperfection  of  man 
even  in  the  state  of  grace,  including  himself  in  the  universal  sin- 
fulness (3  :  2).  He,  therefore,  especially  with  his  profound  conception 
of  the  law  as  an  inseparable  unit,  can  expect  final  salvation  from 
no  human  work,  however  good  ;  but  derives  it  from  the  regenerat- 
ing power  of  the  Gospel,  from  the  free  will  of  God  (1  :  17,  18,  21. 
2:5);  and  his  last  resort  is  the  mercy  of  the  Lord  (5  :  11),  the  Giver 

'  Ja.  2  :  24  ;   'Ef  e^yuv  diKaiovTat   uv-dgurrog,  Koi  ovk  ek  TticTeug  fiovov.  Comp.  Rom. 
3  :  28 :  Aoyi^6fiF/da  ovv,  niaTti  diKaiova^ai  uv&gwrrov  x^9h  Igyuv  vofiov. 
'  Ja.  2  :  21  sqq.     Rom.  4  :  1  sqq.     Gal.  3  :  6. 
'  Ja.  2  :  25,     Heb.  11  :  31. 


DOCTRINE.]      I    160.       (J)  PROPHETIC    JEWISHCHKISTIANITT.  629 

of  every  good  and  perfect  gift,  who  is  ready  to  hear  the  prayer  of  un- 
wavering faith  (1  :  5,  17).  The  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  also,  on  his 
part,  calls  a  faith  without  charity,  such  as  James  supposes  in  his  anta- 
gonists, vain,  a  sounding  brass  and  a  tinkling  cymbal  (1  Cor.  13  :  1  sq.)  ; 
and  with  all  his  zeal  for  salvation  by  free,  unmerited  grace,  he  most 
emphatically  requires  good  works  as  the  indispensable  fruit  of  faith. 
For  faith  in  fact,  if  it  be  worthy  of  the  name,  is  with  him  always  a  vital 
appropriation  of  the  merits  of  Christ,  a  union  of  the  soul  with  Him,  con- 
tinually working  by  love  (Gal.  2  :  20.     5:6.     1  Thess.  1  :  3,  &c.). 

The  relation,  therefore,  between  the  two  apostles — -as  well  their  dif- 
ference as  their  agreement — may  be  thus  stated  :  James  proceeds  from 
without  inward,  from  phenomenon  to  principle,  from  periphery  to  centre, 
from  the  fralt  to  the  tree  ;  Paul,  on  the  contrary,  proceeds  from  within 
outward,  from  principle  to  phenomenon,  from  centre  to  circumference, 
from  the  root  to  the  blossom  and  the  fruit.  Paul's  view  is  unquestion- 
ably deeper,  more  philosophical,  and  more  fundamental  than  the  other, 
and  very  far  in  advance  of  it ;  yet  the  empirical  method  of  James  also 
has  its  proper  office  and  its  practical  necessity.  It  may  even  serve  as  a 
corrective  to  Paul's  view,  Mdierever  the  latter  by  abuse  becomes  indiffer- 
ent to  works,  and  degenerates  either  into  unproductive  theoretical  ortho- 
doxy, or  into  licentious  practical  antinomianism — two  diseased  forms  of 
Christianity,  which  have  in  fact  more  than  once  arisen  from  an  imperfect 
understanding  of  Paul's  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith.  On  all  pseudo- 
Pauline  excesses  James  imposes  a  necessary  and  wholesome  restraint. 

§  160.    (b)   Prophetic  Jewish- C hristianity ,  or    the  Doctrinal    System   of 
Peter.     (Comp.  §  89-94.; 

The  doctrine  of  Peter  we  gather  from  his  discourses  in  the  book  of 
Acts  and  from  his  two  circular  letters  to  the  mixed  churches  of  Asia 
Minor.  This  apostle  distinguishes  himself  even  in  the  Gospels  by  enthu- 
siastic love  for  Christ  and  clear  views  of  His  higher  nature  and  divine 
mission,  such  as  expressed  themselves  in  that  memorable  confession  : 
"  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God."  His  discourses  and 
epistles  are  but  a  continuous  commentary,  so  to  speak,  a  practical,  edify- 
ing exposition  of  this  great  confession.  Hence  they  everywhere  have 
the  Messianic  or  christological  element  in  the  fore-ground  ; — a  decided 
advance  on  the  legal  Jewish-Christianity.  True,  he  stood  at  first  on 
the  level  of  the  Mosaic  system,  and  considered  circumcision  the  only 
door  to  the  Christian  church.  But  the  decisive  vision  in  Joppa  and  the 
occurrences  in  the  house  of  Cornelius  (comp.  §  60)  had  raised  him  above 
this  Jewish  prejudice,  and  at  the  apostolic  council  he  advocated  the 
genuine  Pauline  maxim,  that  all,  Jews  as  well  as  Gentiles,  are  saved, 


630  §  160.       {I)  PKOPHETIC    JEWISII-CIIKISTIANITY,  L^'-  EOOK. 

not  by  the  law,  but  by  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  (Acts  15  : 
10,  11).  In  his  subsequent  labors,  too,  he  did  not  confine  himself,  like 
James,  to  his  countrymen  and  to  Palestine,  but  interested  himself  also 
for  Gentiles  and  Gentile-Christians.  Those  churches  of  Asia  Minor,  to 
which  he  wrote  his  epistles,  were  mostly  of  Paul's  planting.  In  his  out- 
ward position,  therefore,  as  well  as  in  his  views,  he  holds,  as  already 
observed,  a  middle  place  between  James  and  Paul. 

The  fundamental  idea  of  Peter's  doctrinal  system  is  the  truth,  that 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  the  promised  Messiah,  and  Christianity  a  fulfillment 
of  Old  Testament  prophecy.  This  is  necessarily  the  primary  form  of 
christology.  The  first  thing  was  to  convince  the  Jews,  who  were  look- 
ing for  salvation  in  the  Messiah,  that  all  the  prophecies  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament were  fulfilled  in  the  crucified  and  risen  Jesus,  and  that  in  Him, 
therefore,  the  desired  salvation  had  actually  appeared.  This  is  the  bur- 
den of  all  Peter's  discourses  in  the  Acts.  All  the  prophets,  he  says, 
from  Samuel  down,  prophesied  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  events  of  the 
apostolic  age  (Acts  3  :  24),  and  hence  there  is  salvation  in  no  other  ; 
there  is  no  other  name  given  among  men,  whereby  we  must  be  saved 
(3  :  12).  In  all  the  leading  facts  of  the  gospel  history,  especially  iu 
the  crucifixion  and  resurrection  of  Jesus,  in  his  exaltation  to  the  right 
hand  of  God,  and  in  the  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  Peter  sees  the 
fulfillment  of  one  or  more  Old  Testament  predictions.'  He  has  a  pre- 
dilection also  for  prophetic  expressions  to  denote  Christ,  such  as  "  Ser- 
vant of  God,"°  whom  God  "hath  anointed  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and 
with  power"  (Acts  10  :  38,  comp.  4  :  2t).  This  view  of  Christ,  how- 
ever, in  His  relation  to  Jewish  history,  though  decidedly  the  prevailing 
view  with  Peter,  is  not  his  only  one.  He  at  times  approaches  the  ideal 
christology  of  John,  and  teaches  with  tolerable  clearness  the  pre-exist- 
ence  of  the  Redeemer.  Christianity,  according  to  Peter,  does  not  exist 
for  the  sake  of  Judaism,  nor  as  a  product  of  it  ;  rather  is  Judaism  a 
product  of  Christianity.  This  is  implied  particularly  in  the  profound 
passage,  1  Peter  1  :  10-12  (comp.  1  :  20  and  2  Pet.  1  :  19-21),  accord- 
ing to  which  the  same  Spirit  of  Christ,  which  afterwards  appeared  as  a 
person,  was  already  in  the  prophets,  operating  in  them  from  the  begin- 
ning as  the  principle  of  revelation,  pointing  to  the  future  historical 
manifestation  of  the  Saviour — the  all-controlling  principle,  which  Judaism 
had  to  serve  in  a  merely  provisional  way. 

'  Comp.  Acts  2  :  16  sqq.,  2.5  sqq.,  34  sq.  3:18,  22sqq.  4  :  11,  25  sqq.  10:43. 
1.5  :  7  sqq.  1  Pet.  1  :  10  sqq.,  24  sq.  2:4  sqq.,  9  sq.,  22  sqq.  3  :  22.  4  :  17.  2  Pet 
1  :  18  sqq. 

"  naif  -deov.  Acts  3  :  13  26.  4  :  27,  30,  a  term,  which  occurs  nowhere  else  in  the 
New  Testament,  but  frequently  in  Isaiah  (LXX) ,  to  denote  the  Messiah.  Comp 
Is.  42  :  1.     52:13.     53:11. 


DOCTRINE.]  OR,    TUE    DOCTKINAL    SYSTEM    OF    PETEK.  631 

This  fulfillment  of  the  Old  Testament  iu  the  gospel,  however,  Peter 
regards  not  as  finished  with  the  first  appearance  of  the  Lord,  but  rather 
as  itself  an  unfulfilled  prophecy.  As  James  calls  Christianity  a  law,  so 
Peter  considers  it  a  promise  or  prophecy,  the  precious  earnest  of  a  still 
more  glorious  future.  This  is  an  essential  element  of  his  view.  Even 
in  his  discourse  to  the  people,  Acts  3  :  20  sq.,  he  points  to  a  still  future 
time  of  refreshing,  a  restoration  of  the  physical  and  moral  world  to  the 
state  of  perfection,'  to  be  accomplished  at  the  visible  return  of  Christ, 
who  now  fills  heaven, ° — a  time  when  all  the  predictions  of  the  holy  pro- 
phets of  God  shall  be  completely  realized.  What  is  foretold  in  the  Old 
Testament  is,  therefore,  only  partially  realized.  The  epistles  of  Peter 
are  full  of  this  prophetic  element,  which  is  well  suited  to  their  practical 
purpose  of  consolation,  and  of  encouragement  to  persevere  under  suffer- 
ing. At  the  very  beginning  of  the  first  epistle  he  presents  the  Christian 
salvation  as  an  object  of  lively  hope,  as  an  inheritance  incorruptible,  un- 
defiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away,  reserved  in  heaven  for  us  (1  Pet. 
1  :  3,  4).  It  is  to  be  revealed  in  the  last  time  (v.  6),  at  the  approach- 
ing end  of  all  things,  when  Christ  shall  appear  in  his  glory  (4  :  13, 
comp.  5:1).  The  faithful  pastors  shall  receive  crowns  of  glory  at  the 
appearance  of  the  chief  Shepherd  (5  :  4,  comp.  v.  6);  and  with  this 
prospect  of  the  eternal  glory  of  God  in  Christ,  to  which  we  are  called, 
the  epistle  concludes  (5  :  10),  as  it  had  begun.  The  second  epistle  also 
frequently  speaks  of  promises  given  (1  :  4),  and  of  a  future  entrance 
into  the  everlasting  kingdom  of  Christ  (v.  11).  The  word  of  the  pro- 
phets has,  indeed,  been  made  surer  by  being  partially  fulfilled,  but  is 
still  prophetic,  continually  shining  as  a  light  in  a  dark  place,  until  the 
day  dawn  and  the  day-star  arise  in  the  heart  (v,  19).  The  last  chapter 
treats  almost  exclusively  of  the  revelation  of  this  glorious  future,  and 
closes  with  the  prospect  of  the  new  heavens  and  new  earth  (4  :  12,  13), 
and  with  an  appropriate  exhortation. 

It  is  in  perfect  accordance  with  this  conception  of  the  gospel  that 
Peter  represents  the  Christian  life,  in  the  first  place,  indeed,  as  penitent 
failh  in  the  revealed  Messiah,  the  only  Saviour,^  but  at  the  same  time 
as  lively  hope  for  the  glorious  return  of  the  Lord,  and  the  consumma- 

'  ' KiroKaTuGTaaLq  tvuvtuv.  comp.  'KaT.LyyevEaia,  Matt.  19  :  28,  and  Kaipol  (hop&uaeuc, 
Heb    9  :  10. 

^  In  interpreting  the  words  uv  6eI  ovpavov  fiiv  (U^aa^ac,  Acts  3  :  21,  1  think  the 
Lutheran  connmentators  correct,  in  making  6v  the  subject :  Who  must  receive  heaven, 
instead  of:  -Whom  the  heaven  must  receive,  quern  oportet  coelo  capi,  as  the  Greek 
and  most  of  the  Reformed  commentators  explain  it,  and  as  it  is  given  in  the  English 
Bible.     For  the  throne  occupies  not  the  king,  but  the  king  the  throne. 

'^  Acts  2  :  38.  3  :  16.  4  :  12.  10  :  43.  15  :  9.  1  Pet.  1  :  5,  7-9,  21.  2:7.  2 
Pet.  1  :  1. 


632  §  161.       MATTHEW,    MAKE,    AND   JUDE.  [v.  BOOK 

tion  of  salvation  thereby  to  be  accomplished.*  Hence  his  predilec- 
tion for  the  title  "  strangers  and  pilgrims"  in  addressing  Christians." 
Hence  his  earnestness  in  exhorting  them  to  be  patient  in  suffering  and 
tribulation,  after  the  example  of  Christ.  On  account  of  this  frequent 
reference  to  hope,  which  is  based  on  the  resurrection  of  Christ  ( 1  Pet. 
1  :  3),  is  a  foretaste  of  the  future  inheritance,  and  for  this  very  reason 
consoles  and  refreshes  amidst  the  trials  of  the  earthly  pilgrimage,  Peter 
has  been  called,  not  improperly,  tlie  apostle  of  hope." 

Thus,  according  to  the  Petrine  type  of  doctrine,  objective  Christianity 
is  at  once  a  fulfillment  of  the  Old  Testament  prophecy  and  itself  a  pre- 
cious promise  ;  subjective  Christianity  is  at  once  faith  in  the  revealed 
Messiah  and  lively  hope  m  his  glorious  re-appearance. 

Other  books  of  the  New  Testament  also  present  Christianity  in  this 
prospective  form,  which,  however,  looks  not  beyond  Christ,  but  only  to 
the  perfect  unfoldiug  of  what  is  in  Him.  The  most  complete  expansion 
of  this  prophetic  view  is  given,  in  a  certain  manner,  by  John  in  the 
Apocalypse  ;  but  Paul  also  is  full  of  the  future  glorious  consummation  of 
the  church,  and  hence  with  him  hope,  the  confident,  ardent,  not  painful, 
however,  but  joyful  and  elevating  expectation  of  the  full  possession  of 
the  promise,  holds  a  necessary  place  in  the  Christian  life.''  Here  again 
we  observe  the  most  beautiful  harmony  among  all  the  apostles. 

§  161.  Matthnv,  Mark,  and  Jude. 

Those  of  the  other  New  Testament  books,  which  are  conformed  to  this 
Jewish-Christian  type  of  the  apostolic  doctrine,  are  the  Gospels  of  Mat- 
thew and  Mark,  which  form  its  historical  foundation,  and  the  epistle  of 
Jude.  In  one  view  the  Apocalypse  also  might  be  included  here,  as 
agreeing  in  its  contents  with  the  prophetic  strain  of  Peter  ;  but  in  other 
respects  it  bears  throughout  the  stamp  of  the  Johannean  theology.  Be- 
tween the  first  and  second  Gospels,  again,  there  is  the  same  relation  as 
between  James  and  Peter. 

Matthew  evidently  wrote  for  Jewish  Christians  and  presumes  upon  a 
knowledge  of  the  peculiar  customs  and  usages  of  the  Jews  ;  while  Mark, 
who,  like  his  spiritual  father,  Peter,  has  in  view  a  larger  and  in  part 
Gentile-Christian  circle  of  readers,  frequently  explains  such  Jewish  pecu- 

*  1  Pet.  1  :  3,  13,  21.     3  :  5,  15.     4  :  13.     5:1,  4,  10.     2  Pet.  1  :  19.     3  :  9-13. 
»  1  Pet.  1  :  1,  2.    2  :  11.     Comp.  2  Pet.  1  :  13  sq. 

®  By  Beck,  for  example,  in  his  Einleitung  in  das  System  dcr  christlichen  Lehre,  p. 
245. 

*  '',>mp.  Rom.  5:2.  8:18,  23-25.  12  :  12.  15  :  13.  I  Cor.  9  :  10.  13  :  13.  2 
Cor.  3  :  12.  Eph.  1  :  18.  2  :  12.  4  :  4.  Col.  1  :  5,  23.  3  :  3.  4.  1  Thess.  1  :  3. 
5:8,9.  2  Thess.  2:16.  1  Tim.  1  :  1.  Tit-  I  :  2.  2:13.  3:7.  2  Tim.  4  :  8. 
Heb.  6:11.     10  :  23.      1  Jiio.  3  :  2.3. 


DOCTRINE.]  §  161.      MATTHEW,    MAEK,    AND    JUDE.  633 

liarities.  Both  choose  the  ethical  discourses  of  Jesus,  in  which  he  pre- 
sents himself  as  the  fulfiller  and  completer  of  the  Old  Testament  law. 
They  are  comprehended  particularly  in  the  sermon  on  the  mount  (Matt. 
5-*r),  which  seems  to  have  been  floating  in  the  mind  of  James  while 
writing  his  epistle.  His  coincidence  with  Matthew  extends  even  to  sin- 
gle precepts,  such  as  the  prohibition  of  swearing,  as  also  to  the  senten- 
tious, figurative  character  of  the  language.'  But  the  first  two  Gospels 
also  furnish  a  complement  to  the  doctrine  of  James  in  a  Christological 
point  of  view,  by  making  Christ  not  merely  the  fulfiller  of  the  law,  but, 
with  as  much  emphasis  as  Peter,  the  fulfiller  of  prophecy.  Matthew  in 
particular,  in  all  the  leading  events  of  the  evangelical  history,  takes  pains 
to  call  attention  to  their  remarkable  coincidence  with  prophecies,  by  the 
standing  phrase  :  "  that  it  might  be  fulfilled,  whicli  is  written  ;"^  and 
thus  to  give  his  Jewish  readers  proof  that  Jesus  was  the  promised  Mes- 
siah and  King  of  the  Jews  (1  :  1).  But  at  the  same  time  he,  like 
Peter,  holds  up  Christianity  as  itself  again  a  prophecy,  and  hence  care- 
fully records  the  prophetic  discourses  of  our  Lord  respecting  His  second 
coming  (c.  24  and  25.  Comp.  Mk.  13).  Mai'k  does  not  so  often  cite 
special  prophecies,  though  he  refers  at  the  very  outset  to  Mai.  3  :  1  and 
Is.  40  :  3.  To  his  readers  of  heathen  descent,  and  with  a  view  to  their 
doctrine  of  the  sons  of  the  gods,  he  wishes  to  show,  that  Jesus  is  not 
only  the  Messiah  and  the  "Son  of  David,  the  son  of  Abraham"  (Matt. 
1  :  1),  but  emphatically  the  "Son  of  God"  (Mk.  1  :  1),  and  has 
accredited  himself  as  such  by  his  very  appearance  and  his  works  of 
supernatural  power.  It  is  for  this  reason,  that  Mark  gives  the  gospel 
history  such  a  vivacious,  dramatic  form,  setting  it  before  the  eyes  of  his 
readers  in  a  series  of  detached  and  complete  pictures.  In  general,  the 
first  two  evangelists  are  confined  to  the  historical,  Messianic  aspect  of 
the  Redeemer  ;  though  they  touch  at  times  the  eternal,  divine  ground- 
work of  His  person,  and  thus  serve  to  introduce  the  Johaunean  Christ- 
ology,  which  at  the  same  time  presupposes  their  existence  (comp. 
§  148). 

The  short,  but  earnest  and  forcible  epistle  of  Jude  reveals  even  in  its 
superscription  its  affinity  to  James  both  in  matter  and  in  form.  In  its 
contents,  however,  it  comes  still  nearer  the  second  epistle  of  Peter,  the 
existence  of  which  it  implies  (comp.  §  92).  The  main  design  is  to  warn 
its  readers  against  libertine  false  teachers  and  wanton  abuse  of  grace. 
The  examples  adduced  are  all  from  the  Old  Testament ;  and  he  even 

'  Respecting  the  relation  of  the  epistle  of  Jannes  to  the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  com- 
pare, for  example,  Theile's  C'omnnentary  on  the  former,  where  the  parallels  are  given 
at  large. 

'^  E.  g.  1  :  23.  9:6,  15,  ]8.  3:3.  4:14.  8:17.  12:17.  13:35.  21:4. 
26  •  56.     27  :  9. 


034       §  162.     (2)  gentile-chkistia:^  type  of  eoctkine     L^-  book. 

makes  use  of  the  Jewish  tradition  in  his  aUusion  to  the  dispute  between 
the  archa-ng'el,  Michael,  and  the  devil  about  the  body  of  Moses  (v.  9), 
and  appeals  to  the  apocryphal  book  of  Enoch  (v.  14),  though  of  course 
without  thereby  sancfoning  it  in  general  or  conceding  to  it  canonical 
authority.'  The  specifically  Christian  element  is  most  apparent  at  the 
close  (v.  20-25),  though  it  shines  through  not  indistinctly  in  other 
places.  In  v.  2  Jesus  Christ  is  associated  immediately  with  God  the 
Father,  and  in  v.  4  is  termed  "our  only  Ruler  and  Lord"  (comp.  v.  It, 
21,  25).  Jude  also,  like  James,  points  to  the  second  coming  of  Christ 
in  judgment,  which  will  be  terrible  to  the  ungodly  (v.  14,  15),  but  to 
believers  full  of  grace  unto  eternal  life  (v.  21).  Significant  and  very 
appropriate  is  the  position  of  this  letter — "  of  few  lines,  but  rich  in 
words  of  heavenly  grace"'^ — in  the  canon,  between  the  apostolic  epistles, 
to  which  it  makes  corroborative  reference  (v.  3,  11  sq.),  and  the  Apoca- 
lypse, to  which,  by  its  earnest  predictions  respecting  the  last  enemies  of 
the  church  and  their  impending  judgment,  it  forms  the  transition. 

§  162  (2)   The  Gentile-Christian  Type  of  Doctrine  in  Paul. 
(Comp.  §  62-88). 

From  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  who  was  naturally  a  profound 
thinker  and  had  enjoyed  a  learned  education,  we  have  by  far  the  most 
extended  and  complete  exhibition  of  the  Christian  system  of  doctrine  ; 
as  in  fact  this  apostle  wrote  more  than  all  the  rest.  He  unfolds  Christ- 
ianity mainly  in  its  specific  character,  wh!ch_,  though  organically  adapted, 
it  is  true,  to  the  wants  of  human  nature  and  to  the  Old  Testament  reve- 
lation, is  still  infinitely  exalted  above  both  Heathenism  and  Judaism,  and 
cannot,  therefore,  be  derived  from  either.  Christ  is,  with  Paul,  in  the 
fullest  sense,  a  second  progenitor  of  humanity  ;  the  Christian  religion,  a 
new  moral  creation  far  transcending  the  old. 

The  doctrinal  position  of  this  apostle  may  be  accounted  for,  not  only 
by  his  calling,  but  also  by  the  mode  of  his  conversion,  in  which  the 
Jewish  and  the  Christian  life  came  so  abruptly  and  violently  into  contact. 
A  regular,  bigoted  Pharisee,  in  doctrine  and  sentiment  (though  by  birth 
a  Hellenist),  a  fanatical  zealot  for  the  law  of  his  fathers,  the  most  dan- 
gerous enemy  of  the  Christian  church,  he  was  suddenly  converted  to  the 
gospel  by  the  grace  of  God,  and  called  by  the  exalted  Redeemer  to  be 
the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  If  he  was  before,  as  he  himself  says,  a 
blasphemer  and  a  persecutor,'  though  from  blindness  and  ignorance  ; 

'  Comp.  the  exposition  of  these  passages  and  the  removal  of  all  that  appears  offen- 
sive in  them  by  Stier  :  Der  Brief  Juda^  ties  Binders  des  Herrn  (1850) ,  p.  51  sqq.  and 
p.  81  sqq. 

^  As  Origen  says  of  it,  Comment,  in  Matt.  XIII. 

^  BluatpTj/uoc;  Koi  SiuKTTjg  Kal  vf^ptarrji,  1  Tim.  I  :  13. 


DOCTRINE.]  IN    PArL.  635 

'  the  more  abundantly  and  illustriously  did  be  prove  the  saving  mercy  of 
God.  If  he  had  formerly  striven  in  vain  after  righteousness  by  the  law, 
and  had  now  attained  it  without  merit,  of  pure  grace,  by  simple  faith  in 
Christ  crucified  and  risen  ;  he  was  compelled  to  view  his  former  condition 
in  comparison  with  his  present,  as  dark  night  compared  with  noon-day 
(2  Cor.  4:6);  nay,  to  count  all  his  Jewish  advantages  but  loss  for  the 
excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ  Jesus,  his  Lord  (comp.  Phil.  3  : 
a-9  and  Rom.  1  :  13-25). 

Accordingly  Paul's  doctrine,  like  his  life,  centres  in  the  great  antithe- 
sis of  the  want  of  salvation  before  Christ  and  the  supply  of  salvation  in 
Christ.  Before  Christ  and  out  of  Christ  is,  with  him,  the  reign  of  sin 
and  death  ;  after  Christ  and  in  Christ,  the  reign  of  righteousness  and 
life  (Rom.  5:12  sqq.).  There  he  sees  the  killing  letter  ;  here  the  life- 
giving  Spirit.'  There,  bondage  and  curse  ;  here,  freedom  and  blessed 
sonship.*  There,  a  powerless  struggle  between  flesh  and  spirit  and  a  cry 
for  redemption  f  here,  no  condemnation,  but  wisdom,  righteousness, 
sanctification,  and  redemption,  and  the  inseparable  communion  of  the 
love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.*  Hence  he  opposes  no  error  so 
decidedly  and  vehemently  as  the  Judaizing,  which  would  degrade  Christ- 
ianity to  the  former  level  of  bondage  and  death.. 

Much  as  Paul  insists,  however,  on  the  absolute  newness  of  Christianity 
and  its  infinite  elevation,  not  only  above  Heathenism,  but  also  above 
Judaism,  he  still  forgets  not  its  historical  and  religious  connection  with 
the  Old  Testament.  He  does  not  regard  it  as  new  in  any  such  sense,  as 
would  make  its  appearance  in  the  world  altogether  unprepared,  abrupt, 
and  magical.  He  gives  it,  in  the  first  place,  an  organic  connection  with 
the  natural  man's  need  of  redemption,  which  even  the  heathen,  by  reason 
of  the  innate  idea  of  God  and  the  law  written  in  the  conscience,'  cannot 
deny.  Then  again,  he  represents  the  way  as  positively  prepared  for  the 
Christian  religion  by  the  Old  Testament  revelation.  He  calls  the  law  a 
school-master  to  lead  to  Christ  (Gal.  3  :  24),  and  describes  the  gospel 
as  promised  before  by  the  prophets."  There  is,  therefore,  a  connecting 
link  between  the  Jew  Saul  and  the  Christian  Paul,  between  the  two 
stages  of  his  religious  experience  and  views.  This  link  is  the  idea  of 
righteousness,  which  forms  the  centre  and  fundamental  principle  of  his 
system  of  faith  and  morals.  While  a  Pharisee,  he  had  striven  with  all 
his  might  after  righteousness  in  the  way  of  obedience  to  the  law  of 

'  Rom.  8:2      7:6.     2  Cor.  3 :  6  sqq. 

•  Gal.  5:1.     4:3  sqq.     3  :  10  sqq.     2  Cor.  3  :  17. 

•  Rom.  7  :  7  sqq.,  24. 

«  Rom.  8  :  1  sqq.     1  Cor.  1  :  30. 

»  Rom.  1  :  19.     Acts  17  :  23,  28  ;  and  Rom.  2  :  14,  15. 

•  Rom.  1:2.     3  :  21.     Tit.  1  :  2.     2  Cor.  1  :  20. 


636         §    162.      (2)  GENTILE-CHRISTIAN   TYPE    OF   DOCTBINE      [v.   BOOK. 

Moses.  Even  his  persecution  of  Christ,  whom  he  took  for  a  revolution- 
ary opponent  of  the  Old  Testament  religion,  proceeded  from  this  honest 
effort.  But  in  faith  in  the  very  One  he  persecuted  he  found  righteous- 
ness, and  with  it  peace  and  salvation.'  We  must,  therefore,  examine 
more  closely  this  important  conception. 

The  notion  of  righteousness  {dmatoovvr],  np^'i^)  is  borrowed  from  the 
Old  Testament,  where  it  denotes  the  ideal  of  the  theocratic  morality 
and  religion,  legal  perfection,  the  proper,  normal  relation  of  man  to  a 
just  and  holy  God.  For  this  very  reason  it  is  inseparably  connected 
with  true  life,  with  salvation,  felicity,  as  its  necessary  consequence.' 
The  rule  and  measure  of  this  relation  is  the  will  or  judgment  of  God 
expressed  in  the  law.  Hence  righteousness,  in  the  Jewish  view,  consists 
in  the  perfect  fulfilling  of  the  law  (Rom.  2  :  13).  The  jxist  man 
{diKaio^,  p'^li?)  is  one,  who  in  disposition  and  action  is  as  he  should  be*  in 
the  sight  of  God.  On  him  rests  the  pleasure  of  the  Lord.  He  has 
claim  to  all  the  blessings  and  privileges  of  the  theocracy  (Gal.  3  :  12)  ; 
while  the  unrighteous  man  is  under  the  curse  of  God,  condemned,  and 
miserable  (Gal.  3  :  10). 

The  Saviour  also,  in  his  sermon  on  the  mount,  represents  righteousness 
as  the  chief  end  of  man  :  "  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his 
righteousness  "  (Matt.  6  :  38).  But  he  here  distinguishes  two  kinds  of 
righteousness  :  "  Except  your  righteousness  shall  exceed  the  righteous- 
ness of  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  ye  shall  in  no  case  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven"  (Matt.  5  :  20).  The  Pharisaic  righteousness  stands  in 
letter  ;  the  Christian,  in  spirit.     The  one  is  self-righteousness  ;  the  other, 

^  The  Swiss  divine,  Usteii,  to  whom  we  owe  the  first  organic  development  of  Paul's 
doctrinal  system,  divides  it  altogether  abstractly  into  two  parts  very  unequal  in  com- 
pass :  (1)  the  ante- Christian  period  (Heathenism  and  Judaism);  (2)  Christianity; — 
without  uniting  the  two  by  any  intermediate  conception.  Neander  makes  the 
dmaioavvrj  this  connecting  link,  and  thus  effects  an  advance  in  the  whole  view  of  Paul's 
system,  ^post.  Gesch.  II.  p.  656,  where  he  says:  "The  ideas  of  v6/j.oc  and  SiKaLocrvvTj 
connect,  as  well  as  divide,  his  earlier  and  later  views."  The  idea  of  vofiog,  however, 
seems  to  me  to  belong  rather  to  the  first  main  division,  the  ante-Christian,  Jewish  po- 
sition. 

"  Comp.  Lev.  18  :  5.     Ja.  1  :  25.     Rom.  4:4.     10:5.     Gal.  3  :  12.     Phil.  3  :  6. 

^  This  too  is  the  original  meaning  of  the  German  "  gerecht"  and  the  English  '•  right- 
eous," though  they  are  now  commonly  made  to  refer,  not  to  the  moral  and  religious 
relation,  but  merely  to  the  judicial  or  legal.  The  corresponding  Greek  word  Aristotle 
{Eth.  Nic.  V.  2)  derives  from  dixa  {Sic),  twofold,  in  two  parts  ;  so  that  SiKaiavv?]  would 
be  the  well-proportioned  relation  between  two  parts,  where  each  has  its  due.  It  may 
then  be  applied  as  well  to  the  relation  of  a  man  to  God,  as  to  his  relation  toother  men. 
or  even  to  both  at  once  ;  and  with  the  Greeks  dtKaior  is  frequently  one,  who  fulfills 
his  obligations  to  God  and  m.an.  It  was  a  Greek  proverb  :  "  In  righteousness  all  vir- 
tue is  contained  ;"'  and  Aristotle  says,  Eth.  Nic.  Y,  3  :  Huvra  tu  vo/Ufid  kari  Truf  diiiaia 
.  .  .  .  EV  6LKaioavv7j  av?U.7/i--l6Tiv  ttUg'  uperi)  ivi. 


DOCTRINE.]  IN    PAUL.  63!^ 

a  gift  of  grace,  given  to  those  who  are  poor  in  sjirit,  who,  with  the 
publican,  penitently  smite  upon  their  breasts,  and  under  a  sense  of 
entire  unworthiness  put  up  the  prayer  :  "  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sin- 
ner" (Lu.  18  :  13,  14). 

It  is  precisely  this  distinction,  which  forms  the  basis  of  Paul's  minute 
analysis  of  doctrine,  and  which  separates  the  two  great  periods  of  his 
life.  Before  his  conversion  he  was  with  the  Jews  in  the  view,  that  man 
can  actually  fulfill  the  divine  law,  and  therefore  attain  in  this  way  right- 
eousness and  salvation.'  After  his  conversion  he  saw  this  to  be  abso- 
lutely impossible  without  faith  in  Christ  and  the  renewal  of  the  whole 
man.  Now  he  learned,  that  all  men,  Jews  as  well  as  Gentiles,  are  by 
nature  without  righteousness,  and  can  be  made  righteous  and  be  saved 
only  through  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ.  If  he  had  previously  laid  the 
chief  stress  on  the  law  and  on  works,  he  now  laid  it  all  on  free  grace, 
and  on  living  faith,  which  appropriates  Christ  and  His  atoning  death. 
Hence  he  may  justly  be  called  the  apostle  of  faith,  or  of  the  righteous- 
ness of  faith. 

Paul  accordingly  distinguishes  two  kinds  of  righteousness  :  ( 1 )  man's 
own  righteousness,^  or  the  righteousness  of  the  law,  also  called  righteous- 
ness of  works,*  which  man  strives  after,  but  in  reality  can  never  attain, 
by  his  natural  power,  and  which  is  therefore  altogether  imaginary."  The 
ground  of  this  impossibility  of  a  self-righteousness,  which  would  stand 
before  God  and  establish  a  claim  to  salvation,  is  not  in  the  law — for  this 
is  good,  holy,  spiritual  (Rom.  t  :'l2,  14), — but  in  the  corruption  of 
man,  in  his  carnal  nature,  which  must  be  regenerated  and  renewed  by 
the  grace  of  God,  before  it  can  perform  anything  truly  good.  (2)  The 
righteousness  of  God  or  from  God,  i.  e.  the  righteousness  w'hich  comes 
from  God  and  is  acceptable  to  him  ;'  or  the  righteousness  of  faith,*  i.  e. 
the  righteousness  which  springs  from  faith  in  Christ,  as  the  only  and  all- 
suCBcient  Saviour  ;  is  vitally  apprehended  by  faith,  and  is  imputed  and 
given  to  the  believer  by  God,  without  merit,  without  the  deeds  of  the 
law,  in  free  grace.'  The  righteousness  of  faith  also,  being  of  this  char- 
acter, necessarily  excludes  all  boasting  and  yields  the  glory  to  God  alouo 
(Rom.  3  :  27). 

'  Acts  22  :  3.     Gal.  1  :  13  sq.     Phil.  3  :  4  sq. 

*  'I6ia  diKaioavvT},  Rom.  10  :  3.     Phil.  3  :  9. 

'  AiKaioavvTi  i^  epyuv  vofiov,  Rom.  3:2.     10:5.     Gal.  2  :  21. 
«  Rom.  3  :20.     Gal.  2  :  16,21. 

*  AiKMoavvr]  ^eov,  6ck.  iK  i?£oi),  Gal.  3  :  11.  Rom.  1  :  17.  3  :  21,  22.  10  :  3.  2 
Cor.  5  :  21.     Phil.  3  :  9. 

^  AiKaioavvT)  T7]q  niareuc,  or  en  nioTEug,  or  Jia  'klgteuq  X^tarov,  Rom.  9  :  30.  10  : 
6.     1  :  17.     Gal.  5  :  5.     Phil.  3  :  9. 

■'  OvK  e^epyuv  v6/xov,  Gal.  2:16,  comp  Eph.  2  :  9  :  dupedv,  B-om.  2:24;  t^  ;);apfn, 
ib.  and  Eph.  2:9;  /car<2  ;i;up».',  Rom.  4  :  4. 


638  §162.    (2)  GENTILE-CHEISTIAN   TYPE   OF   DOCTEINE        [v.  BOOK 

The  divine  act,  by  which  man  comes  into  possession  of  this  righteous- 
ness, is  denoted  by  the  expressions  :  justification,  to  justify,  to  count  for 
righteousness.^  This  Pauline  doctrine  of  justification  is  evidently  found- 
ed on  the  notion  of  a  judicial  process.  The  holy  and  just  God  is  the 
judge  ;'  the  law  of  God,  the  accuser  -^  the  sinner  or  transgressor  of  the 
law,  the  accused  ;*  conscience,  the  witness  ;*  Christ  the  advocate  and 
substitute  for  the  accused  ;*  the  atoning  death  and  the  merits  of  Christ, 
the  price  of  redemption  ;^  faith,  the  instrument,  the  spiritual  hand  of 
the  penitent  sinner,  by  which  these  merits  are  appropriated."  The  justi- 
fication itself  is  (1)  negative,  the  judicial  sentence  of  God,  in  which  he 
pronounces  the  sinner,  for  the  sake  of  Christ,  free  from  the  curse  of  the 
law,  from  the  guilt  and  punishment  of  transgression  ; — in  other  words, 
the  forgiveness  of  sins,  pardon  ;'  (2)  positive,  the  imputation  and  actual 
communication  of  the  righteousness  of  Christ  to  the  penitent,  believing 
sinner."  The  communication  on  the  part  of  God  and  appropriation  on 
the  part  of  man  take  place  by  means  of  faith,  which  is  wrought  by  the 
Holy  Ghost  in  the  church  through  the  word  and  the  sacraments,  and  is, 
not  indeed  the  objective  ground,  the  efficient  cause,  yet  the  indispensa- 
ble subjective  condition  and  instrumental  cause,  of  justification  ;  since, 

'  AiKaiuaig,  Aoyitr/zof  TJ^r  diKaioavvrjC,  diKaLovv  (p"iT;2:n))  ^^oyi^eoT^at  eIq  dcKaionvuTji', 
Rom.  2:13.  5  :  18.  3  :  20.  Gal.  3:11,  etc.  A  i  k  a  i  o  v  v  properly  means,  accord- 
ing to  its  etymology,  to  make  righteous,  like  the  Latin  (which,  by  the  way,  does  not 
occur  in  the  profane  authors)  justificare=justum  facere  (comp.  calefacere,  frigefacere, 
vivificare,  etc.).  For  all  Greek  verbs  in  oof,  derived  from  adjectives  of  the  second 
declension,  signify :  to  make  a  person  or  thing  what  the  primitive  denotes.  Thus 
TV(p?iOvv,  SovXovv,  bp-Qovv,  (iefiriTiovv,  djjXovv,  (pavEfjovv,  te'Xelovv,  kevovv,  are  equivalent 
to  TO^/lov,  6ov?iOv,  6p-&6v,  etc.  noielv.  Now  this  making  righteous  may  be  done  pri- 
marily in  the  judicial  sense  :  and  then  it  will  be  the  same  as :  to  pronounce  righteous, 
justumdeclarare,  and  as  such  termini  forenses  the  Hebrew  jpi'Tj^j,'^  and  the  Greek  ^lkm- 
oiiv,  in  the  Hellenistic  Biblical  usus  loquendi,  frequently  occur :  e.  g.  Ex.  23  :  7. 
Deut.  25:1.  1  Ki.  8  :  32.  Prov.  17  :  15.  Ps.  143  :  2.  51:6.  Ezek.  16  :  51.  Is. 
45:25.  Lu.  7:29.  Rom.  3  :  4.  lTim.3:16.  Matt.  11  :  19.  Lu.  10  :  29.  16: 
12.  Rom.  2  :  13.  Matt.  12  :  37.  1  Cor.  4:  4.  But  if  we  would  not  involve  God  in 
inconsistency  and  falsehood,  we  must  carefully  guard  against  the  notion  of  an  empty 
declaration,  and  must  necessarily  suppose,  that  the  objective  state  of  things  corresponds 
to  the  judgment  of  God  ;  in  other  words,  that  God  actually  makes  the  penitent  sinner 
righteous  in  imputing  and  imparting  to  him  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  renewing  him 
by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  placing  him  by  faith  in  holy  vital  communion  with  Christ. 

=  Rom.  3  :  20.     Gal.  3  :  11.     1  Cor.  4  :  4.     2  Tim.  4  :  8. 

'  Col.  2  :  14.     Comp.  Jno.  5  :  45. 

"  Rom.  3:  19.  '  Rom.  2  :  15. 

»  1  Jno.  2:1.     Comp.  Heb.  7  :  25  sqq.     9  :  24. 

^  Tit.  2  :  14.     Comp.  Matt.  20  :  28.     Mk.  10  :  45. 

«  Rom.  1  :  17.     3  :  21.     Phil.  3:9. 

"  'A(j)EGic  Tuv  auapTLuv,  Tuv  TragaiTTco/iiuTuv,  Rom.  4  :  6, 7.     Comp.  Lu.  18  i  13, 14. 

^  Ao-yicfxuc  T^g  (StKaioavvrjc,  Ronn.  4  :  3,  6,  7,  1 1,  24.     9  :  30.     Gal.  3  :  6. 


DOCTRINE.]  EJ    PAUL.  639 

renouncing  all  merit  of  its  own,  it  lays  vital  hold  on  the  grace  of  God 
and  the  merits  of  Christ,  and  receives  them  into  itself.  By  faith  the 
man  is  raised  out  of  his  sinful  state,  united  with  Christ,  and  wrought 
more  and  more  into  His  holy  being,  so  that  the  old  man  no  longer  lives, 
but  Christ  lives  and  moves  in  him.'  Of  course  such  a  faith  is  absolutely 
inseparable  from  love  and  good  works.'  An  antinomian  disjunction  of 
faith  from  its  fruits,  as  also  of  justification  from  sanctification,  is  a  radi- 
cal and  most  dangerous  abuse  of  Paul's  doctrine,  which  he  himself 
repelled  with  horror.' 

In  this  comprehensive  moral  contrast  between  false  self-righteousness, 
which  works  death,  and  the  true  righteousness  of  God,  which  is  life  and 
salvation,  Paul's  whole  system  centres.  It  may,  therefore,  be  best  pre- 
sented in  two  sections.  The  first  or  negative  part  treats  of  the  want  of 
righteousness,  or  the  condition  of  man  before  and  out  of  Christ.  This  is 
the  reign  of  the  first,  natural,  earthly  Adam,  or  the  reign  of  sin  and 
death,  appearing  partly  in  unguided  Heathenism,  partly  in  the  dis- 
ciplinary institution  of  legal  Judaism  ;  though  in  the  latter  case  connected 
with  divine  promises  and  significant  types  and  anticipations  of  the  future. 
The  larger,  positive  section  has  to  do  with  the  Gospel,  the  absolute 
religion  of  liberty  and  divine  sonship,  —  setting  forth  the  true  righteous- 
ness as  ofi'ered  in  Christ  and  appropriated  by  faith.  This  is  the  reign  of 
the  second,  spiritual,  heavenly  Adam,  or  of  grace  and  life.* 

This  plan  is  not  one  arbitrarily  forced  upon  the  doctrinal  system  of  the 
Gentile  apostle,  but  lies  clear  enough  on  its  surface  in  his  most  method- 
ical and  systematic  epistle,  that  to  the  Romans.  Here,  after  the  intro- 
duction, he  first  states  the  essence  of  Christianity  by  saying,  that  "it  is 
the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth  ;  to  the 
Jew  first,  and  also  to  the  Greek.  For  therein  is  the  righteousness  of  God 
revealed  from  faith  to  faith  :  as  it  is  written.  The  just  shall  live  by  faith" 
(Rom..  1  :  16,  11).  This  is  the  theme,  the  leading  thought  of  the  epistle. 
In  unfolding  this  the  apostle  first  proves,  that  all  men,  not  only  the 
Gentiles  (1  :  19-32),  but  also  the  Jews  (2  :  1-3  :  20),  are  by  nature 
destitute  of  righteousness,  and  therefore  of  salvation  and  life,  and  are 
sinners,  worthy  of  condemnation.  Then  from  c.  3  :  21  onward  he  shows, 
that  Christ  has  fulfilled  righteousness  and  procured  life  and  salvation  ; 
that  these  are  imparted  to  us  through  firm,  living  faith  ;  that  this  faith 

*  Gal.  2  :  20.     Comp.  1  Cor.  6  :  15,  17.     2  Cor.  3  :  18.     Eph.  3  :  17.     5  :  30.     Col. 
3  :  3,  4. 

^  Comp.  Gal-  5  :  6.     Rom.  6  :  1  sqq. 

»  Rom.  3:8.     6:1,  2.     Comp.  2  Pet.  3  :  16. 

*  Comp,  Rom.  5  :  12  sqq.     1  Cor.  15  :  45  sqq. 


G40  §  163.       AVIUTIXGS    OF   LUKE  [v.  BOOK. 

gives  the  most  troubled  conscience  peace,  and  must  necessarily  reveal  it- 
self in  a  holy  devoted  walk  of  love  and  gratitude  for  the  grace  received.' 
What  the  apostle  of  the  Grentiles  says  of  himself  with  primary  reference 
no  doubt  to  the  missionary  work  :  "I  labored  more  abundantly  than 
they  all  :  yet  not  I,  but  the  grace  of  God  which  was  with  me"  (1  Cor. 
15  :  10),  is  ti'ue  also  in  regard  to  the  investigation  and  development  of 
the  Christian  doctrine  of  faith  and  morals.  No  other  apostle  has  given 
us  so  profound  and  complete  an  exhibition  of  the  doctrines  of  sin  and 
grace,  of  the  law  and  the  Gospel,  of  the  eternal  conception  and  the  tem- 
poral unfolding  of  the  plan  of  redemption,  of  the  person  and  work  of 
the  Redeemer,  of  justifying  faith  and  Christian  life,  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
of  the  church  and  the  means  of  grace,  of  the  resurrection  and  the  con- 
summation of  salvation.  In  the  small  compass  of  his  thirteen  epistles 
Paul  has  crowded  together  more  genuine  spirit,  profound  thought  and 
true  wisdom,  than  are  to  be  found  in  the  whole  mass  of  the  classical  or 
even  of  the  post-apostolical  Christian  literature.  He,  who  does  not  see 
in  this  an  overwhelming  proof  of  the  divinity  and  incomparable  glory  of 
Christianity,  must  have  either  his  heart  or  his  head  in  the  wrong  place. 
Already  have  eighteen  centuries  been  industriously  laboring  to  expound, 
digest,  and  apply  in  sermons,  commentaries  and  numbei'less  other  works, 
the  dogmatic  and  ethical  contents  of  Paul's  system  of  doctrine,  and  still 
it  is  not  exhausted.  Where  is  there  a  human  production  in  any  depart- 
ment of  literature,  from  any  age  or  nation,  which  has  so  stirred, 
fertilized,  enlightened,  and  enlivened  human  minds,  and  on  which  it  has 
been  so  profitable  to  think,  to  speak,  to  preach,  and  to  write,  as,  for 
example,  the  single  epistle  to  the  Romans  ? 

§  163.    The  Writings  of  Luke,  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 

Those  of  the  other  books  of  the  New  Testament,  which  are  allied  to 
the  Pauline  type  of  doctrine,  are  the  third  Gospel,  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  and  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 

That  Lnke  wrote  under  the  influence  of  Paul,  whom  he  followed  as  a 
faithful  disciple  and  fellow-laborer,  has  long  been  acknowledged,"'  and  has 
already  been  remarked  in  a  former  part  of  this  work.*  This  influence  is 
not  to  be  conceived  as  in  any  way  affecting  the  fair  representation  of 
the  historical  facts.     The  very  appearance,  the  evident  fidelity  and  ob- 

*  Comp.  §  80  above.  We  now  have  several  detailed  exhibitions  of  Paul's  systenn  of 
doctrine,  of  various  character  and  value,  by  Usteri.  Dahne,  Neander  (in  the  second 
volume  of  his  Geschichte  dcr  Pflanzung,  etc.  p.  654-839)  and  Baur  (in  his  work  on 
Paul,  p.  505-670). 

'  Irenaeus,  Tertullian,  Origen,  Eusebius,  Chrysostom,  and  other  fathers,  were  of  this 
opinion.     See  the  passages  in  Credner's  Einleitung  m's  N.  T.     Part  I.  §  60  and  61. 

"  Comp.  above  §  147  and  149. 


DOCTRINE.]  AND    THE   EPISTLE    TO    THE    HEBREWS.  641 

jectivity,  of  the  books  in  question,  as  well  as  their  many  Jewish-Christian 
elements,  contradict  such  a  supposition.  Paul's  influence  is  to  be  seen 
in  the  general  object  of  the  books,  and  in  their  author's  selection  of 
several  traits  and  incidents  not  given  in  the  first  two  Gospels,  best  suiting 
the  free  evangelical  and  universal  views  of  the  Gentile  apostle,  and 
forming  the  historical  basis  for  his  system  of  doctrine.  Among  these 
Pauline  features  are  the  carrying  of  the  genealogy  of  Jesus  back  to 
Adam,  the  common  progenitor  of  all  men,  nay,  in  fact  to  God,  the  original 
ground  of  all  being  (Lu.  3  :  38),  while  Matthew  traces  it  simply  to 
Abraham,  the  patriarch  of  the  Jews  ;'  the  respectful  mention  of  the 
Samaritans,  who  were  so  abhorred  by  the  Jews  (9  :  52.  10  :  30  sqq. 
11  :  11  sqq.)  ;  the  account  of  the  mission  of  the  seventy  disciples  (10  : 
1-24),  who  evidently  bore  the  same  relation  to  the  heathen  world  as 
the  twelve  discijiles  to  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel  f  the  parable  of  the 
prodigal  son,  who,  in  his  vagrancy,  misery,  penitence,  and  return  to  his 
father's  house,  presents  a  most  graphic  picture  of  Heathenism  in  contrast 
with  Judaism  represented  by  the  elder  brother  (15  :  11-32)  ;  the  parable 
of  the  Pharisee  and  publican,  which  so  unequivocally  sets  forth  Paul's 
doctrine  of  justification  in  opposition  to  Pharisaical  self-righteousness 
(18  :  9-14  ;  comp.  also  17  :  10)  ;  Luke's  predilection,  in  general,  for 
depicting  the  condescending  mercy  of  the  Saviour  towards  gross,  but 
penitent  and  anxious  sinners  (1  :  36-50.  19  :  2-10.  23  :  40-43)  ; 
finally,  the  close  agreement  between  Luke's  account  of  the  institution  of 
the  Lord's  supper  (22  :  19-20)  and  the  statement  of  Paul  (1  Cor. 
11  :  23-25). 

Over  the  origin  and  author  of  the  anonymous  episile  to  the  Hebrews 
there  hangs  a  mysterious  veil.  The  book  might  be  compared  to  the 
Melcbisedec  of  the  profound  allegory  in  its  seventh  chapter.  Por,  like 
this  personage,  it  bears  itself  with  priestly  and  kingly  dignity  and 
majesty,  but  is  "  without  father,  without  mother,  without '  descent, 
having  neither  beginning  of  days,  nor  end  of  life."  Properly  and 
strictly  the  production  of  Paul,  as  the  ancient  Greek  church  generally 
considered  it,  it  can  hardly  be.  Against  such  a  view  of  it  are,  the 
absence  of  the  superscription  or  address,  which  is  lacking  in  no  other 
epistle  of  Paul  ;  the  passage,  c.  2  :  3,  which  betrays  the  hand  of  a  dis- 
ciple of  the  apostles  ;  the  highly  rhetorical  and  purely  Grecian  style,  the 

'  On  which  Luther  makes  the  striking  remark  (in  his  Notes  on  Matt.  1.  Werke,  VII. 
10) :  "  Luke,  however,  goes  further  and  seeks,  as  it  were,  to  make  Christ  common  to 
all  nations ,  wherefore  he  traces  His  pedigree  up  to  Adam,"  etc.  So  already  Chrysos- 
tom  ;  see  Credner,  1.  c.  p.  143. 

^  Schwegler,  Das  nachapost.  Zeitalter  IL  p.  46  :  "  The  twelve  are  the  missionaries  of 
the  Messiah  to  his  own  people ;  the  seventy,  of  the  Redeemer  of  the  world  to  all 
nations." 

41 


642  §  163.     WRITINGS   OF   LUKE,  E^-   BOOK. 

rhythmical,  melodious  flow  of  the  language  ;  the  close  adherence  to  the 
Greek  translation  of  the  Old  Testament,  without  any  corrective  reference 
to  the  original  Hebrew,  to  which  Paul  so  often  pays  regard  ;  the  place 
of  the  book  in  the  canon,  after  the  Pastoral  Epistles  ;  and  finally,  the 
tradition  of  the  Roman  and  Latin  church,  which,  according  to  the 
express  testimony  of  Jerome,  regarded  it  for  a  long  time,  until  the  coun- 
cil of  Hippo  (A.D.  393),  as  not  the  work  of  Paul  ;  and  the  opinion  of 
the  learned  Alexandrian  fathers,  who  ascribed  the  substance  of  the 
epistle  to  Paul,  but  the  editing  of  it,  or  its  translation  from  the  sup- 
posed Hebrew  original,  to  one  of  his  disciples,  generally  Luke  or 
Clement  of  Rome." 

On  the  other  hand,  however,  this  epistle  bears  so  striking  an  affinity 
to  Paul's  system  of  doctrine,  and  is  so  uncommonly  profound  and  rich, 
that  one  can  scarcely  help  atti'ibuting  to  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  at 
least  a  partial  or  indirect  influence  on  its  composition.  This  most 
naturally  accounts  for  and  reconciles  the  contradiction  in  the  old  church 
tradition,  though,  of  course,  in  the  absence  of  definite  internal  and  relia- 
able  external  evidence,  the  degree  and  mode  of  this  influence  cannot  be 
accurately  determined.  If  now  we  attemi)t  to  select  from  among  the 
disciples  of  Paul  the  one,  who  may  be  regarded  with  the  greatest 
probability  as  the  immediate  author,  or  at  least  editor  or  translator  of 
this  Pauline  and  yet  non-Pauline  epistle,  the  choice  seems  to  us  to  lie  only 
between  Luke  and  Barnabas.  But  in  the  case  usf  each  of  these  so  much 
can  be  said  on  both  sides,  that  it  is  extremely  difficult,  if  not  absolutely 
impossible,  to  decide.^     At  all  events,  thus  much  is  settled,  that  the  epis- 

*  On  this  whole  matter  we  refer  particularly  to  the  uncommonly  thorough  investi- 
gations of  Bleek  in  the  first  part  of  his  Co/imuntar  zum  Hebraerbrief,  ch.  4.  p.  82-430; 
to  the  introduction  of  Tholuck's  Commentary  (§  1-4  of  the  2nd  ed.);  and  to  the  able 
treatise  of  Wieseler  in  the  Appendix  to  his  Chronologic  dcr  Apostelgeschichte.  p.  479  -520, 
with  whom,  however,  we  cannot  agree  at  all  in  supposing  the  readers  of  the  ejiistle  to 
have  been  Alexandrian  Jews,  It  was  no  doubt  mainly  addressed  to  the  Jewish-Chris- 
tians in  Palestine,  as  the  very  name  Hebrews  indicates.  Even  the  modern  scholars, 
who  advocate  the  Pauline  origin  of  the  epistle,  cannot  deny  the  differences  above 
glanced  at,  and  find  it  necessary,  therefore,  somehow  to  modify  their  view.  Thu.s 
Hug,  in  the  3rd  edition  of  his  Einl.  in's  N.  T.  II.  p.  492,  ascribes  at  least  the  verlial 
form  to  Luke ;  Thiersch  regards  the  epistle  as  the  joint  production  of  Paul  and  Bar- 
nabas {De  epist.  ad  Hebraeos  commentatio  historica,  Marburgi,  1848) .  Delitzsch  (in  Rudel- 
bach  and  Guericke's  "  Zeitschrift,"  1849,  No.  2;  translated  in  the  "  Evang.  Review," 
Oct.  1850,  p.  184  sqq.)  supposes  that  Paul  furnished  the  main  ideas,  and  Luke  wrought 
them  up  independently,  yet  so  that  Paul  could  acknowledge  it  as  his  own  work. 
Similar  is  the  view  of  Ebrard  in  his  Commenlar  uber  den  Hebraerbrief  {1850) ,  p. 
458  sqq. 

^  Twesten,  UUmann,  and  especially  Wieseler,  1.  c.  p.  504  sqq.,  following  TertuUian, 
decide  for  Barnabas.  But  then  we  shall  unavoidably  have  to  deny  to  him  the  so-called 
Epistle  of  Barnabas,  which  falls  far  below  that  to  the  Hebrews.     Nor  does  this  hypo- 


DOCTRINE.]  AND    THE   EPISTLE   TO    THE   HEBREWS.  643 

tie  originated  from  the  school  of  Paul,  is  full  of  its  grand  ideas,  sprang 
from  the  living  fountain  of  primitive  apostolical  Christianity,  and,  as  it 
takes  for  granted  the  continued  existence  of  the  temple  worship  (9:6- 
9),  was  written  before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem — we  suppose  in 
Italy,  A.  D.  63,  during  the  imprisonment  of  Paul  in  Rome. 

The  Pauline  stamp  of  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews  is  clearly  discernible 
in  its  whole  matter  and  design.  The  design  of  the  book  is  to  demon- 
strate the  infinite  exaltation  of  Christ  above  Moses,  Aaron,  and  all 
angels,  as  well  as  the  superiority  of  the  new  covenant  established  by 
Him  over  the  old,  and  thus  to  warn  the  Palestinian  Christians,  to  whom 
it  is  addressed,  of  the  danger,  in  their  depressed  situation,  of  relapse 
into  Judaism  (comp.  6  :  4  sqq.  10  :  26  sqq.),  and  to  incite  them  to 
perseverance.  The  arguments,  however,  are  mostly  drawn  from  the  Old 
Testament  itself,  which  is  to  the  writer  a  significant  symbol  and  shadow 
of  good  things  to  come,'  prefiguring  in  all  its  wonderful  institutions  the 
higher  glory  of  Christianity,  but  at  the  same  time  predicting  its  own 
dissolution  as  soon  as  the  antetype  and  substance  should  be  revealed. 
True,  the  epistle  implies  throughout  the  existence  still  of  the  Jewish 
economy  and  the  Levitical  cultus,  but  represents  them  as  superauimated 
and  in  process  of  decay,''  and  points  to  the  impending  judgment  which  a 
few  years  afterwards  destroyed  the  holy  city  and  the  temple.  These 
exceedingly  interesting  dogmatic  expositions  are  interwoven  with  the 
most  precious  consolations  in  view  of  the  heavy  persecutions  from  tlie 

thesis  agree  well  with  the  statement  in  Acts  14  :  12,  according  to  which  Barnabas  was 
inferior  to  Paul  in  oratorical  power,  while  the  author  of  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
excels  the  apostle  in  the  use  of  language.  In  favor  of  Luke's  being  the  author  (but 
with  the  cooperation  of  Paul),  we  have  after  ail  the  most ;  viz.,  his  constatit  intimate 
relation  to  Paul;  the  similarity  of  style  (comp.,  for  example,  Lu.  1  :  1-4  with  Heb.  1  : 
1-3) ;  and  tradition — Clement  of  Alexandria,  in  the  second  century,  in  his  Hypot3-poses 
(in  Eus.  H.  E.  VI.  14),  making  Paul,  indeed,  the  author  of  the  supposed  Hebrew 
original,  but  Luke  the  Greek  translator,  and  thus  accounting  for  the  resemblance  of 
glyle  between  the  Acts  and  the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  As,  however,  no  trace  is  to 
be  found  of  a  Hebrew  original,  we  may  better  conclude,  with  Origen  (in  Euseb.  VI. 
SeT).  that  Paul  simply  furnished  the  ideas  {voTJ^ara)  and  left  the  writing  them  out 
{^[iuaig  Kol  Gvv&eatg)  to  one  of  his  disciples.  As  to  the  other  hypotheses,  the  Roman 
Clement  cannot  in  any  case  have  been  the  author ;  for  his  epistle  to  the  Corinthians 
copies  whole  passages  from  Hebrews,  and  bears  no  comparison  with  it  in  genius  or 
copiousness  of  thought.  Eminent  scholars,  as  Bleek,  Tholuck,  and  Credner,  have  de- 
cided for  Apollos.  But  this  view^,  first  thrown  out  as  a  clever  idea  by  Luther,  has  not 
the  slightest  support  from  tradition.  Nor  can  anything  be  said  for  Apollos,  that  may  not 
just  as  well  be  said  for  Barnabas  or  Luke,  who,  besides,  are  both  more  prominent  in 
the  New  Testament,  and  more  nearly  rebited  to  Paul. 

'  S/ita  T(jv  fieXX6vTu>v  uYai^ijv,  10  :  1;  v-:'i(iEt}'fia  Kal  amd  tuv  eTTovpaviuv,  8  :5; 
uVTLTvna  Tui>  u?.ri^LV(I)i',  9:2-1;   7ra jaio/.;)  fif  ™^  Kacp)v  ~dv  EvearriKOTa,  9  :  9. 

*  As  a  rra?i,aiovfiEvov  Kal  yiji^uoKov  ky/vg  u^nvii/^ov,  8:13. 


64:4:  §  164.    (3)    IDEAL    TYPE    OF   DOCTKINE  L^-  BOOK. 

unbelieving  Jews,  and  with  the  most  earnest  and  impressive  exhorta- 
tions to  steadfastness  in  the  Christian  faith.  For  the  more  valuable  the 
blesshigs  of  the  New  Covenant  in  comparison  with  the  Old/tlie  greater 
are  its  obligations  also,  and  the  heavier  the  condemnation  for  ungrate- 
fully rejecting  it.  Like  Paul,  this  "great  unknown,"  in  regard  to  sub- 
jective Christianity,  lays  the  chief  stress  on  faith  ;  but  sets  this  forth  not 
so  much  in  opposition  to  the  Jewish  legal  righteousness,  as  in  its  pro- 
spective reference,  as  laying  hold  on  the  future  and  invisible,  and  thu? 
intimately  connected  with  hope  and  perseverance  under  suffering.  This 
is  observable  particularly  in  the  masterly  sketches  of  the  Old  Testament 
heroes  in  faith,  those  most  sacred  representatives  of  the  ante-Christian 
religion,  c.  11.  The  author  here  selects  such  examples  as  were  exactly 
suited  to  the  then  depressed  condition  of  the  believing  Hebrews,  and 
must,  therefore,  have  appealed  to  their  hearts  and  consciences  with  more 
than  ordinary  power.  There  is  another  difference.  While  Paul  has  his 
eye  chiefly  upon  the  relation  of  the  gospel  to  the  law,  the  epistle  to  the 
Hebrews  has  reference  more  to  the  system  of  worship,  and  gives  us  an 
exceedingly  profound  analysis  of  the  typical  import  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment sacrificial  cultus,  and  of  the  priestly  office  of  Christ  in  its  twofold 
aspect  of  a  sacrifice  once  offered  on  the  cross  and  eternally  availing,  and 
a  perpetual  intercession  for  believers  in  the  heavenly  sanctuary  (c.  5-10), 
The  predominance  of  the  Christological  element  makes  this  hortatory 
and  consolatory  treatise,  in  connection  with  the  later  epistles  of  Paul,  a 
stepping  stone  to  the  Johannean  system  of  doctrine.  From  the  glowing 
picture  of  the  exaltation  and  majesty  of  Christ,  rising  far  above  the 
Jewish  idea  of  the  Messiah,  forming  the  introduction  and  as  it  were  the 
theme  of  the  epistle  (Heb.  1  :  1-4,  comp.  Col.  1  :  15-20),  it  is  but  a 
single  step  to  the  prologue  of  the  fourth  Gospel. 

§  164.  (3)    The  Ideal   Type  of  Doctrine  in  John.     (Comp.  §  99-108, 

148,  a7id  151.) 

John  was  the  beloved  disciple  and  bosom  friend  of  the  Lord.  Repos- 
ing on  the  breast  of  the  God-man,  he  became  himself,  as  it  were,  a 
second  Jesus,  so  far  as  is  possible  for  a  mortal.  He  w^as  the  tender, 
susceptible,  reflecting,  contemplative  apostle  of  love.  He  accompanied 
the  apostolic  Christianity  from  its  cradle  through  all  the  stages  of  its 
history,  first  laboring  among  the  Jews,  then  entering  into  Paul's  labors 
among  the  Greeks,  surviving  all  the  apostles,  and  writing  last  of  all.  In 
John,  therefore,  we  should  naturally  expect  the  most  profound  and  ideal 
conception  of  Christianity.  In  fact,  his  writings  exhibit  the  ripe  fruit  of 
the  whole  preceding  development  of  the  apostolic  theology,  and  the  final 
resolution  of  the  great  antagonism  of  Jewish  and  Gentile  Christianity. 


DOCTRINE.]  IN    JOHN.  645 

He  penetrated  into  the  heart  of  Christ  ;  and  he  has  revealed  the  deep- 
est mysteries  of  eternal  love.  The  doctrinal  system  of  this  prophet  of 
the  New  Testament  anticipates  the  consummation  of  the  kingdom  of 
God,  whose  struggles  and  triumphs,  down  to  the  new  heavens  and  the 
new  earth,  his  eagle  eye  was  enabled  to  behold  from  that  lone  island 
rock  between  Asia  and  Europe.  Hence  his  frequent  reference  to  vic- 
tories and  the  overcoming  of  all  ungodly  powers.'  Hence  also  that 
mysterious  and  unspeakably  attractive  air  of  love,  of  harmony,  of  per- 
fection, of  the  eternal,  sabbath-like  repose  of  the  saints,  which  pervades 
his  Gospels,  his  Epistles,  and  the  anthems  of  his  Revelation. 

John  had  not  to  pass,  like  Paul,  through  mighty  inward  revolutions 
and  struggles  of  conscience.  His  religious  experience  and  views  unfolded 
themselves  quietly  in  personal  intercourse  with  the  Redeemer,  under  the 
mild  rays  of  the  humble  glory  of  the  God-man.  Hence  with  him  all 
radiates  from  the  adoring  contemplation  of  the  Saviour,  and  his  whole 
system  of  faith  and  morals  is  from  beginning  to  end  Christological,  in  dis- 
tinction from  the  predominantly  anthropological  view  of  James  and  Paul, 
which  begins  with  human  need,  or  the  conception  of  law  and  righteousness. 

In  this  respect  he  coincides  with  Peter.  But  while  the  latter  dwells 
mainly  upon  the  historical  appearance  of  the  Lord,  his  connection  with 
the  Jewish  nation  and  the  Old  Testament  economy,  his  official  Messianic 
character,  and  makes  these  the  great  theme  of  his  preaching  ;  John,  on 
the  contrary,  fixes  his  eye  upon  the  person  of  Christ,  and  goes  back  to 
his  eternal  Godhead,  which  forms,  as  it  were,  the  primal  essence  of  all 
revelation  in  history.  He  opens  both  his  Gospel  and  his  first  epistle,  as 
Is  well  known,  with  the  personal  Word,  who  was  in  the  beginning,  that 
is  from  eternity,  with  God,  who  is  in  fact  the  revealed  God  himself  and 
at  the  same  time  the  principle  and  medium  of  all  outward  revelation, 
the  fountain  of  all  light  and  life  in  the  physical  and  moral  universe." 
Then,  in  a  kind  of  metaphysical  genealogy,  he  comes  down  through  the 
preparatory  stages  of  revelation  in  humanity  in  general  and  in  Judaism 
in  particular  to  the  incarnation,  which  completes  God's  self-communica- 
tion for  the  salvation  of  men.  This  historical  manifestation  of  the 
incarnate  Logos  he  then  accompanies  through  His  life  of  conflict  and 
suffering  to  His  glorification  with  the  glory,  which,  as  God,  He  had  with 
the  Father  before  the  world  was,  and  of  which  he  now  takes  possession 
as  God-man  (comp.  Jno.  It  :  5).     John's  point  of  departure,  therefore, 

'  Jno.  16  :  33.  1  Jno.  2  ;  13.  5  :  4,  5.  Comp.  the  seven  apocalyptic  epistles 
wheri  "he  that  overcorneth"  occurs  seven  times,  and  Rev.  12  :  11.  21  :  7.  The 
word  "  new,"  too,  is  a  favorite  term  with  John  :  new  name,  new  song,  new  heaven, 
new  earth,  new  Jerusalem,  ail  things  new,  comp.  Rev.  2  :  17.     3  :  12.    14  :  3.     21  :  2. 

*  Comp.  with  this  the  similar  description  of  f'hrist  in  the  beginning  of  the  Apo- 
calypse, 1  :  5-8. 


6-i:ij  §  164.    (3)  IDEAL    TYPE    OF    DOCTRINE  [v.  BOOK. 

is  not  the  relative,  temporal,  and  human,  but  the  absolute,  the  eternal, 
the  divine  ;  conceived  by  no  means,  however,  in  any  abstract  sense,  as 
isolated  from  life,  but  in  indissoluble  connection  with  the  historical  per- 
sonality of  Jesus  Christ,  in  which  the  eternal  fullness  of  the  Godhead  has 
manifested  itself  as  an  objective  reality,  and  from  w-hich,  as  the  central 
sun  of  the  world's  history,  light  and  warmth  are  diffused  in  every  direc- 
tion. He,  who  has  not  the  Son,  has  not  the  Father  ;  but  he,  who  has 
the  Son,  has  with  and  in  the  Sou  the  Father  also  ;  and  in  the  believing 
knowledge  of  the  Son,  in  the  communion  of  the  whole  undivided  man 
with  Him,  consists  eternal  life.' 

According  to  John,  therefore,  the  fundamental  idea  of  objective 
Christianity  is  iZ/e  jperfect  self -manifestation  of  the  Father  in  the  Son,  or 
the  inc:irnation  of  the  eter7Lal  Word  for  the  life  of  the  icorld.  He  ex- 
presses this  most  briefly  in  the  comprehensive  sentence  :  "The  Word 
was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us"  (Jno.  1  :  14).  "Word,"  in  the 
prologue  of  the  Gospel,  as  also  in  1  Jno.  1  :  2  and  Rev.  19  :  13,  is 
evidently  to  be  taken  in  the  hypostatic  sense,  as  denoting  the  divine 
nature  of  Christ  in  its  relation  to  God  the  Father. '■'  For  as  word  is  the 
necessary  and  most  appropriate  form  and  revelation  of  thought,  as 
well  as  the  best  medium  of  communication  between  mind  and  mind  (so 
that  thinking  might  be  called  an  inward  speaking,  and  speaking  an  out- 
ward thinking)  ;  so  Christ  is  the  revealed  outspoken  God,  in  whom  the 
essence  of  God  himself  in  its  own  nature  hidden,  recognizes  itself,  and 
through  whom  it  communicates  itself  outwardly,  so  that  all  revelations, 
even  the  creation  and  preservation  of  the  world,  are  mediated  through 
Christ.'  His  Word,  which  is  itself  of  divine  essence,  yet  distinct  from  the 
Father  as  a  separate  divine  hypostasis,  in  the  fullness  of  time  "  was  made 
flesh,"  that  is,  took  upon  himself  the   entire  human  nature,  body,  soul, 

'  1  Jno.  5  :  ]0-13,  20.     C'omp.  Jno.  17  :  3.     20:31.     • 

■•'  The  Greek  loyog,  it  is  well  known,  means  reason  as  much  as  word,  ratio  as  well 
as  oratio,  which  are  both  in  fact  closely  connected ;  but  it  must  here  be  taken  in  the 
latter  sense.  We  cannot  at  all  agree  with  those,  who  derive  this  expression,  or  even 
the  ideas  of  John's  prologue,  from  Philo ;  if  for  no  other  reason,  because  not  the  least 
connection  can  be  shown  between  John  and  the  Greek-Jewish  theology  of  Alexan- 
dria. John's  doctrine  of  the  Logos  was  amply  suggested  by  the  Old  Testament 
distinction  of  a  hidden  and  revealed  God  (Ex.  33  :  20,  23) ;  by  the  thedogumenon  con- 
cerning the  divine  Wisdom  (Job  28  :  12  sqq.  Prov.  c.  8  and  9.  Sirach  c.  1  and  24. 
VVlsdom  6  :  22-c.  9) ;  especially  by  the  doctrine  of  the  word  of  God  (■-r\n'-'  nn*,  by  the 
LXX.  commonly  translated  /5/7/ia,  but  twice  Aoyof  'K.V(>lov,  Ps.  33  :  6.  107:20, 
comp.  Sirach  43  :  26),  which  makes  its  appearance  even  in  the  beginning  of  Genesis 
as  the  medium  of  the  erection  and  of  all  the  revelations,  promises,  and  commands  of 
God  ;  and  finally,  by  the  many  expressions  of  Jesus  respecting  his  pre-existence  and 
his  divine  nature  (Matt.  11  :  27.     Jno.  3  :  31.     8  :  58.     17  :  5,  etc). 

^  Jno.  I  :  3.     Comp.  Col.  1  :  16.     1  Cor.  8  :  6.     Heb.  1  :  2. 


DOCTRINE.]  IN    JOHN.  647 

and  spirit,  in  its  fallen  s'.ate,  yet  without  sin,'  to  redeem  it  and  reconcile 
it  for  ever  with  God.  This  Word  also  "  dwelt,"  or  literally  "  pitched 
his  tent,  tabernacled,  among  ^us  ;"  in  which  expression  John  probably 
alludes  to  the  Old  Testament  Shckinah  (comp.  fCKTivoaev),  the  abiding  of 
the  glory  of  God  over  the  ark  of  the  covenant  in  the  tabernacle,  a  faint 
type  of  the  eternal  abode  of  the  Only  Begotten  in  the  tabernacle  of 
human  nature,  full  of  glory,  grace,  and  truth.  This  central  idea  of  the 
incarnation  is  with  John,  of  course,  not  simply  a  speculative  truth,  but  of 
the  deepest  practical  import.  He  looks  upon  the  sending  of  the  Son  into 
tlie  world  as  at  the  same  time  the  highest  act  of  love,  or  of  God's  free 
impartation  of  himself  to  the  reasonable,  susceptible  creature.  He  has 
expressed  the  inmost  nature  of  God  in  the  words:  "God  is  love"  (1 
Juo.  4  :  8,  16),  immediately  adding  :  "In  this  was  manifested  the  love 
of  God  toward  us,  because  that  God  sent  his  only  begotten  Son  into  the 
world,  that  We  might  live  through  Him." 

In  accordance  with  this  view,  subjective  Christianity  consists  in  the 
vital  union  of  the  believer  with  God  in  Christ,  or  the  thankful  reciprocal 
love  of  the  redeemed  towards  the  Redeemer.  This  is  stated  in  the  form 
of  an  exhortation  to  a  moral  duty  :  "  Let  us  love  him,  because  he  hath 
first  loved  us"  (1  Juo.  4  :  19).  This  forms  the  highest  expression,  not 
only  of  individual  piety,  but  also  of  social  religion  ;  the  inmost  and  per- 
manent essence  of  the  church,  which  is  seldom  mentioned  by  name  in 
John  (3  Jno.  6,  9,  10),  but  in  substance  very  frequently  appears  as  an 
organic  communion  of  life  and  love  between  the  redeemed  and  the  Re- 
deemer and  of  the  saints  with  one  another, — as  a  communio  sanctorum, 
therefore,  grounded  in  the  unio  mystica,  which  last  is  rooted,  again,  in  the 
objective  love  of  God  towards  us.  "  If  God  so  loved  us,  we  ought  also 
to  love  one  another"  (1  Jno.  4  :  11).'' 

It  is  easy  to  see,  that  with  this  apostle  all  centres  ultimately  in  love. 
This  is  the  life-blood  of  his  system  of  faith  and  morals,  and  it  entered  his 
own  soul  from  the  bosom  of  the  Redeemer  himself.  In  fact  that  holy 
I  name  most  aptly  describes  the  heart  of  God,  and  reveals  the  deepest 
meaning  of  all  His  works  and  ways.  The  creation  is  the  act  of  love, 
laying  the  foundation  for  its  future  manifestations.  The  law  and  promise 
are  the  revelation  of  a  love,  which  would  draw  men  to  Christ.  The  in- 
carnation is  the  personal  manifestation  of  redeeming  love  in  intimate,  in- 

*  To  precisely  the  same  purport  is  the  expression  of  Paul,  Rom.  8 :  3,  that  God  sent 
his  Son  "in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh,"  iv  o/ioiu/naTi  caQKog  u/ia^Tiag.  Comp.  Heb. 
2  :  17,  18.     5  :  15. 

'  The  Johannean  system  of  doctrine  has  been  treated  more  at  large,  though  by  no 
means  to  exhaustion  and  full  satisfaction,  by  Neander  {Jpost.  Gesch.  II.  p.  814-914), 
Frommann  {Der  johanneische  Lehrbegriff,  Leipzig.  1839),  and  Kostlin,  of  Baur's  school 
[Der  Lehrbegriff  des  Evang.  und  der  Briefe  Joh.     Berlin,  1843). 


64:8         §  164.     (3)  roEAL  type  of  doctrine  in  john.       [t.  book 

dissoluble  union  with  our  nature.  So,  on  our  part,  love  to  God  and 
man  is  the  sum  of  all  duty  and  virtue  Does  it  not  lie  at  the  bottom  of 
all  the  apostles'  exhortations  ?  Is  it  not  the  my.sterious  bond  by  which 
the  representatives  of  apostolical  Christianity,  in  spite  of  all  their  diver- 
sity of  talent,  education,  and  mode  of  thought,  are  bound  in  inseparable 
unity  ?  James,  indeed,  makes  Christianity  chiefly  law  and  obedience  ; 
but  he  makes  love  the  queen  of  the  law.  Peter,  the  apostle  of  promise 
and  hope,  is  most  beautiful  and  lovely  in  his  enthusiastic  devotion  to 
Christ  and  His  flock.  Paul,  the  apostle  of  righteousness  and  faith,  still 
calls  love  the  bond  of  perfectness,  the  most  precious  of  all  spiritual  gifts, 
the  greatest  in  that  triplet  of  cardinal  Christian  virtues  ;  because,  being 
the  highest  form  of  union  with  the  Godhead,  it  never  ceases  ;  while 
tongues  and  prophecy  fail,  faith  is  exchanged  for  sight,  and  hope  for 
fruition.  In  John,  the  apostle  of  incarnation  and  love,  this  virtue  meets 
us  in  the  deepest  and  tenderest  form  ; — as  in  his  life,  from  the  time  he 
first  lay  "On  Jesus'  bosom  to  that  last  touching  exhortation  to  his  little 
children  in  his  extreme  old  age, — so  also  in  his  writings,  the  whole  de- 
sign of  which  is  to  lift  the  veil  from  the  mystery  of  eternal  love,  and 
draw  all  his  susceptible  readers  into  the  same  holy  and  happy  fellowship 
of  life  with  the  divine  Redeemer. 

John's  theology  is  by  no  means  so  complete,  or  developed  with  such 
logical  precision  and  argumentative  ability  as  that  of  Paul.  It  is  sketch- 
ed from  immediate  intuition,  in  extremely  simple,  artless,  childlike  form, 
in  grand  outlines,  in  few  but  colossal  ideas  and  antitheses,  such  as  light 
and  darkness,  truth  and  falsehood,  spirit  and  flesh,  love  and  hatred,  life 
and  death,  Christ  and  Antichrist,  children  of  God  and  children  of  the 
world.  But  John  usually  leaves  us  to  imagine  far  more  than  his  words 
directly  express — an  infinity  lying  behind,  which  we  can  better  appre- 
hend by  faith,  than  grasp  and  fully  measure  with  the  understanding. 
And  especially  does  he  connect  everything  with  that  idea  of  a  thean- 
thropic  Redeemer,  which  had  become  part  and  parcel  of  his  own  soul  ; 
nor  can  he  strongly  and  frequently  enough  assert  the  reality  and  glory 
of  that,  which  was  to  him,  of  all  facts  and  experiences,  the  surest,  the 
holiest,  and  the  dearest.'  But  with  regard  to  its  principle  and  the  point 
of  view  from  which  it  is  constructed,  the  doctrinal  system  of  John  is  the 
highest  and  most  ideal  of  all,  the  one  towards  which  the  others  lead  and 
in  which  they  merge.  It  wonderfully  combines  mystic  knowledge  and 
love,  contemplation  and  adoration,  the  profound  wisdom  and  childlike 
simplicity,  and  is  an  anticipation,  as  it  were,  of  that  vision  face  to  face, 
into  which  according  to  Paul  (1  Cor.  13  :  12,  comp.  2  Cor.  5  :  1)  our 
fragmentary  knowledge,  and  faith  ilselF,  will  finally  pass. 

*  romp,  the  excpllpnt  rpmarks  ol  Neander  in  his  praclical  Commentary  on  the  first 
epi&tle  ot  John  (,]8ol;.  p.'-dl. 


DOCTRINE.]  §  165.      IDEA   AND   IMPORT   OF   HEEESY.  649 


CHAPTEE,  III. 

HERETICAL  TENDENCIES. 

§  165.  Idea  and  Import  of  Heresy. 
The  apostolic  period  displays  not  only  an  unusual  degree  of  spiritual 
enlightenment  and  knowledge,  which  makes  it  the  rule  and  measure  of 
the  whole  succeeding  theological  development  of  the  church,  but  also 
extraordinary  energy  on  the  part  of  the  spirit  of  error  and  the  mystery 
of  iniquity.  It  exhibits  a  series  of  dangerous  aberrations  in  theory  and 
practice,  which,  though  in  very  different  forms,  at  all  times  threaten  the 
church.  So  were  even  the  divinely  wrought  miracles  of  Moses  met  by 
the  jug^eries  of  the  Egyptian  magicians.  So  in  the  gospel  narratives 
there  appear  a  great  number  of  demoniacal  possessions  ;  nay,  all  the 
powers  of  darkness  were  leagued  against  Him,  who  had  come  to  destroy 
the  works  of  the  devil.  One  side  of  an  antagonism  always  calls  out  the 
other.  Wherever  the  seed  of  the  gospel  springs  up,  the  evil  one  sows 
tares,  and  "  where  God  builds  a  church,  Satan  builds  a  chapel  by  its 
side."  The  more  mightily  the  spirit  of  truth  rises,  the  busier  is  the 
spirit  of  falsehood  to  contest  the  ground.  Says  our  Lord  :  "  It  viust 
veeds  be  that  offenses  come  ;  but  woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the  offense 
cometh"  (Matt.  18  :  1,  comp.  Lu.  1*1  :  1).  So  Paul,  much  as  he 
laments  the  divisions  in  the  church,  regards  their  rise  as  unavoidable, 
"that  they  which  are  approved  may  be  made  manifest"  (I  Cor.  11  : 
19).  Of  course  this  necessity  is  not  absolute  ;  for  then  all  distinction 
between  good  and  evil,  truth  and  falsehood,  would  at  last  vanish.  It  is 
a  relative  necessity,  founded  in  the  present  condition  of  humanity  since 
the  fall.  Being  what  it  is,  humanity  can  develope  itself  only  through 
conflict.  As  holiness  and  the  knowledge  of  truth  gradually  increase, 
sin  and  error  also  assume  more  and  more  dangerous  and  hateful  forms  ; 
each  successive  manifestation  being  both  the  fruit  and  the  punishment — 
as  ill  the  case  of  the  opposite  process  it  is  the  reward — of  the  preceding. 


650  §  165.       IDEA    AND    IMPORT    OF   HERESY.  [v.  BOOK. 

Sill  and  error  g'cncrally  go  together,  thoiigli  in  particular  cases  there  are 
errors  not  immediately  the  result  of  sin,  just  as  there  are  innocent  suffer- 
ings and  undeserved  misfortunes.  Error  is  theoretical  sin  ;  sin  is  practi- 
cal error.  The  perversity  of  the  heart  is  followed  by  the  darkening  of 
the  understanding,  and  vice  versa. 

The  term  heresy  signifies  primarily  choice,  then  party,  sect.  It  is 
commonly  used  in  the  bad  sense,  implying  willfulness  on  the  side  of  the 
individual,  a  spirit  of  arrogant  innovation  and  party  zeal  in  deviating 
from  public  opinion  and  historical  tradition.  Ecclesiastical  usage  has 
gradually  limited  it  to  the  sphere  of  theory,  to  doctrine,  so  that  heresy 
has  come  to  mean  a  willful  corruption  of  the  truth,  an  erroneous  view 
either  of  Christianity  as  a  whole  or  of  a  single  dogma.'  Near  akin  to 
it  is  the  idea  of  schism  or  church  division,  which,  however,  primarily 
means  a  separation  from  the  government  and  discipline  of  the  church, 
and  does  not  necessarily  include  departure  from  her  orthodoxy,  though, 
at  least  when  pursued  very  far,  it  easily  leads  to  this.''  Of  course  in 
different  branches  of  the  church,  especially  in  her  present  distracted  con- 
dition, there  are  different  views  of  heresy  and  truth,  heterodoxy  and 
orthodoxy,  and  likewise  of  schism  and  sect.  Much  that  Roman  Catho- 
lics, for  example,  hold  to  be  orthodox,  Protestants  reject  as  heterodox  ; 

'  In  the  N.  T.  the  term  heresy,  algEaig,  frequently  occurs  and  in  various  connections 
but  almost  always  involving  some  bad  sense.  It  is  used,  (1)  of  the  religious  parties 
among  the  Jews,  as  the  Sadducees  (Acts  5  :  17),  the  Pharisees  (15  :  5.  26  :  5) .  (2) 
Of  the  Christians  in  general,  who  were  for  a  long  time  called  by  the  Jews  in  contempt 
"  the  sect  of  the  Nazarenes,"  ij  tuv  l^a^upaiuv  a'iptaig  (Acts  24  :  5,  14.  28  :  22) .  (3) 
Of  parties  within  the  Christian  church  (1  Cor.  11:19:  dd  yilp  Kal  alpsaeig  ev  vfilv 
elvai.  Gal.  5  :  20).  In  the  same  sense  Paul  several  times  uses  the  term  Gxiofiara, 
divisions  (1  Cor.  1  :  10.  11  :  18.  12  :  25).  (4)  Of  heresies  proper,  or  errors,  that  is, 
willful  perversions  of  Christian  truth  (2  Pet.  2:1:  tl)ev6udt6uaKa2,oi,  olnveg  nageic- 
d^ovaiv  alqmeig  uTTuTislag.  Comp.  Tit.  3  :  10.  where  algETLKoc  uv&punog  denotes  a 
heretic,  who  either  founds  a  new  sect  under  the  Christian  name,  or  belongs  to  one). 
There  is  the  same  reference  to  heretical  demonstrations  in  the  expressions  yvwaic  tpev- 
doJvv/xog,  1  Tim.  6  :  20  (in  antithesis  with  SidaaKaXia  vyiaivovaa,  1  Tim.  1  :  10.  6  : 
3.  2  Tim.  1:13.  4:3.  Tit  1:9.  2:1,  also  called  ?)  /car'  evGEpELav  didaaKalla,  1 
Tim.  6:3);  ijJEvdanoaToXoL,  2  Cor.  11  :  13  ;  ■^EvdodiduaKaXot,  2  Pet.  2  :.l;  and 
ETEpodiSaffKaAEiv,  1  Tim.  1  :  3.     6  :  3. 

'  Thus  the  Ebionites,  Gnostics,  and  Arians  were  heretics  ;  the  Montanists,  Nova- 
tians,  and  Donatists,  schismatics.  By  the  standard  of  the  Roman  church,  the  Greek 
church  is  only  schismatic,  the  Protestant  both  heretical  and  schismatic.  With  us 
Protestants  schism  has  in  a  great  measure  lost  its  meaning,  especially  in  this  country, 
where  sectarianism  is  so  fully  developed.  Many  consider  it  no  sin  whatever,  to  create 
division  and  to  start  a  new  church  on  the  most  trifling  considerations  Yet  schism  is 
as  certainly  a  sin,  as  the  "'  keeping  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace,"  so 
solemnly  enjoined  by  the  apostle  (Eph.  1  :  3),  is  a  sacred  duty  of  the  followers  of 
Christ,  who  wishes  them  all  to  be  one,  even  as  Ht;  is  with  the  Father  (John  17  :  21). 


DOCTRINE 


]  §  1G5.       IDEA    AND    IMPOKT    OF    IIEKESY.  651 


and  vice  versa.  Yet  there  are  certain  radical  perversions  of  the  Christ- 
ian faith,  certain  fundamental  heresies,  which  have  been  always  con- 
demned by  the  church  ;  and  here  belong  particularly  those  leading  here- 
sies of  antiquity,  Ebionisra  and  Gnosticism,  whose  precursors  are  com- 
bated even  in  the  New  Testament. 

Heresies,  like  sin,  all  spring  from  the  natural  man  ;  but  they  first 
make  their  appearance  in  opposition  to  the  revealed  truth,  and  thus  pre- 
suppose its  existence,  as  the  fall  of  Adam  implies  a  previous  state 
of  innocence.  There  are  religious  errors,  indeed,  to  any  extent  out  of 
Christianity,  but  no  heresies  in  the  theological  sense.  These  errors 
become  heresies  only  when  they  come  into  contact,  at  least  outwardly, 
with  revealed  truth  and  with  the  life  of  the  church.  They  consist  essen- 
tially in  the  conscious  or  unconscious  reaction  of  unsubdued  Judaism  or 
Heathenism  against  the  new  creation  of  the  gospel.  Heresy  is  the  dis- 
tortion or  caricature  of  the  original  Christian  truth.'  But  as  God  in  his 
wonderful  wisdom  can  bring  good  out  of  all  evil,  and  has  more  than 
compensated  for  the  loss  of  the  first  Adam  by  the  resurrection  of  the 
second  ;  so  must  all  heresies  in  the  end  only  condemn  themselves  and 
serve  the  more  fully  to  establish  the  truth.  The  New  Testament  Scrip- 
tures themselves  are  in  a  great  measure  the  result  of  a  firm  resistance  to 
the  distortions  and  corruptions,  to  which  the  Christian  religion  was  ex- 
posed from  the  first.  Nay,  we  may  say,  that  every  dogma  of  the  church, 
every  doctrine  fixed  by  her  symbols,  is  a  victory  over  a  corresponding 
error,  and  in  a  certain  sense  owes  to  the  error,  not  indeed  its  substance, 
which  comes  from  God,  but  assuredly  its  logical  completeness  and  scien- 
t  fie  form.^ 

'  This  view,  that  truth  is  always  older  than  the  corresponding  heresy,  is  grounded  in 
the  nature  of  the  case  (the  original  always  going  before  the  adulteration  or  caricature), 
and  was  clearly  brought  out  already  by  Tertullian  in  many  passages.  Thus  he  says, 
De  praescr.  Iiaer.  c.  29  :  "  Sed  enim  in  omnibus  Veritas  imaginem  antecedit,  post  rem 
similitudo  succedit."  According  to  the  reverse,  pantheistic  view  of  history  taken  b}' 
the  modern  Tubingen  school  of  Baur,  Strauss,  Schwegler,  Zeller,  etc.,  orthodoxy,  on 
the  contrary,  proceeds  from  heresy,  truth  from  falsehood,  and  good  from  evil.  The 
most  consistent  development  of  this  principle  is  the  ingenious  theological  romance  of 
Dr.  Schwegler,  entitled  :  "  Das  nachapostolische  Zeitalter,"  which  would  make  the 
Christianity  of  the  church  a  product  of  Ebionism  in  its  conflict  with  Gnosticism.  This 
same  philosophy  of  history— pardon  the  allusion  !— Gothe  puts  very  properly  into  the 
mouth  of  Mephistopheles,  who  thus  characterizes  himself: 

"  Ich  bin  ein  Theil  des  Theils,  der  Anfangs  Alles  war, 
Ein  Theil  der  Finsterniss,  die  sich  das  Licht  gebar, 
Das  stolze  Licht,  das  nun  der  Mutter  Nacht 
Den  alten  Rang,  den  Raum  ihr  streitig  macht." 
'  feo  to  the  Rationalists  and  the  above-named  Hegelian  Gnostics  we  cannot  deny  the 
merit  of  having  involuntarily  done  essential   service  to  the  believing  theology  of  the 
present,  as  their  forerunners  in  the  early  church  did  to  the  patristic  literature. 


652  §  166.      CLASSIFICATION  AND  GENERAL  CHAEACTEK      [v.  BOOK. 

Heresies,  therefore,  belong  to  the  process,  by  which  the  Christian 
truth,  received  in  simple  faith,  becomes  clearly  defined  as  an  object  of 
knowledge.  They  are  the  negative  occasions,  the  challenges,  for  the 
church  to  defend  her  views  of  truth,  and  to  set  them  forth  in  complete, 
scientific  form. 

§  166.  Classification  and  General  Character  of  the  Heresies. 
The  proper  division  of  the  heresies  of  the  first  period  is  suggested  by 
our  classification  of  the  doctrinal  systems  of  the  apostks  ;  for  the  former 
precisely  correspond  to  the  latter,  as  their  respective  excesses  and  carica- 
tures. As  the  church  fell  into  the  two  sections  of  Jewish  and  Gentile 
Christianity,  difiTerent  indeed,  but  consistent,  bound  together  in  love,  and 
each  the  complement  of  the  other  ;  and  as  these  after  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  grew  together  in  a  higher,  organic  unity,  represented  by  John  ;' 
so  we  shall  have,  in  the  first  place,  to  distinguish  two  leading  heretical 
tendencies,  of  which  the  first  proceeded  from  Judaism,  the  second  from 
Heathenism,  so  adulterating  the  Gospel  with  one  or  the  other  of  these 
two  old  systems  of  religion,  that,  though  Christian  in  form  and  name, 
they  were  in  fact  Jewish  or  heathen  The  first  tendency  is  the  heretical 
or  ultra-  and  pseudo-Jacobite  and  pseudo-Petrine  Jewish  Christianity,  or 
the  Judaizing^  and  legalistic  tendency,  which  in  the  second  century 
separated  completely  from  the  catholic  church  under  the  name  of  Ebion- 
ism.  The  second  is  the  heretical  or  ultra-  and  pseudo-Pauline  Gentile 
Christianity,  containing  the  germs  of  Gnosticism  and  Antinoviianism , 
which  in  the  latter  part  of  the  apostolic  period  were  already  very  power- 
fully and  dangerously  at  work,  although  they  did  not  appear  in  fully 
developed  form  till  the  time  of  Adrian.  Then  they  came  out  in  a  suc- 
cession of  schools  and  systems  widely  differing  again  among  themselves, 
according  to  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  heathen  element  and  its  rela- 
tion to  the  two  other  rehgions.  As,  however,  there  arose  combinations 
of  Jewish  and  pagan  ideas,  particularly  in  the  sect  of  the  Essenes  and 
the  Judaeo-Platonic  philosophy  of  Philo,''  so  might  these  two  opposite 
systems  coalesce  in  some  confused  way  under  the  Christian  name  and 
Christian  forms  of  expression.  This  syncretistic  heresy,  which  forms  in 
some  sense  the  satanic    caricature  of  the  true  reconciliation  of  Jewish 

'  Comp.  above,  ^  156. 

'  The  expressions  Judaistic  and  Judaizing,  are  not  to  be  confounded,  therefore,  with 
Jewish-Christian.  The  latter  primarily  denotes  sinnply  national  origin  and  character, 
and  refers  to  Judaism  in  its  purity,  as  a  divine  revelation  leading  to  Christ.  The  others 
always  include  the  idea  of  an  impure  combination  of  the  human  and  degenerate  Jewish 
principle  with  the  Christian.  Comp  also  Schliemaun  :  Die  Ctementinen,  etc.,  p.  31i 
sq.     Note. 

'  Comp.  above,  §  50  and  51. 


DOCTRINE.]  OF    THE    HERESIES.  653 

and  Gentile  Christianity  in  John's  doctrinal  system,  may  be  called,  ac- 
cording as  one  or  the  other  element  predominates,  Gnosticizing  Judaism 
or  Judaizing  Gnosticism.  The  Gnostic  appearances  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment are  mostly  of  this  mixed  sort. 

In  the  time  of  Paul  controversy  turned  chiefly  on  the  relation  between 
the  law  and  the  Gospel.     Here  men   might  err  in  two  directions.     The 
Gospel  might  either  be  made  a  new  law  of  bondage  or  abused  to  the 
indulgence  of  the  flesh.     The   first  error  was  Pharisaical,   the    second 
pagan.     Between  legalism  and  antinomianism  lies  the  ascetic  contempt  of 
the  body,  seen  in  the  Colossian  errorists.     But  the  question  of  the  im- 
port of  the  law  necessarily  involved  the  other:     "What  think  ye  of 
Christ  ?"     In  process  of  time  the  conflict  between  Christian  truth  and 
antichristian  falsehood  came  more  and  more  to  centre  in  Christology  and 
reached  its  height  in  the  age  of  St.  John.    This  apostle  strikes  the  deepest 
root  of  the  heresy,  when  he  gives  as  its  distinctive  mark  the  denial  of  the 
appearance  of  the  Son  of  God  in  the  flesh,  or  of  the  absolute  reconcilia- 
tion of  the  divine  and  human  in  Christ,  and  hence  calls  it  "antichrist" 
(1  Jno,  2  :  22.     4  :  1-3.     2  Jno.  t).     He  here  has  primarily  in  his  eye, 
no  doubt,  the  Gnostic  view  of  the  person  of  Christ,  which  denied  directly 
or  indirectly  the  reality  of  the  Lord's  human  nature,  and  became  very 
prevalent  even  during  the  life-time  of  the  apostle.     But  the  same  criterion 
niay  be  applied  also  to  the  other  heresies.     The  mystery  of  the  incarna- 
tion may  be  annulled  in  three  ways  :   ( 1 )  by  denying  the  diviiie  nature 
of  Jesus  Christ,  (2)  by  denying  his  human  nature,  (3)    by  holding  a 
merely  transient  union  of    a  common    Jew,  Jesus,  with  the  heavenly 
Messiah  (in  the  baptism  in  Jordan)  and  a  subsequent  separation  of  the 
two  (at  the' beginning  of  the  passion).     In  the  first  case  the  heresy  is 
Ebionism  ;  in  the  second,  proper  Docetism  and  heathen  Gnosticism  ;  in 
the  third,  which  unites  the  errors  of  the  other  two,  we  have  what  is 
supposed  to  have  been  the  view  of  Cerinthus,  a  later  contemporary  of 
John.     In  all,  the  foundation  of  the  church  is  undermined.     For  if  Christ 
is  not  the  God-man  in  the  full  sense  of  the  term,  and  that  permanently.  He 
is  not  the  mediator  and  reconciler  between  God  and  man.     Our  hope  is 
gone.     All  Christianity  sinks  back  either  into  Judaism  or  Heathenism. 
It  is  easy  to  see,  how  all  partial  heresies,  which  have  since  made  their 
appearance  in  church  history,  stand  connected  more  or  less  closely  with 
one  of  these  primary  forms,  and  with  the  question  :  "  What  think  ye  of 
Christ  ?"     The  correct  and  complete  solution  of  the  christological  ques- 
tion is  accordingly  the  best  refutation  of  all  errors  of  faith. 


654  §    167.       JUDAISTIC   HEKESIES.  fv.  BOOK. 

§  161.  Judaistic  Heresies.     Pharisaic  or  Legalistic  Judaism. 

According  to  the  design  of  its  divine  founder  and  in  the  inmost 
tendency  of  its  nature,  Judaism  was  a  positive  and  direct  preparation  for 
Christianity,  destined  to  resolve  itself  into  the  latter,  as  the  morning 
twilight  into  the  perfect  day,  or  the  bud  into  the  fruit/  But  under  the 
influence  of  human  depravity  it  for  the  most  part  either  took  the  attitude 
of  full  hostility  to  the  Gospel,  crucifying  Christ,  persecuting  his  apostles, 
and  thrusting  them  out  of  the  synagogues  ;  or  came  into  mere  external 
association  with  the  Christian  religion,  and  corrupted  it  with  Jewish 
leaven.  This  nominally  Christian  Judaism,  which  had  been  baptized 
only  with  water,  not  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  fire,  was  the  first 
error,  which  made  its  appearance  in  the  Christian  church.  It  showed 
itself  particularly  in  opposition  to  Paul,  the  liberal  apostle  of  the  Gen- 
tiles ;  and  though  amply  refuted  by  him  it  is  continually  re-appearing,  as 
well  as  the  opposite  errors  of  heathen  origin,  in  variously  modified  forms. 
To  tliis  day  man  's  in  his  nature  predominantly  Jewish  or  predominantly 
heathen  ;  and,  so  long  as  the  church  is  militant,  this  nature  will  re-act 
against  the  revelation  and  the  grace  of  God.'^ 

As  Judaism  was  at  that  time  divided  into  three  different  sects,'  we 
should  expect  also  three  corresponding  forms  of  perverted  Christianity  : 
(1)  the  Pharisaic,  or  rigidly  legal  heresy  ;  (2)  the  Sadducistic,  or  lax 
and  frivolous  (theoretically  skeptical  or  rationalistic,  and  practically 
materialistic);  (3)  the  Essenic,  or  theosophic,  mystico-speculative,  and 
ascetic,  with  more  or  less  admixture  of  heathenism.  These  three  de- 
generate forms  of  Judaism  and  Jewish-Christianity  would  then  corres- 
pond to  the  Stoic,  the  Epicurean,  and  the  Platonic  tendencies  in  the 
heathen  world.  The  first  and  third  forms  meet  us  very  often  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  appear  more  systematically  developed  in  the  Ebionisra 
of  the  second  century  (from  the  reign  of  Adrian  onward),  which  was 
likewise  divided  into  the  practical  Pharisaic  and  the  speculative  Gnostic 
branches.  The  Jewish  Sadducism  had,  indeed,  like  the  Grecian  Epicu- 
reanism, too  little  moral  and  religious  earnestness  to  take  any  deep  and 
general  interest  in  Christianity.  Yet  a  way  of  thinking  corresponding 
to  this  also  we  find  in  the  church  in  tlie  form  of  unbridled  antinomian- 
ism  ;  which,  however,  sprang  not  so  much  from  Sadducism  as  from  gross 
misconception  of  Paul's  doctrine,  and  arose  upon  Gentile-Grecian  soil. 

'  Comp.  above,  §  47. 

'^  We  may  say  in  general,  that  Catholicism  is  e.Kposed  to  the  temptations  and  dangers 
of  legal  Judaism  :  Protestantism,  to  those  of  licentious  heathenism.  Yet  on  both  sides 
are  found,  as  even  in  the  apostolic  period,  combinations  of  these  opposite  errors. 

"  Comp.  above,  ^  49. 


DOCTRINE.]  PHARISAIC,    OR   LEGALISTIC   JUDAISM.  655 

We  take  up  first  the  Pharisaico-Judaistic  tendency,  or  the  stiff  leo-alism 
in  the  apostolic  church.  This,  as  we  see  from  Acts  15  :  1,  5,  first  showed 
itself  clearly  in  the  church  of  Jerusalem  in  the  year  50,  and  gave  the 
immediate  occavsion  for  the  apostolic  council.  It  held,  indeed,  that  th« 
Messiah  appeared  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  But  this  was  the  only  thino- 
which  distinguished  it  from  the  proper  Pharisaism  ;  and  even  in  its 
notion  of  the  Messiah  it  was  most  probably  as  firmly  bound  as  the  later 
Ebionism  to  the  gross  and  carnal  notions  of  the  vulgar  Judaism.  The 
well-known  peculiarities  of  the  Pharisaic  sect,  which  subsequently  took  a 
fixed  form  in  the  Talmud, — stiff,  bigoted  legalism  and  self-righteousness, 
pedantic  scrupulosity  in  respect  to  outward  forms  and  usages, — it  trans- 
ferred to  Christianity  ;  adhering  particularly  to  the  principle,  which 
after  the  conversion  of  Cornelius  was  expressly  condemned  by  God  him- 
self (Acts  10),  and  also  by  the  apostolic  council  (c.  15),  that  circum- 
cision and  the  observance  of  the  whole  Jewish  ceremonial  law  was  indis- 
pensable to  salvation,  and  that,  therefore,  whoever  would  be  a  true 
Christian,  must  be  at  the  same  time,  outwardly  and  inwardly,  a  strict 
Jew.  Of  the  newness,  the  creative  spirit  and  life,  and  the  universality 
of  Christianity,  it  never  dreamed  ;  but  sought  to  compress  the  Christian 
religion  within  the  narrow  lines  of  a  Jewish  sect.  It  is  true,  the  Judaists 
did  not  come  out  always  with  the  same  boldness,  and  particularly  after 
the  apostolic  council  some  of  them,  at  least  in  the  Greek  churches, 
changed  their  tactics.  But  even  where  they  showed  themselves  some- 
what liberal,  they  still  asserted  the  superiority  of  the  circumcised 
Christians,  insisted  on  their  separating  themselves  from  the  uncircumcised 
Gentile-Christians  (Gal.  2:11  sqq.),  and  considered  the  latter  scarcely 
better  than  proselytes  of  the  gate.  As  all  heretics  are  ready  to  appeal 
to  the  Scriptures  (as  interpreted  by  themselves),  so  these  errorists,  to  gain 
the  greater  acceptance,  referred  to  the  Jewish  apostles, — the  stricter 
party  to  James  (Gal.  2  :12),  the  more  moderate  to  Cephas,  who  had 
been  placed  in  so  high  a  position  by  the  Lord  himself.  But  of  course 
they  had  no  right  to  make  such  use  of  these  apostles,  who  in  fact  in  the 
year  50  refused  to  put  upon  the  Gentile-Christians  the  burden  of  the 
ceremonial  law,  owned  them  as  brethren  without  their  being  circumcised, 
and  fully  agreed  with  Paul  in  the  maxim,  that  no  human  work,  but  only 
the  grace  of  Jesus  Christ  and  living  faith  in  him  can  save.' 

Another  characteristic  of  the  Pharisaic  Judaizers  was  an  inexorable 
hatred  of  Paul.  They  regarded  him  not  as  a  legitimate  apostle  at  all, 
but  as  a  religious  revolutionist,  who  unsparingly  trampled  under  foot 
the  sacred  traditions  of  the  Mosaic  religion  and  the  authority  of  the 
divine  law,  introduced  the  greatest  confusion,  and  turned  away  the  mass 
^  Acts  15.     Gal.  2.     1  Pet.  5  :  12.     2  Pet.  3  :  15. 


656  §  167.    JUDAisnc  hkkesies.  ["*'■  book. 

of  the  Jews  from  Christianity.  Hence  they  everywhere  endeavored, 
and  in  some  cases  not  without  success,  particularly  in  the  Galatian 
churches,  to  undermine  his  authority  and  influence,  to  bring  his  motives 
under  suspicion,  and  in  every  way  to  embitter  his  life.'  The  epistles  to 
the  Galatians  and  Romans,  and  the  two,  especially  the  second,  to  the 
Corinthians,  cannot  be  at  all  understood  historically,  without  continual 
reference  to  this  slavish,  bigoted  legalism  and  anti-Pauliuism  and  its 
malicious  machinations. 

These  Judaistic  errorists,  or  "false  brethren  unawares  brought  in " 
(Gal.  2  :  4),  should  by  no  means  be  confounded  with  the  "weak  breth- 
ren" (Rom.  14  :  1  sqq.  15  :  1  sqq.),  i.  e.  the  Jewish  Christians,  who 
for  their  own  part  moved,  indeed,  with  scrupulous  conscientiousness  in 
the  traditional  forms  of  the  Mosaic  religion,  yet  at  the  same  time  refer- 
red all  salvation  to  Christ,  and  recognized  the  free  Gentile-Christians  as 
brethren  in  the  Lord.  Towards  these  Paul  according  to  his  maxim,  1 
Cor.  9  :  19,  was  exceedingly  indulgent,  and,  as  maybe  seen  from  Rom. 
14  and  15,  1  Cor.  8  and  9,  his  collections  for  the  poor  churches  in  Judea, 
and  his  conduct  during  his  last  visit  in  Jerusalem,  claimed  for  them 
brotherly  love  and  forbearance.  But  in  opposition  to  the  other  errorists 
he — himself  once,  in  Pharisaic  blindness  and  mistaken  zeal,  a  persecutor 
of  the  church  of  Christ — was  inflexible  ;  for  they  annulled  the  proper 
essence  of  the  gospel ;  wished  to  replace  the  old  yoke  of  legal  bondage 
and  pupilary  religion  ;  spread  division  everywhere  in  his  churches,  espe- 
cially in  Galatia  and  Corinth,  and  even  in  Philippi  f  and  in  all  this 
sought  their  own  glory  far  more  than  Christ's.  To  this  great  contro- 
versy of  the  Gentile  apostle  with  the  Pharasaic  Judaizers  we  ow^e  the 
masterly  and  unfathomably  profound  exhibitions  of  the  evangelical  doc- 
trines of  the  law  and  the  gospel,  sin  and  grace,  bondage  and  freedom, 

■  The  later  Ebionites  also  had  an  unconquerable  hatred  of  the  apostle  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, and  condemned  all  his  epistles  as  heretical,  while  they  extolled  James  and  Peter 
to  the  skies.  According  to  Epiphanius  (Haer.  I.  2,  §  26),  they  circulated  respecting 
Paul  the  ridiculous  lie,  that  he  was  originally  a  heathen  of  Tarsus,  then  passed  over  to 
Judaism  at  Jerusalem  from  love  to  a  daughter  of  the  high  priest,  but  apostatized  again 
in  consequence  of  disappointment  in  the  desired  marriage,  and  out  of  spite  wrote 
against  circumcision  and  the  Sabbath.  The  Pseudoclementine  Homilies  (comp.  par- 
ticularly Horn.  XVIf.c.  19  with  Gal- 2  :  9-11)  represent  him,  under  the  figure  of 
Simon  Magus,  as  a  seducer,  and  the  patriarch  of  all  heretics.  The  anti-Jewish 
Gnostics,  on  the  contrary,  hated  the  elder  Jewish  apostles,  condemned  their  writings, 
and  appealed  all  the  more  zealously  to  Paul,  whom,  however,  they  of  course  com- 
pletely caricatured. 

^  That  the  Judaizers  gained  foothold  also  in  Philippi  has  been  by  m.any,  indeed, 
denied,  but  seems  clear  from  Phil.  1  :  15-18  and  3  :  2  sqq.,  where  the  apostle  even 
calls  them  "dogs,'"  and.  with  sarcastic  allusion  to  their  self-righteous  and  heretical  zeal 
for  circumcision,  the  '•concision"  (/iararo/i;/). 


DOCTRINE.]  §  168.      ESSENIC   OR   GNOSTIC   JUDAISM.  657 

faith  and  justification,  which  lie  before  us  in  his  epistles.  Through  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the  spread  of  Christianity  among  the  Gen- 
tiles, this  Pharisaico-Christiau  particularism  necessarily  lost  by  degrees 
its  signiBcance,  at  least  out  of  Palestine  ;  and,  though  it  perpetuated 
itself  in  the  second  century  in  Ebiouism,  yet  even  in  this  shape  it  had 
nothing  like  the  currency  or  the  influence  on  the  church,  which  the  oppo- 
site heresy  of  Gnosticism  possessed.  But  the  Judaistic  tendency  did  not 
seek  to  maintain  itself  everywhere  on  these  Pharisaic  principles.  A  part 
of  it,  even  in  the  life-time  of  Paul,  took  a  more  refined,  and  for  earnest, 
philosophically  educated  Gentiles,  more  plausible  form,  to  the  considera- 
tion of  which  we  now  pass. 

§  168.  E)5senic  or  Gnostic  Judaism. 
The  Essenic  Judaizing  tendency,  as  a  heresy  in  the  Christian  church, 
meets  us  first  towards  the  close  of  Paul's  labors  and  among  the  churches  of 
Asia  Minor.     It  is  characterized  by  a  mixture  of  Christian  ideas,  and  a 

Christian  confession  with  the  thcosophic  or  mystico-speculative  and  the 
ascetic  elements  of  the  Essenes  and  the  kindred  Therapeutae,  who  accord- 
ing to  the  explicit  testimony  of  Philo  were  widely  spread  over  Egypt.' 
These   sects,  whose  special  object  it  was  to  reach  a  deeper  knowledge 

(Gnosis)  and  greater  moral  perfection  than  was  attainable  in  the  com- 
mon Judaism,  soon,  of  course,  felt  themselves  attracted  to  Christianity  ; 
but,  instead  of  submitting  to  the  gospel  in  its  simplicity,  they  molded  it 
to  their  own  taste.  This  was  the  origin  of  that  Judaizing  Gnosticism, 
which  was  more  clearly  and  fully  developed  in  the  second  century  in  the 
remarkable  system  of  the  Pseudoclementine  Homilies  and  in  kindred 
heretical  productions.  But  as  even  in  Esseuism  and  Therapeutism,  and 
no  less  in  the  Platonico-Jewish  system  of  Philo,  the  influence  of  heathen 
religion  and  speculation,  both  Oriental  and  Hellenic  (Platonic  and  Pyth- 
agorean), is  demonstrable  ;"  so  with  this  Christian  heresy  ;  and  for  this 
reason  some  scholars  distinctly  classify  it  with  the  heathen  or  proper 
Gnosis.'  In  fact  it  is  hard  to  say,  as  also  in  the  case  of  many  of  the  heret- 
ical phenomena  of  the  second  century,  whether  they  belong  to  the  strictly 
Judaizing  tendency  or  to  the  proper  Gnosticism  ;  unless  with  Schliemann,* 
we  make  the  doctrine  of  the  Demiurge,  or  a  creator  of  the  world  differ- 

'  Comp.  above,  §  49  and  51. 

"  On  the  affinity  of  these  Jewish  sects  with  Pythagoreanism,  the  reader  should  com- 
pare Gfrorer ;  Krit.  Gesch.  des  Urckrislcnthums,  I.  2.  p.  352  sqq. 

'^  A  modern  English  divine,  Stanley,  on  the  contrary,  regards  all  the  heretics  attacked 
by  Paul,  and  even  those  combated  by  Peter,  Jude,  and  John,  as  Judaizers.  But  against 
this  Conybeare  and  Howson,  in  their  work  on  St.  Paul,  I.  p.  490-492,  have  entered 
very  well-founded  objections. 

*  Die  Clementinen,  p.  539. 

42 


658  §  168.       ESSENIC   OR   GNOSTIC   JUDAISM.  [^-  ^OOK. 

ing  from  the  supreme  God,  the  infallible  mark  of  Gnosticism.  Of  a 
demiurge,  however,  we  find  no  clear  traces  in  the  New  Testament  ;  even 
in  the  obscure  passage,  2  Pet.  2  :  10  {Sd^ag  ov  rpe/iovac  plaacpTi/iovvTeg,  comp. 
Jude  8).  Yet  one  may  say,  that  the  extreme  depreciation  of  matter 
and  body,  which  we  find  opposed  in  Col.  2  :  23  and  1  Tim.  4  :  3,  bor- 
ders on  and  logically  leads  to  the  notion  of  the  demiurge.  Though  all 
the  forms  of  Gnosticism,  the  Judaizing  among  the  rest,  are  more  or  less 
affected  with  latent  heathen  elements,  yet  it  cannot  be  asserted  that 
speculation  is  in  the  nature  of  the  case  foreign  to  Judaism.  This  is  con- 
tradicted not  only  by  the  later  Cabbala,  but  also  by  the  Old  Testament 
books  of  Proverbs  and  Job,  and  by  the  apocryphal  literature  in  general. 
The  great  matter  was,  whether  the  spirit  of  philosophical  and  theological 
inquiry  was  guided  by  the  spirit  of  the  divine  revelation,  or  took  its  own 
course.  In  the  latter  case  it  certainly  always  ran  more  or  less  into  the 
errors  of  heathen,  speculation. 

1.  Among  these  Judaizing  Gnostics  or  Essenic  Judaists  we  reckon 
first  the  false  teachers  of  Coiosse  in  Phrygia,  where,  as  the  Montanism 
(altogether  anti-Gnostic  however)  of  the  second  and  third  centuries 
shows,  the  people  were  constitutionally  inclined  to  religious  fanaticism. 
We  become  acquainted  with  these  errorists  chiefly  from  details  of  their 
system  hinted  at  in  the  second  chapter  of  the  epistle  to  the  Colossians. 
Paul  here  combats  their  view,'  but  much  more  leniently  than  the  Phari- 
saic legalism  in  the  Galatian  churches,  because  it  was  far  less  developed 
and  less  hostile  to  himself.  Their  speculative  character  is  plain  from 
Col.  2  :  4,  where  the  apostle  speaks  of  their  "enticing  words"  {m^avo- 
?M-yta),  and  V.  8,  where  he  warns  his  readers  against  their  philosophy: 
*'  Beware  lest  any  man  spoil  you  through  philosophy  and  vain  deceit, 
after  the  tradition  of  men  (in  opposition  to  the  certain,  reliable  revela- 
tion of  God),  after  the  rudiments  of  the  world,''  and  not  after  Christ."* 
Probably  the  reference  here  is  to  the  mystic,  symbolical  philosophy, 
which  Philo  ascribes  to  the  Essenes  and  Therapeutae."     In  contrast  with 

'  Comp.  above,  §  86,  p.  324. 

"  Ta  aroixela  tov  Koajuov,  comp.  v.  20  and  Gal.  4  :  3,  9.  Most  commentators  refer 
this  to  the  Jewish  ceremonial  law  as  a  pupilary  religion  designed  for  spiritual  childhood. 

'  This  passage  is  frequently,  but  altogether  unjustly,  viewed  as  a  condemnation  of 
all  philosophy.  Paul  is  evidently  warning  his  readers  only  against  a  particular  kind 
of  philosophy,  which,  he  hints  in  the  words  ksvt/c  utvcIttiq,  does  not  merit  the  name  of 
philosophy  at  ail,  but  is  an  inanis  fallacia.  Calixtus  has  well  observed  against  this 
abuse  of  the  passage  :  "  Si  dicam,  vide  ne  decipiat  vinum,  nee  vinum  damno,  nee  usum 
ejus  accuso,  sed  de  vitando  abusu  moneo." 

*  The  (l>i.'Xoao<pia  did  av/i^So^.tov.  Perhaps  the  Colossian  errorists  already,  as  after- 
wards the  oriental  anchorets  and  monks,  designated  their  whole  mode  of  life  (piXoao- 
<t>ia  and  <pc2.6(jo(jiog  j3cog,  an  anticipation  of  the  vita  angelica. 


DOCTRINE.]  g    168.       ESSENIC    OK   GNOSTIC   JUDAISM.  659 

this  false  wisdom  of  men  the  apostle  emphatically  represents  Christ  as 
the  source  and  sum  of  all  genuine  knowledge,  wisdom,  and  spiritual 
understanding  (1:9.     2:3). 

With  their  mystic  philosophy  the  Colossian  errorists  set  a  high  value  on 
sacred  rites,  especially  circumcision  (to  which  Paul  opposes  the  spiritual 
circumcision  of  Christ,  2  :  11),  and  scrupulously  observed  the  Jewish 
laws  respecting  food  and  yearly,  monthly,  and  weekly  feasts, — shadows 
of  the  true  body,  which  had  appeared  in  Christ  (2  :  16).  Here  they 
coincided  with  the  Pharisaical  errorists  (conip.  Gal.  4  :  9,  10).  But 
with  these  Judaistic  views  and  practices  they  associated  a  rigid  asceti- 
cism, a  mortification  of  the  body  {d<pei6ia  o6fiaTo^,  2  :  23),  which  went 
beyond  anything  in  Pharisaism  or  the  whole  Old  Testament,  not  except- 
ing even  the  prescriptions  for  the  Kazarite  (comp.  Nu.  c.  6).  This  in 
all  probability  sprang  from  a  pagan  dualistic  view  of  the  world,  which 
made  matter  and  body  in  themselves  evil,  and  redemption  a  gradual  de- 
struction of  the  bodily  nature.  The  conception  of  the  body  as  the  work 
of  the  devil  we  find  in  all  the  Gnostic  and  Manichean  sects.  The  Scrip- 
tures, on  the  contrary,  make  the  clearest  distinction  between  body  and 
flesh,  representing  the  former  as  the  work  of  God,  and  the  temple  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  but  the  latter  as  the  perversion  of  a  nature  in  itself  origi- 
nally good,  as  the  selfish,  sinful  principle.  Finally,  these  Colossian 
errorists  practiced  under  the  garb  of  humility  the  worship  of  angels 
{^priGKEia  Tuv  uyyE?Mv,  2  :  18),  soaring  into  transcendental  regions  and 
probably  pretending  to  be  conversant  through  visions  with  the  mysteries 
of  the  upper  world  of  spirits,'  instead  of  holding  to  Christ,  the  Creator 
of  angels,  the  revealed  Head  of  the  church,  and  communing  with  God 
through  Him.  To  many  commentators  this  passage,  indeed,  suggests  the 
Gnostic  aeons  ;  but  it  seems  more  naturally  to  refer  to  the  "  thrones, 
dominions,  principalities,  and  powers"  of  the  later  Jewish  angelology  ( 1  : 
16).*  To  the  necessity  of  meeting  this  error  we  owe  some  of  Paul's  pro- 
foundest  disclosures  respecting  Christ's  person  and  relation  to  the  church. 

2.  Under  the  head  of  this  Gnosticizing  Judaism  belong  also  the  error- 

^  In  Col.  2  :  18  there  is  a  remarkable  difference  of  readings.  The  textus  receptus 
reads  :  a  [ifj  iupanev  efijSarevuv,  while  Lachmann  and  Tischendorf.  on  the  best  criti- 
cal authorities,  omit  the  /lltj.  Either  reading,  however,  gives  a  good  sense,  as  we  have 
indicated  in  tiie  text. 

^  In  support  of  this  interpretation  are  the  facts,  that  still  later  the  35th  canon  of  the 
Laodicean  council  forbids  the  invocation  of  angels;  that  there  was  still  standing  in  the 
middle  ages  in  Chonae  (Colosse)  a  temple  of  the  archangel  Michael ;  and  other  lacts 
adduced  by  Wetstein,  Steiger  (Comment,  zum  Kol.  br.  p.  31),  and  Thiersch  {Versuck 
zur  Herstellung,  etc.  p.  272).  Among  the  Essenes,  according  to  Josephus,  sacred  names 
of  the  angels  were  revealed  to  the  initiated  De  bell.  Jud.  II.  8.  §  7.  Comp.  the  note 
on  this  by  the  English  translator,  Whiston,  vol.  H.  p.  249,  Philad.  ed.). 


660  §  168.      ESSENIC   OR   GNOSTIC   JUDAISM.  [v-  BOOK 

ists  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles.  Yet  the  Esseuic  origin  of  these  cannot  be 
so  easily  shown,  nor,  consequently,  the  line  so  sharply  drawn  between 
them  and  the  heathen  Gnostics.  Hence  they  may  be  called  with  about 
equal  propriety  Judaizing  Gnostics  or  Gnostic  Judaizers.  It  was  one 
great  object  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles  to  warn  Timothy  and  Titus  of  the 
commencement  and  canker-like  spread  of  apostasy  from  the  pure  apostolic 
tradition  or  from  the  "  sound  doctrine."'  These  heretics  must  be  looked 
for  particularly  in  Ephesus  and  its  yicinity.  For  here  Timothy  was 
residing  f"''  here  was  a  rendezYOUs  of  heathen  and  Jewish  superstition 
and  magic  ;''  here,  according  to  Paul's  prophecy  in  his  valedictory  at 
Miletus,  A.D.  58,  were  to  arise  after  his  departure  "grievous  wolves" 
from  among  the  Ephesian  presbyters  themselves  ;^  finally,  the  epistle  to 
the  Ephesians  also,  A.  D.  62  or  63,  opposes,  not  indeed  openly  and 
directly,  but  assuredly  indirectly,  by  the  positive  development  of  truth,  a 
Gnostic  error  similar  to  that  attacked  in  the  very  closely  allied  epistle  to 
the  Colossians,  and  contrasts  with  its  vain  mock  wisdom  the  true  saving 
knowledge  of  Christ  and  his  church.  We  have  every  reason,  therefore, 
to  place  the  rise  of  this  Judaizing  Gnosis  at  the  end  of  the  sixth  or  be- 
ginning of  the  seventh  decade  of  the  first  century.  From  the  epistle  in 
the  Apocalypse  to  the  angel  of  the  church  of  Ephesus  (2  :  2,  6)  it  ap- 
pears, that  this  congregation  at  the  end  of  the  first  century  firmly  with- 
stood the  errorists,  indeed,  but  in  its  zeal  for  orthodoxy  neglected  prac- 
tical Christianity,  the  active  duties  of  love. 

In  examining  the  passages  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  which  are  con- 
cerned with  heresies,'  we  derive  great  assistance  from  comparing  these 

*  'Tyiaivovaa  6i.6aaKalia,  1  Tim.    1:10.     2  Tim.  4  :  3.     Tit.  1:9.     2:1. 
»  1  Tim.  1:3.     2  Tim.  1  :  15,  18.     4  :  19. 

*  Acts  19  :  13  sqq.     Comp.  above,  §  76. 

*  Acts  20  :  29,  30.  We  have  on  a  former  occasion  observed,  that  this  passage  is  not 
inconsistent  with  the  earlier  presence  of  errors  in  the  congregation,  as  in  fact  it  speaks 
particularly  of  heretical  ^resfij/^crs  (comp.  e^  vjiuv  avTuv) ;  and  that  it  cannot,  therefore,  be 
used  as  evidence  of  a  later  date  of  the  first  epistle  to  Timothy;  the  less,  since  this 
epistle  itself,  and  even  the  still  later  second  epistle  to  Timothy,  represent  some  of  the 
errors  as  yet  in  the  future. 

••  These  are:  Tit.  1  :  9-16.  3  :  9-11.  1  Tim.  1  :  3,  4  6,  7,  19,  20.  4  :  1-8.  6  : 
3-5,  20,  21.— 2  Tim.  2  :  16-18, 23.  3  •  1-9, 13.  4  :  3,  4.  Besides  these  there  may  be 
a  fevvf  passages  indirectly  opposing  errors;  though  Baur  has  unquestionably  sought  far 
too  many  such  allusions.  Most  investigators  of  this  intricate  subject  suppose,  that 
Paul  in  these  epistles  contends  everywhere  against  substantially  the  same  unsound 
tendency  :  and  this  is  certainly  supported  by  the  similarity  of  the  expressions  in  the 
various  passages,  as  /Mracoloyia,  /iv'&oi,  j£V€a?i.oy(.ai,  etc.  Thiersch,  on  the  contrary, 
in  his  book  on  the  criticism  of  the  N.  T.  Scriptures,  p.  236  sq  and  274,  proposes  to 
distinguish  three  kinds  of  errorists  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles :  (1)  Common  Judaizersi 
who  were,  properly  speaking,  not  so  much  heretical  as  obstinate  and  morally  perverse, 


UOCTRINE.]  ERRORISTS    OF    THE   PASTORAL   EPISTLES.  661 

errors  with  the  subsequent  kindred  phenomena  of  the  second  century. 
Yet  we  should  not  identify  them  with  these  later  heresies,  as  Baur,  to 
make  out  his  case  against  the  genuineness  of  these  epistles,  has  done. 
We  may  very  naturally,  and  we  must  necessarily,  suppose,  that  the 
Gnostic  ideas  were  ou  their  first  appearance  very  indefinite,  crude  and 
chaotic.  They  form  the  necessary  links,  which  connect  the  ante-Christian 
Judaism  and  Heathenism  with  the  fully  developed  heretical  systems, 
which  meet  us  from  the  reign  of  Adrian  onward.  Paul  himself  more  than 
once  says,  that,  according  to  the  prophetic  testimony  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
the  dangerous  errors,  against  which  he  so  earnestly  warns  his  disciples, 
were  further  to  develope  and  diffuse  themselves  in  future.' 

The  system  attacked  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles  is  explicitly  character- 
ized in  1  Tim.  6  :  20  as  Gnosis,  i.  e.  higher  knowledge,  which  all  the 
later  Gnostics  fancied  they  possessed,  and  from  which  they  therefore 
named  themselves.  But  Paul  speaks  of  it  at  the  same  as  "falsely  so 
called"  {■)pev6uvv/iog  yvuGLg),  not  properly  meriting  the  name  of  knowledge 

in  the  ep.  to  Titus  and  in  1  Tim.  1:7;  (2)  some  few  spiritualistic  Gnostics,  like 
Hymeneus  and  Philetus,  who  had  "  made  shipwreck  concerning  faith  "  and  were  ex- 
communicated by  the  apostle, — followers  of  the  ipevSuvvfioc  yvcjaig,  1  Tim.  I  :  19, 20. 
6  :  20.  2  Tim.  2 :  16-18,  25 ;  (3)  Goetae,  who  are  compared  to  the  Egyptian  magicians, 
2  Tim.  3  :  1-9.  But  this  classification  certainly  cannot  be  applied  throughout,  and 
introduces  confusion  rather  than  clearness  in  the  exposition.  We  may  remark  in 
general,  that  many  assertions  of  the  otherwise  highly  valuable  treatise  on  the  New 
Testament  heresies  in  the  above  work  of  Thiersch  are  exaggerated  and  untenable. 

'  1  Tim.  4  :  1.  2  Tim.  3  : 1.  4:3.  Comp.  Acts  20  :  29  sq.  So  also  the  historian, 
Hegesippus,  of  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  says,  according  to  the  rather  summary 
statement  of  Eusebius.  III.  32,  that  the  ipevdc^vv/xoi  jvcJaig  did  not  show  itself  with  un- 
covered head  [yvfivy  Xoircdv  y6r)  tjj  Ke^aly)  and  mar  the  virginal  purity  of  the  church 
till  after  the  death  of  the  apostles,  but  previously  wrought  in  secret  (_tv  u,6i'f/M  nov 
OKOTei).  Baur,  in  the  "  Tiibinger  Zeitschrift,"  1838,  No.  3,  p.  27,  and  in  his  work  on 
Paul,  p.  494  (as  well  as  Schwegler  :  Nachapost.  Zeitalter,  II.  p.  137),  has  entirely  mis- 
represented this  passage  by  omitting  what  the  author  says  of  the  previous  secret  work- 
king  of  the  Gnosis  and  substituting  for  the  antithesis  made  by  Hegesippus  of  an  open 
and  concealed  existence  of  the  false  Gnosis  his  own  antithesis  of  an  existence  and  non- 
existence of  it.  Besides,  the  same  Hegesippus,  in  Euseb.  IV.  22,  places  the  rise  of  the 
heresies  in  the  Palestinian  church  in  the  period  immediately  succeeding  the  death  of 
James,  nay,  traces  some  of  them  back  to  Simon  Magus.  The  conclusion,  therefore, 
which  Baur  draws  from  the  testimony  in  Euseb.  III.  32  against  the  genuineness  of  ihe 
Pastoral  Epistles  and  the  letters  of  Ignatius,  of  course  falls  to  the  ground.  Rather  du^.-, 
Hegesippus  prove  by  the  very  terms  he  here  uses  :  ipeviuwiiog  yvuaig,  kTeoodidaanaAoi, 
vyif/g  iiav6v,  that  he  was  already  acquainted  with  the  first  epi«tle  to  Timothy.  For 
that  the  epistle  borrowed  the  terms  from  Hegesippus,  as  Baur  asserts,  is  altogether  too 
preposterous  and  incredible  in  view  of  the  clear  and  strong  testimony  of  Irenaeus,  Cle- 
ment of  Alexandria,  Tertullian,  etc.,  in  favor  of  the  Pauline  origin  of  the  Pastoral 
Epistles. 


662  §  168.     ESSENIC    OK   GNOSTIC   JUDAISM.  [v.  BOOK. 

at  all,  resting  on  mere  arrogant  conceit/  and  running  out  into  unprofitable 
subtleties  and  vain  babblings.''  As  parts  of  this  false  wisdom  are  cited 
"  old  wives'  fables"  and  "  endless  genealogies."^  By  these  we  must  un- 
derstand, however,  not  the  successive  emanations  of  the  higher  spirits, 
the  genealogies  of  aeons,  which  appear  in  the  later  Gnostic  systems,*  but 
the  insipid  fables  and  traditions  of  the  later  Jewish  secret  doctrine  re- 
specting the  times  of  the  patriarchs  and  the  various  orders  of  angels 
(comp.  Col.  2  :  18.  1  :  16),  also  genealogical  investigations,  subtle 
questions  of  the  law,  and  allegorical  interpretations  of  Biblical  narra- 
tives.^ Such  worthless  stories  are  still  found,  as  is  well  known,  in  the 
Talmud  and  in  the  Cabbala  {rvD'np — tradition),  the  elements  of  which  con- 
fessedly existed  already  in  the  first  century,  probably  even  before  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem.  The  correctness  of  our  explanation  is  clear 
from  several  passages.  In  Tit.  1  :  14  these  fables  are  expressly  called 
"Jewish."  Accoi'ding  to  V.  10  these  vain  talkers  and  deceivers  were 
chiefly  the  circumcised  {/idXiara  oi  Ik  nepirop/g) .  In  3  :  9,  in  conjunction 
with  genealogies,  are  placed  "  contentions  and  strivings  about  the  law" 
{tpeig  Kul  fiilxacvo/nmai).  Finally,  the  name  "  teachers  of  the  law" 
{vo/uodi.6dciia^oi,  1  Tim.  1  :  t),  which  these  heretics  assumed,  points  to 
their  Judaistic  origin,  indicating  an  unevangelical  zeal  in  them  for  the 
Mosaic  law,  especially  its  ceremonial  part — a  feature,  with  which  we 
have  already  become  acquainted  as  characteristic  of  the  Colossiau 
heretics.® 

'  Comp.  1  Cor.  8  :  1,  where  yvuai(  is  used  likewise  so  as  to  involve  a  bad  sense  : 
"  Knowledge  puffeth  up,  but  charity  edifieth."     Comp.  the  use  of  ^t/loao^/a,  Col.  2  :  8. 

*  BtjSjjXoL  Kevocpoviai,  1  Tim.  6  :  20.  2  Tim.  2  :  16;  fiaracoXoyia,  1  Tim.  1:6; 
?.oyo/iaxiai,  £s  wv  yivETai  (pOovog^  ^P'f;  P'^(io<^i1fJ-l-O.L,  vnovoiai  TTovTjpai,  6  :  4. 

^  Mv-&oi  Kal  yeveakoylai  uTvepavTOL,  1  Tim.  1:4;  (ic(irj'AOL  kol  ypaudec^  fiv-doi,  4  :  7. 
Comp.  2  Tim.  4  :  4.     Tit.  1:14.     3:9. 

*  As  Dr.  Baur  does  in  his  work  on  the  Pastoral  Epistles  (1835),  p.  12  sq.,  where  he 
refers  to  the  pairs  or  syzygies  of  aeons  emanating  from  one  another,  as  found  in  the 
much  later  Valentinian  system  ;  particularly  to  the  myth  of  Sophia  Achamoth. 

^  Philo,  for  example,  calls  his  allegorical  explanations  of  the  Mosaic  genealogies 
yevea'AoyiKov.  Comp.  Diihne :  "  Studien  und  Kritiken,"  1833,  p.  1008.  So  also 
Thiersch  (1.  c.  p.  274),  Wiesinger(in  his  continuation  of  Olshausen's  Comment.  V  p. 
215),  and  Burton  {Lectures,  p.  114),  understand  the  "'genealogies"  here  in  the  proper 
Jewish  sense ;  which  is  certainly  much  more  natural,  than  to  refer  them  to  the  suc- 
cessive orders  of  aeons  in  the  later  Gnosticism.  Dr.  Burton,  the  most  important  Eng- 
lish authority  on  the  Gnostic  heresies,  endeavors,  by  the  way,  to  show  (p.  304-306) , 
that  the  Gnostic  theories  of  the  aeons  and  their  emanations  were  in  part  derived  from 
Jewish  sources.  "^  The  Cabbala,  for  example,  teaches  of  ten  Sephiroth.  or  emana- 
tions from  God.  At  all  events,  however,  the  Platonic  philosophy  and  the  Oriental 
systems  of  religion  must  be  regarded  also  as  sources  of  Gnosticism. 

'  Baur,  on  the  contrary,  1.  c.  p.  15  sqq.,  altogether  unnaturally  takes  these  "  teachers 
of  the  law,"  who  themselves  wished  to  be  considered  such  (iJe'/lovref  elvat).,  to  have 


DOCTRINE.]  EKKORISTS    OF   THE   PASTOEAL   EPISTLES.  663 

With  this  self-coiiceitecl,  subtle,  and  barren  mock  wisdom  tne  Ephc- 
sian  false  teachers,  like  those  at  Colosse,  seem  to  have  united  an  ascetic 
mode  of  life,  wliich  went  far  beyond  the  Old  Testament  restrictions  re- 
specting food,  and  was  probal^ly  connected  with  a  hylozoistic  and  dual- 
istic  view  of  the  world  and  an  aversion  to  God's  creation.     At  least  the 
apostle,   1  Tim.  4  :  3,    predicts   that   there   should   soon   appear   such 
extravagances,  as  we  actually  find  afterwards  in  the  Gnostic  (Marcionite 
among  the  rest)  and  Mauichean  systems, — the  prohibition  of  marriage 
and  of  certain  kinds  of  food  (probably  animal)  which  God  had  created 
to  be  eaten  with  thanksgiving.'     He  describes  such  precepts  as  "  doc- 
been  just  the  opposite — antinoniians  of  the  school  of  Marcion ;  and  makes  the  fj-uxat 
vofwia'c  strivings  against  the  law  ! — which  verily  reminds  one  of  the  derivation  of  lucus 
a  non  lucendo.     He  appeals,  indeed,  to  v.  8  immediately  following :  OlSafiev  c5e  otl  nalbg 
6  v6/j.og,  lav  rig  aircj  vofii/iug  ;t;p^rai,  whence  it  would  appear  that  those  heretics  set  up 
the  opposite  principle,  that  the  law  was  not  good.     But  these  words  of  the  apostle  are 
rather  to  be  viewed  as  a  concession,  with  a  limitation  added,  as  is  shown  even  by  the 
concessive  oidafcev  and  a  closer  examination  of  v..  9  and  10.     The  law  is  unquestion- 
ably good,  Paul  would  say,  but  not  in  the  sense  in  which  the  false  teachers  assert. 
And  on  these  and  similar  exegetical  artifices  this  critic  builds  the  conclusion,  that  the 
Pastoral  Epistles  have  in  view  the  Marcionite  Gnosis,  and  consequently  cannot  have 
been  written  before  the  middle  of  the  second  century  !     But  this  whole  theory  of  Baar 
respecting  the  Pastoral  Epistles  has  already  been  thoroughly  refuted  by  the  counter 
productions  of  Baumgarten,  Bottger,  and  Thiersch,  and  by  the  latest  commentaries  of 
Huther  and  Wiesinger.     We  only  add,  that  the  most  plausible  part  of  his  argument, 
his  identification  of  the  dvTf&eaeig,  1  Tim.  6  :  20,  with  the  Antitheses  Marcionis  men- 
tioned by  Tertullian,  has  no  support  even  in  the  accidental  verbal  coincidence ;  the 
title  of  Marcion's  work  being  not  'AvriTdtaeig  at  all,  but  'AvTi-Kapa&ecetg.     At  least  so 
it  is  designated  by  Hippolytus  in  his  lately  discovered  refutation  of  heresies.     Comp. 
Bunsen's  Hippolytus,  I.  p.  75,  of  the  German  edition.     At  any  rate  the  uvrn^eaeig,  I 
Tim.  6  :  20,  are  to  be  understood,  not  of  the  contradictions  asserted  by  Marcion  between 
the  law  and  the  gospel,  but  of  the  opposition  of  the  errorists  to   the  napa^rjKT],  i.  & 
the  pure  doctrine,  which  Timothy  was  to  preserve  (comp.  2  Tim  1  :  12, 14.     3  :  14) ;, 
so  that  the  sense  of  the  passage  is  simply  this :  "  O  Timothy,  keep  that  which  is 
committed  to  thy  trust,  avoiding  profane,  vain  babblings,  and  the  counter  assertions  of  the 
knowledge  falsely  so  called."     Comp.  Tit.  1  :  9,  where  these  deceivers  are  described 
as  avTiMyovreg,  and  2  Tim.  2  :  25,  where  they  are  said  to  be  dvTi6iaTi.T^eju.evoi.     Comp.. 
Wieseler  (Chronol.  p.  305)  and  Wiesinger,  ad  loc. 

'  The  reference  of  1  Tim.  4  :  3  to  the  Roman  church  is  altogether  inadmissible,  and 
by  modern  expositors  generally  abandoned.  For  this  church  does  not  forbid  marriage 
as  such,  but  even  exalts  it  to  a  sacrament.  And  of  the  prohibition  of  marriage  for 
priests  in  particular  nothing  at  all  is  said  in  the  text.  No  more  does  the  Roman 
church  forbid  any  kind  of  food  as  such,  but  only  requires  abstinence  and  fasting  on 
certain  days  ;  which  is  nothing  in  itself  unchristian,  however  wrong  it  may  be  to  pre- 
scribe it  in  such  legalistic,  Jewish  style.  Our  Lord  himself  and  his  apostles  sometimes 
fasted  out  of  their  own  free  will.  Comp.  Matt.  4:2.  17  :  21.  Acts  13  :  2,  3.  14  : 
23.  1  Cor.  7:5.  2  Cor.  6:5.  On  the  contrary  it  is  an  ascertained  fact,  that  many 
Gnostics,  as  Marcion,  Saturninus,  Tatian,  as  well  as  the  Manicheans,  condemned  mar- 
riage and  sexual  intercourse  as  diabolical,  and  as  contamination  with  sinful   matter ; 


664:         §  169.      HEATHEN   GNOSTICISM  AND  ANTINOMIANISM.       [v.  BOOK. 

trines  of  devils"  {6L6aaKa?uai  dai/ioviuv,  V.  1);  in  other  words,  he  attributes 
them  to  the  suggestion  of  evil  spirits,  in  antithesis  with  the  suggestion  of 
the  Spirit  of  God  mentioned  in  the  beginning  of  the  verse.  Man,  accord- 
ing to  the  Scriptural  view,  is  never  wholly  isolated,  but  lives  continually 
under  either  divine  or  diabolical  influences.  Hence  the  errorists  are  else- 
where called  also  pseudo-prophets  and  pseudo-apostles/  Such  asceticism 
has,  it  is  true,  a  deceptive  appearance  of  holiness,  but  proceeds  from  a 
hypocritical  disposition  and  an  evil  conscience  (v.  2),  and  might  very  easily 
run  into  the  opposite  extreme  of  the  most  unbridled  pagan  immorality. 

Of  the  heretics  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles  two  are  mentioned  by  name, 
Hymeneus  and  Alexander,^  who  had  made  shipwreck  with  the  faith,  pur- 
sued their  errors  to  a  blasphemous  length,  and  were  accordingly  thrust 
out  by  Paul  from  the  communion  of  the  church  (1  Tim,  1  :  20);  where- 
as most  of  the  errorists  in  view  are  considered  as  within  the  congrega- 
tions. This  has  made  some  suppose  two  different  classes  of  errorists. 
The  Hymeneus  here  mentioned  is  no  doubt  the  same  with  the  one  de- 
scribed in  2  Tim.  2  :  It,  in  connection  with  Philetus,  as  a  denier  of  the 
resurrection.  This  denial  probably  arose  from  a  false  Gnostic  spiritual- 
ism, and  is  accordingly  to  be  traced  rather  to  a  pagan  than  to  a  Sadducean 
source,  though  we  have,  to  be  sure,  no  means  of  accurately  determiuing. 

§  169.    The  Heathen  Gnosticsim  and  Antinomianism. 

As  Christianity  spread  among  the  heathen,  there  could  uot  fail  to  ap- 
pear here  also  the  same  phenomenon  of  a  merely  outward  conversion  and 
a  subsequent  reaction  of  the  old  habits  of  thought  and  life,  which  we 
have  observed  in  the  Jewish-Christian  portion  of  the  church.  And  as 
the  Judaizers  were  ever  ready  to  appeal  to  the  authority  of  the  Jewish 
apostles,  particularly  James  and  Cephas,  and  took  the  attitude  of  thorough 
hostility  to  Paul  ;  so  the  heathen  heretics,  on  the  contrary,  we  are  ex- 
pressly told  in  2  Pet.  3  :  16,  caricatured  and  wrested  statements  of  Paul, 
and  in  the  second  century  went  so  far  as  to  reject  the  whole  Old  Testa- 
ment and  all  the  New  except  Paul's  writings.  While  the  Judaizing 
tendency  consists  essentially  in  a  narrow  and  slavish  legalism  ;  antino- 
mianism, or  an  insolent,  licentious  freedom  of  spirit,  is  on  the  other  hand 

and  so  the  eating  of  flesh  and  drinking  of  wine  as  such.  And  even  among  the  Essenes 
and  Therapeutae,  toe,  we  find  a  similar  undervaluation  of  marriage,  on  the  authority  of 
Philo  and  Josephus  (e.  g.  Antiqu-  XVIII.  1,  5.     De  bell.  Jud.  II.  8,  2). 

'  Comp.  2  Cor.  11  :  15.  1  Jno.  4  :  1-3.  Rev  2  :  20,  and  the  comparison  of  the 
false  teachers  with  Balaam,  2  Pet.  2  :  l-l.  Jude  11.  Rev.  2  :  14,  and  with  the  Egyp- 
tian sorcerers,  2  Tim.  .3  :  8,  9.     James  also,  3  :  15,  speaks  of  a  aocpla  6ai/uoiu6Aric. 

'  Perhaps  the  same,  who  is  mentioned  in  2  Tim  4  :  14  with  the  surname  ''  the  cop- 
persmith," as  a  personal  antagonist  of  Paul.  Others  identify  him  with  the  Alexander 
of  Acts  19  :  33.     Others  still  suppose  these  to  have  been  three  different  persons. 


DOCTRINE.]    g  X69.    HEATHEN    GNOSTICISM   AND   ANTINOMIANISM.         665 

the  natural  infirmity  of  heathenism  and  of  the  heresies  arising  from  it. 
In  the  one  case  Christianity  is  compressed  into  too  narrow  limits  and  run 
into  the  mold  of  an  exclusive  sect  ;  iu  the  latter  it  is  indefinitely  ex- 
panded and  deprived  of  all  fixed  historical  foundation.  There  the  chief 
stress  is  laid  on  outward  act,  and  salvation  made  to  depend  on  the  con- 
scientious observance  of  certain  commandments  and  ceremonies  ;  here  the 
spirit  seeks  salvation  in  a  higher  knowledge,  in  a  peculiar  wisdom,  and 
boldly  breaks  away  from  all  shackles  of  the  letter  and  all  bonds  of  ex- 
ternal authority.  Hence  the  great  apostasy,  which  at  the  date  of  the 
epistles  to  the Thessalonians  (A.  D.  53)  had  already  begun  {v^v  ivepyelTai')^ 
but  was  to  develope  itself  in  far  greater  strength  in  future,  is  styled  by 
Paul  the  "mystery  of  lawlessness"  {uvarr^^iov ryg  dvojuiac,  2  Thess.  2  :  1) 
and  a  presumptuous  opposition  to  God  and  divine  things. 

It  is  undeniable  that  heathenism  also  gives  birth  to  strictly  ascetic 
tendencies.  This  we  see,  as  at  this  day  among  the  Hindoos,  so  in  an- 
tiquity among  the  Essenes  and  Therapeut®,  who,  as  already  observed, 
went  in  their  ascetism  far  beyond  all  Jewish  precepts,  and  did  so  certainly 
under  heathen  influence  ;  in  the  errorists  of  Paul's  later  epistles  ;  and 
still  more  clearly  in  many  Gnostic  sects  of  the  second  century,  and  in  the 
Manicheans,  who  were  at  once  autinomian  and  ascetic,  and  even  re- 
pudiated marriage  as  diabolical.  But  in  the  first  place,  this  Gnostic 
asceticism  was  stretched  to  an  altogether  unnatural  tension,  and  was 
based,  as  hits  been  already  remarked,  on  a  fundamentally  wrong,  anti- 
scriptural,  dualistic  view  of  the  world,  which  attributed  the  good  crea- 
tion of  God  to  the  sole  agency  of  the  devil.  And  secondly,  it  was 
intended  to  be  the  very  means  of  releasing  the  spirit  from  all  thraldom 
of  divine  or  human  authority,  and  hence  very  easily  ran  out  into  its 
direct  opposite,  excessive  sensuality  and  immorality,  under  the  Satanic 
pretense,  that  these  did  not  at  all  affect  the  soul,  which  was  exalted 
above  all  corporeal  influences. 

1.  In  tracing  the  several  manifestations  of  the  Gnostic  and  antinomian 
heathenism  in  the  apostolic  church,  we  meet  first  of  all,  even  before  the 
appearance  of  Paul,  the  magician  Simon,  of  Samaria,  who  has  been 
stigmatized,  at  least  by  the  tradition  of  the  church  fathers,  as  the  patriarch 
of  ail  heretics,  especially  of  the  heathen  Gnostics.'     A  great  many  fabu- 

■  Thus  Irenaeus,  Mv.  har.  lib.  I.  c.  27,  §  4,  says  :  "  Omnes,  qui  quoquo  rnodo  adul- 
terant veritatem  et  praeconium  ecclesiae  laedunt,  Simonis  Samaritani  magi  discipuli  et 
successores  sunt.  Quamvis  non  confiteantnr  nonnen  magistri  sui  ad  sediictionenn  reli- 
quorum  ;  attanaen.illius  sententiam  docent :  Christi  quidem  Jesu  nomen  tanquann  irri- 
tamentum  proferentes,  Simonis  autem  innpietatem  varie  introducentes  snortificant 
multos,  per  nooien  boniim  sertentiani  suam  male  disperdentes  et  per  dnlcedinem  et 
deeorem  nominis  arnanun  et  maligniinn  principis  apostasiae  serpentis  venerium  porri- 
{^entes  eis."      So  in  I.  c.  23,  §  2  (^Simon,  ex   quo  univer&TP  haereses  substiterrunt),  and 


Q&6  §  169.    HEATHEN  GNOSTICISM  AND  ANTINOMIANISM.        [v.  BOOK. 

lous  stories,  no  doubt,  were  very  early  associated  with  this  name,  parti- 
cularly in  the  Pseudoclementine  writings,  which  jiretend  to  relate  many 
of  his  fortunes,  his  juggleries,  and  his  frequent  defeats  in  disputations, 
which  the  apostle  Peter  is  said  to  have  held  with  him  in  Csesarea,  Anti- 
och,  etc'  His  historical  existence,  however,  and  one  interview  between 
him  and  Peter  in  Samaria,  are  put  beyond  all  question  by  the  eighth 
chapter  of  Acts  ;  and  the  account  there  given  of  him"  makes  it  very  easy 
to  understand,  how  he  might  afterwards  come  to  be  regarded  as  the  first 
representative  of  the  Gnostic  corruption  of  the  Gospel,  as  well  as  of  a 
revolting  prostitution  of  the  Christian  name  to  selfish  ends.  In  him  first 
appears  that  characterless  syncretism,  for  which  there  was  a  peculiar 
susceptibility  in  half-heathen  and  half-Jewish  Samaria,  in  union  with 
magical  and  theurgical  arts,  such  as  the  conjuration  of  the  dead  and  of 
demons  by  formulas  of  the  Oriental  and  Greek  theosophy.  A  similar 
combination  of  Gnosis  and  demonistic  sorceries  we  observe  in  the  Ephe- 
sian  opponents  of  pure  Christianity,  whom  Paul  accordingly  compares 
with  the  Egyptian  magicians,  Jannes  and  Jambres/  Of  course  the  real 
substance  of  this  chaotic  mixture  was  heathenish,  and  its  Christianity 
merely  an  assumed  name  and  a  hypocritical  show.  The  opinion  of  the 
Samaritans  respecting  Simon,  which  was  no  doubt  the  mere  echo  of  his 
own  boastful  declaration,  that  he  was  "  the  great  power  of  God,"*  itself 
suggests  the  Gnostic  aeons  and  emanations,  those  singular  caricatures  of 
the  mystery  of  the  incarnation.  According  to  the  statement  of  Irenasus, 
Simon  gave  himself  out  as  the  supreme  power  (sublimissimam  virtutem), 
and  blasphemously  boasted,  that  he  appeared  in  Samaria  as  Father, 
among  the  Jews  as  Son,  and  among  the  other  nations  as  Holy  Ghost.' 

in  the  preface  to  the  second  and  third  books.  The  old  traditional  accounts  of  Simon 
Magus  receive  additional  confirmation  by  the  lately  discovered  book  of  Hippolytus  on 
heresies,  comp.  Bunsen's  Hippolytus  I.  p.  62  sqq.    (Germ.  ed.). 

*  On  this  point  comp.  among  other  works  that  of  Schliemann  on  the  Clementines,  p. 
52  sqq.,  96  sqq.  We  have  already  remarked  incidentally,  §  167,  that  the  Pseudocle- 
mentine Homilies,  in  their  Ebionistic  spirit,  represent  the  apostle  Paul  under  the  figure 
of  Simon,  as  properly  the  arch-heretic. 

"  Comp.  above,  §  59,  p.  215  sq. 

*  2  Tim.  3  :  S.      Comp.   Ex.  7  :  11,  22.     8:6  sqq.      See  also  Acts  19  :  13  sqq. 

*  7/  (^vvafiig  Tov  t&eov  f/  /leyult],  Acts  8:10.  According  to  Justin  Mart.,  Simon  was  wor- 
shiped as  the  first  God  by  nearly  all  the  Samaritans,  jlpol.  I.  c.  26  (p.  68  ed.  Otto); 
^^eddv  nuvTEg  pev  Xapapeig,  dXiyot  6i  Kal  iv  d/l/\oif  ei?vecriv  ug  tov  nptirov  ^edv 
LkeIvov  dpo'koyovvTEg,  ineZvov  Kal  wpo(jKvvov<n. 

*  Adv.har.  I.  23.  ^  1. — According  to  Jerome  [Comment,  in  Matt.  24)  Simon  said  of 
himself:  "Ego  sum  sermo  Dei,  ego  sum  speciosus,  ego  paracletus,  egoomnipotens,  ego 
omnia  Dei."  Of  Justin's  account  (resting,  it  would  seem,  on  a  mistake)  respecting  the 
deification  of  Simon  at  Rome  we  have  already  spoken  at  the  clo.se  of  ^  93.  Some 
modern  scholars,  as  Windischmann  ( Vindk.  Petr.  p.  75  sqq.),  Gfrorer  (Philo  und  dU 
atexandr.  Theosophie,  II.  p.  370  sqq.),  and  Thiersch  (1.  c.  p.  291  sq.),  are  again  justly 


DOCTRINE.]  SIMON   MAGUS.  667 

From  these  and  other  accounts  it  appears,  that  he  wished  to  be  regarded 
as  an  incarnation  of  the  Deity,  and  was,  therefore,  in  the  proper  sense,  a 
false  Christ  and  an  antichrist.  But  of  course  no  complete  system  should 
be  attributed  to  him.  The  heretical  elements  lay  as  yet  fermenting  in  a 
chaotic  mass.  Besides,  the  leading  interest  with  him  was  not  know- 
ledge but  filthy  lucre  ;  whence  the  traffic  in  spiritual  offices  (simony)  to 
this  day  goes  by  his  name. 

Along  with  him  tradition  mentions  also  Dositheus  and  Menander  (a 
disciple  of  Simon)  as  two  Samaritan  sect-founders  of  the  first  century. 
But  these  nowhere  appear  in  the  New  Testament.  The  dissolute  Gnos- 
tic sect  of  the  Simonians,  which  maintained  itself  down  to  the  third  cen- 
tury, derived  its  name  and  origin  from  Simon  Magus. 

2.  Antinomian  tendencies  might  also  very  easily  arise  from  another 
source,  viz.,  a  misconception  of  PauPs  doctrine  respecting  the  abolition  of 
the  law  as  a  letter,  which  "killeth,"  respecting  justification  by  faith  and 
evangelical  freedom  ;  especially  in  so  frivolous  a  city  as  Corinth,  where 
many  eagerly  laid  hold  of  every  new  doctrine,  which  they  could  hope  to 
use  as  a  cloak  for  their  former  dissolute  conduct.  Paul  himself  more 
than  once  disowns  with  indignation  the  inference  charged  upon  him,  in 
the  shape  of  the  infamous  maxim  :  "  Let  us  do  evil  that  good  may 
come,"  or  :  "  Let  us  continue  in  sin,  that  grace  may  abound.'"  That 
some  of  his  disciples  carried  the  freedom  of  the  gospel  to  an  extreme  in 
practice,  is  particularly  clear  from  the  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians. 
For  in  it  he  opposes,  among  other  things,  supercilious  contempt  for  the 
conscientious  and  scrupulous  Jewish  Christians,  participation  in  the  pagan 
idolatrous  feasts,  lax  ideas  of  chastity,  and  even  profanation  of  the  love- 
feasts  by  intemperance  (comp.  §  18).  No  doubt,  indeed,  these  were 
primarily  practical  aberrations  ;  but  such  are  always  more  or  less  con- 
nected with  corrupt  principles.  There  already  appeared  also  in  the 
Corinthian  church,  in  union  with  the  party  spirit,  the  rudiments  of  a 
proud  Gnosis,  so  congenial  to  wisdom-seeking  Greece.^  Paul  even  found 
it  necessary  to  come  out  against  the  public  denial  of  the  resurrection  of 
the  body  (1  Cor.  15  :  12  sqq ).  This  is  not  to  be  referred  to  Saddu- 
cism — otherwise,  like  our  Lord,  Matt.  22  :  23  sqq.,  he  would  have 
refuted  it  from  the  Old  Testament — but  was  connected  with  Greek  phi- 
losophical skepticism  (comp.  Acts  17  :  32)  and  Gnostic  spiritualism, 
and  was  perhaps  allied  with  the  doctrine  of  Hymeneus  and  Philetus, 

ascribing  to  this  patriarch  of  heretics  far  greater  historical  significance,  than  has  been 
commonly  attributed  to  him  since  Mosheim. 

*  ilom.  3:8.     6:1.     Gal.  2  :  17.     Comp.  1  Pet.  2  :  16. 

'  1  Cor.  8:1.  Comp.  1  :  18  sqq.  2  :  1  sqq. — Dr.  Burton  also  {Lectures,  p.  84  sq.) 
finds  Gnostic  elements  already  in  the  Corinthian  church. 


668         §  169.    HEATHEN   GNOSTICISM   AND   ANTINOMIANISM.       [v.  BOOK. 

which  was  spreading  like  a  canker  ( (if  jdyypaiva )  in  Asia  Minor  :  "  The 
resurrection  is  already  past"  (2  Tim.  2  :  18).'  Here  lay,  properly,  the 
germ  of  the  Docetistic  denial  of  the  true  humanity  of  Christ.  And  as 
in  general  false  spiritualism  very  frequently  runs  into  gross  formalism  and 
materialism,  so  this  limitation  of  the  resurrection  to  the  purely  spiritual, 
inward  life  might  quite  easily  induce,  especially  among  the  common  peo- 
ple, genuine  Epicurean  frivolity,  whose  maxim  is  :  "  Let  us  eat  and 
drink  ;  for  to-morrow  we  die"  (1  Cor.  15  :  32). 

In  his  valedictory  at  Miletus  and  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles  Paul  pre- 
dicts, that  these  tendencies,  already  existing  in  embryo,  would  after  his 
departure,  in  the  "  last  days,"  acquire  fearful  strength." 

3.  The  same  prophecy,  with  an  earnest  reference  to  the  approaching 
judgment,  meets  us  in  the  second  epistle  of  Pefer,  which  he  sent  in  the 
prospect  of  death  (A.  D.  64)  to  the  churches  of  Asia  Minor.  At  that 
time,  however,  the  apostasy  was  already  further  developed  ;  and  still 
more  fully  some  years  afterwards,  when  Jude,  the  brother  of  James  the 
Just,  with  his  eye  upon  these  predictions  of  the  apostles,  addressed  his 
epistle  perhaps  to  the  same  churches.  In  these  two  documents,  which 
form  the  natural  transition  from  the  last  stadium  of  Paul's  labors  to  the 
Johannean  age,  and  in  this  transitional  character  strongly  evince  their 
genuineness,  evidently  have  in  view  heathen  Gnostic  errorists  of  grossly 
immoral  principles  (comp.  §  92).  These  heretics  had  learned  Christ, 
and  received  baptism  and  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  but  had  fallen  back 
into  heathen,  nay,  far  worse  than  heathen  vice,  as  the  sow,  that  is  wash- 
ed returns  to  her  wallowing  in  the  mire  (2  Pet.  1:9.  2  :  20-22)  ; 
though  it  would  seem,  they  remained  outwardly  in  the  communion  of  the 
church,  and  even  took  part  in  the  love -feasts  of  the  Christians  (Jude 
12).  Designed  to  be  shining  stars  in  the  firmament  of  the  church,  they 
became  by  their  unfaithfulness  ignes  fatui,  such  as  rise  from  bogs  and 
decoy  the  traveller  into  dangerous  ways  (v.  13).  They  are  classed  with 
Cain,  the  fratricide,  and  Balaam,  the  deceiver  of  God's  people  (2  Pet. 
2  :  15.  Jude  11).  Going  a  step  further  than  Hymeneus  and  Philetus, 
the  deniers  of  the  resurrection,  they  mocked  at  the  second  coming  of 
Christ  and  the  judgment  (2  Pet.  3:4).  They  wrested  the  epistles  of 
Paul  into  their  service  (3  :  16),  turned  the  grace  of  God  to  lascivious- 

'  The  later  Gnostics  likewise  denied  the  resurrection,  or  understood  by  it  merely  the 
reception  of  their  doctrine,  thus  identifying  it  with  the  idea  of  conversion.  Comp. 
Irenaeus  :  Mv,  Asr.  II.  31,  §  2 :  "Esse  autem  resurrectionem  a  mortuis  agnitionem 
ejus,  quae  ab  eis  dicitur,  veritatis,'"  I.  27,  4  3 ;  Tertullian  :  De  resurr.  c.  19.  jldv.  Maro. 
V.  10;  and  Epiphanius  :  Hcer.  XLII.  2.  In  general  they  placed  the  whole  work  of 
redemption  merely  in  intelligence,  in  the  higher  Gnosis. 

*  Acts  20  :  29  sq.     1  Tim.  4  :  1  sqq     2  Tim.  3  :  1  sqq.     Comp.  2  Tim.  2  :  7. 


DOCTRINE.]  §  Hj[),       heretics    OF   JOHIs's    EPISTLES.  669 

ness,  and  abused  the  freedom  of  the  gospel  for  a  cloak  of  wickedness  (2  : 
19.     Jude4).' 

4.  The  apostasy  showed  itself  still  more  boldly  in  Asia  Minor  during 
John's  activity  in  the  last  thirty  years  of  the  first  century.  While  Paul 
and  Peter  had  pointed  forward  to  the  "  last  times,"  John  now  said,  with 
unmistakeable  reference  to  these  previous  prophecies  :  "  Little  children, 
it  is  the  last  time  ;  and  as  ye  have  heard  that  antichrist  shall  come,  even 
now  are  there  many  antichrists  ;  whereby  we  know,  that  it  is  the  last 
time"  (1  Jno.  2  :  18).  When  he  immediately  adds  (v.  19)  :  "They 
went  out  from  us  (from  the  outward  communion  of  the  church),  but 
they  were  not  of  us  (in  spirit,  in  inward  disposition)  ;  for  if  they  had 
been  of  us,  they  would  no  doubt  have  continued  with  us," — he  seems 
thereby  to  intimate,  that  these  heretics  had  already  separated  themselves 
from  the  church,  as  was  the  case  at  all  events  at  the  date  of  the  epistles 
of  Ignatius,  and  in  some  instances  even  in  the  time  of  Paul  (1  Tim.  1  : 
20).  Yet  there  must  have  been  exceptions.  For  so  late  as  the  end  of 
the  first  century  the  churches  of  Pergamus  and  Thyatira  are  censured  in 
the  Apocalypse,  2  :  14-16,  20,  for  tolerating  errorists  in  their  bosoms. 
Also  in  2  Jno.  9,  10,  there  is  a  warning  against  all  intercourse  with 
them,  which  might  imply  an  approval  of  their  principles. 

It  is  asserted  by  Irenseus  and  other  church  fathers,  and  confirmed  by 
the  best  modern  expositors,  that  John,  in  his  writings,  particularly  his 
epistles,^  has  Gnostic  heretics  in  view.  In  their  practical  bearing  these 
errorists  were  antiuomian,  and  sundered  religion  from  morality.  They 
boasted  of  their  knowledge  of  Christ  and  freedom  from  sin,  yet  kept  not 
Christ's  commands  and  walked  in  darkness.  Hence  John,  in  his  epistles, 
strenuously  insists  on  the  indissoluble  connection  of  sanctification  with 
faith  iu  Christ,  on  walking  in  the  light,  on  obedience  to  the  command- 
ments of  God  as  the  mark  of  true  discipleship,  and  on  daily  purification 
from  remaining  sin.'  In  respect  to  theory,  these  heretics  went  so  far  as 
to  deny  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  which  they  had  been  prepared 

'  Very  obscure  is  the  passage,  2  Pet.  2:10:  Ao^ag  ov  Tpe/iovat  (31aa<^TifiovvTEg,  comp, 
JudeS:  Ao^ac  l3?.aa(pi}fiovvTec.  The  verse  immediately  following,  about  the  dispute 
between  the  archangel  Michael  and  Satan,  sufficiently  shows,  that  66^ag  must  be  un- 
derstood, not  of  divine  attributes,  but  of  angels  and  higher  spirits.  Whether  this  blas- 
pheming of  dignities,  however,  refer  to  the  Gnostic  doctrine  of  the  demiurge,  or  mean, 
in  general,  insolence  in  speculating  on  and  condemning  the  higher  world  of  spirits,  can- 
not be  certainly  determined. 

M  Ep.  2  :  18,  19,22,2.S.  4:3.  2Ep.  7-11.  Comp.  H^  and  106.  Thiersch  (p. 
241)  would  make  even  the  elSuXa,  against  which  John  warns  his  children  at  the  close 
of  his  first  epistle,  to  refer  not  to  gods  properly  speaking,  but  to  those  aeons  and  unsub- 
stantial ideas,  which  the  Gnostics  put  in  the  place  of  the  true  incarnation.  But  this 
seems  to  us  too  forced. 

*  Comp.  1  Jno.  1:6.     2  :  4,  9,  18  sqq      3  :  6,  8,  15.     4  :  7,  8,  12, 16,  etc 


670  §  169.    HEATHEN  GNOSTICISM   AiJD   ANTINOMIANISM.    [v.    BOOK. 

to  do  by  the  Gnostic  skepticism  as  to  the  resurrection  of  the  body  and 
the  second  coming  of  Christ  to  judgment.  As  the  apostle  regards  the 
mystery  of  the  incarnation,  or  the  true  union  of  the  divine  and  human 
natures  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ,  as  the  centre  of  the  Christian  truth 
and  the  fundamental  condition  of  our  own  reconciliation  with  God,  he 
pronounces  the  denial  of  this  truth  the  proper  essence  and  distinctive 
mark  of  antichristian  falsehood.'  Into  the  details  of  this  fundamental 
heresy  he  does  not  enter.  His  language  is  designedly  general,  and,  in 
itself  considered,  may  be  referred  as  well  to  the  Ebionistic  (vulgar 
rationalistic)  denial  of  Christ's  divinity,  as  to  the  Docetistic  (panthe- 
istic) denial  of  his  true  humanity,  or  to  the  intermediate  errors.  In  fact, 
he  even  says,  1  Jno.  2  :  18  and  2  Jno.  7,  that  many  antichrists  had 
arisen  ;  and  these  surely  did  not  all  teach  exactly  the  same  thing  ;  for 
it  is  the  nature  of  heresy  to  be  always  arbitrarily  changing  its  form.  A 
credible  tradition,  however,  since  Irenseus,  tells  us,  that  the  apostle  had 
primarily  in  view  the  Judaizing  Gnostic,  Cerinthus,  who  appeared  at  the 
close  of  the  first  century  in  Asia  Minor,  not  formally  denying,  indeed, 
either  the  earthly  Jesus  or  the  divine  Christ  (an  seon  or  higher  angel), 
but  making  them  two  separate  and  entirely  different  beings,  and  sup- 
posing a  merely  transient  union  of  the  two  at  the  baptism  in  the  Jordan, 

^  1  Ep.  2  :  22.  4  : 1-3. — This  unequivocal  description  of  antichrist  makes  it  simply 
an  exegetical  impossibility  to  refer  the  passages  in  question  in  their  original  sense  to 
the  papacy,  as  some  Protestant  controversialists,  even  so  learned  a  one  as  bishop  New- 
ton {Disscrtatimis  on  the  Prophecies,  revised  by  Dobson.  London,  1850.  p.  410),  have 
done.  For  the  pope  has  never  denied  the  true  humanity  or  the  true  divinity  of  Christ. 
It  might  rather  be  said,  that  the  Roman  system  exaggerates  the  import  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  incarnation,  or  at  least  draws  unwarrantable  inferences  from  it ;  e.  g.  the  exces- 
sive veneration  of  Mary  as  the  mother  of  God.  At  any  rate  the  errors  of  Romanism  lie 
inanentirely  different  direction,  that  of  legalistic,  unevangelical  Judaism  (comp.  §  168). 
That  John  here  cannot  possibly  have  the  papacy  in  view  is  shown  also  by  the  Jollow- 
ing  arguments  :  (1)  He  is  speaking  not  of  something  future  (which  the  papacy  then 
was) ,  but  of  something  present^  vi-hieh  "  is  even  now  already  in  the  world."  and  could 
be  distinctly  recognized  by  his  readers  by  the  above  mark,  1  Jno.  4:3.  2:18.  2  Jno. 
7.  (2)  He  speaks  not  of  one  antichrist,  but  of  several,  which  had  gone  out  from  the 
Christian  communion,  yet  had  never  inwardly  belonged  to  it,  1  Jno.  2  :  18,  19.  Comp- 
2  Jno.  7  {noA?,oi  ttAuvol).  (3)  He  is  speaking  of  things  not  in  the  Roman  church,  but  in 
that  of  Asia  Minor,  in  which  he  lived  and  labored,  and  to  which  his  epistles  are  ad- 
dressed. To  these  add  (4)  the  concurrent  exposition  of  the  church  fathers  and  the 
best  Protestant  commentators,  who  all  refer  the  passages  in  hand  to  the  Gnostic  error. 
We  may,  to  be  sure,  regard  as  antichristianity  in  ageneral  sense  all  that  runs  counter 
to  the  doctrine  and  spirit  of  Christ,  be  it  found  in  the  Roman  or  the  Protestant  church. 
But  then  this  is  no  direct  exposition  of  the  text  before  us.  A  distorted  exegesis  like 
this  can  do  the  papacy  no  harm,  and  only  weakens  the  Protestant  cause,  which  has 
otherwesi  no  reason  to  fear  on  the  field  of  Scripture. 


DOCTRINE.]  HEEETICS    OF   JOHn's   EPISTLES.  671 

which  was  dissolved  at  the  beginning  of  the  passion.'  Thus  the  man 
Jesus  was  merely  the  vehicle,  which  the  redeeming  Logos  temporarily 
employed  to  reveal  himself  to  the  world.  It  is  but  a  step  from  this  to 
Docetism.  To  this  dualistic  separation  of  the  two  natures  in  Christ  no 
doubt  refers  the  very  old  but  nevertheless  incorrect  reading  of  1  Jno.  4  : 
3:  "Every  spirit  that  separatelh  {ivec,  instead  of  'coufesseth  not') 
Jesus  Christ."*  Soon  after  the  death  of  John  his  disciples,  Ignatius  and 
Polycarp,  with  the  same  weapons  encountered  Docetism,  which  originated 
in  a  heathen  mode  of  thinking,  and  taught,  that  the  passion  and  death 
and  the  whole  humanity  of  Christ  were  merely  a  deceptive  appearance 
{SoKTiaic),  an  airy  vision,  an  optical  illusion,  like  the  imaginary  theopha- 
nies  of  the  heathen  mythologies. 

5.  A  few  remarks,  in  fine,  on  the  Nicolaitans  and  kindred  heretics 
mentioned  in  the  Apocalyptic  epistles. 

These  sprang,  according  to  a  credible  tradition,  from  the  Antiochian 
proselyte,  Nicolas,  one  of  the  seven  deacons  of  Jerusalem  (Acts  6  :  5), 
who  apostatized  from  the  truth  and  became  the  founder  of  an  antino- 
mian  Gnostic  sect.'     By  the  church  of  Ephesus  they  were  hated  and 

'  Irenaeus:  Adv.har.  I.  26,  §  1,  and  several  other  places.  The  statements  of  Ire- 
naous,  who  ascribes  to  Cerinthus  the  genuinely  Gnostic  doctrine  of  the  Demiurge  and  a 
system  pretty  much  like  the  Valentinian  Gnosis,  are  certainly  far  more  reliable  than 
the  later  and  in  some  cases  discrepant  accounts  of  Epiphanius  respecting  the  same  here- 
siarch ;  though  we  cannot  now  distinguish  with  certainty,  what  Cerinthus  himself 
taught,  and  what  his  disciples  afterwards  added- 

'■  Socrates  [H.  E.  VI 1.  32)  mentions  the  reading  M>£l  as  very  old.  The  Vulgate  also, 
several  Latin  fathers,  and  the  Latin  translator  of  Irenaeus,  read  accordingly  :  '•  Qui  solvit 
Jesum  ;"  while  almost  all  the  Greek  authorities  have  jii]  dfioloyel.  Augustine  unites 
both:  "  Qui  solvit  Jesum  et  negat  in  carnem  venisse." 

'  Irenaeus,  jidv.  haer.  I.  26,  §  3  (al.  c.  27).  So  also  Hippolytus  (vid.Bunsen's  Hippol. 
I.  p.  73),  Clement  of  Alexandria,  and  others.  These  testimonies  are  too  clear  and 
respectable  to  be  lightly  set  aside,  especially  if  we  consider  the  strong  tendency  in  the 
primitive  church  to  venerate  as  saints  and  glorify  by  legends  all  the  Christians  named 
in  the  New  Testament.  This  forbids  our  adopting  the  allegorical  interpretation  of  the 
name,  which  Hengstenberg,  strangely  and  from  his  position  altogether  inconsistently 
undervaluing  these  historical  testimonies,  has  given  in  his  work  on  Balaam,  p.  20  sqq., 
and  his  commentary  on  Rev.  2  :  6  (Vol.  I.  p.  171  sq.).  This  divine  considers  the 
name  Nicolaus  not  a  proper  name,  but  a  symbolical  term,  the  Greek  translation  of 
Balaam,  misleader  or  corrupter  of  the  people  from — V'yz  ox  JjbS  to  devour,  to  cor- 
rupt, and  U3>  people.  But  in  the  first  place,  this  derivation  cannot  be  even  philolo- 
gically  vindicated.  For  Nicolaus  means  people-conqueror,  which  is  by  no  means 
synonymous  with  people-misleader.  To  derive  Balaam  from  3353  and  C3>  lord  of 
the  people,  or  from  the  Chaldaic  '?r',  vicit,  would  bring  us  nearer  an  identity  of  the 
terms.  But  in  neither  case  would  the  reference  have  been  intelligible  to  the  Greek 
readers  of  the  Revelation  without  further  explanation.  And  in  the  second  place,  this 
interpretation  is  contradicted  by  Rev.  2  :  14,  15,  where  the  Nicolaitans  are  evidently 


672  §169.     HEATHEN    GNOSTICISM    AND  ANTINOMIANISM.        [v.  BOOK. 

thrust  out  (Rev.  2:6),  but  were  tolerated  by  the  church  of  Pergarau& 
(2  :  15),  which  is  on  this  account  severely  censured  by  the  seer.  Akin 
to  these,  no  doubt,  though  not  exactly  identical,  are  the  adherents  of 
the  doctrine  of  Balaam  in  Pergaraus  (2  :  14)'  and  of  the  false  prophetess 
Jezebel  in  Thyatira  (2  :  20sqq.).  They  are  represented  as  an  alto- 
gether disorderly  sect,  seducing  the  Christians  to  participation  in  the 
idolatrous  feasts  of  the  pagans*  and  to  uuchastity,  which  had  already 
appeared  in  the  germ  in  the  Corinthian  church.  Hence  also  they  are 
denoted  by  the  names  of  the  two  leading  agents  in  contaminating  the 
people  of  God  under  the  old  dispensation  with  the  moral  corruption  and 
idolatry  of  heathendom.  For  Balaam,  the  seer  of  heathen  growth,  from 
base  avarice,  enticed  the  Israelites,  through  the  daughters  of  Moab  and 
Midian,  to  idolatry  and  fornication  (Num.  25  :  comp.  31  :  16);  and  the 
heathen  Jezebel,  Ahab's  wife,  murdered  the  prophets  of  the  Lord,  and 
set  up  idolatry  in  Israel.  This  immorality  was  united  with  pretended 
inspirations  from  above  (whence  the  name  prophetess)  and  knowledge  of 
the  depths  of  God,  which,  however,  the  seer  with  fearful  irony  calls 
"  depths  of  Satan."  ^  These  heretics  taught,  undoubtedly,  that  a  man 
must  make  the  whole  circuit  of  sensuality,  before  he  could  be  rightly 
master  of  it  ;  that  he  should  unblushingly  abandon  himself  to  his 
lusts,  since  they  concerned  only  the  body,  and  the  free  spirit  was  as 
little  affected  by  them  as  solid  gold  by  filth.  These  horrible  principles, 
which  brought  disgrace  and  odium  upon  the  Christian  name,  were  actu- 
ally taught  and  put  in  practice  by  several  Gnostic  sects  in  the  second 
century,  and  particularly  by  the  Nicolaitans.  Even  the  ex-deacon, 
Nicolas,  is  represented  by  Irenaeus,  Epiphanius,  and  Jerome  as  a  formal 
antinomian  ;  but  by  Clement  of  Alexandria  as  a  rigid  ascetic,  abstaiii- 

distinguished  from  the  Balaamites,  however  near  akin  they  may  have  been  in  doctrine 
and  practice.  When  Hengstenberg  asserts  in  support  of  his  explanation,  that  none  but 
symbolical  names  occur  in  the  Apocalypse,  he  is  evidently  wrong;  for  not  only  the 
name  of  the  author,  but  also  the  names  of  the  Jews,  2  :  9,  and  of  the  seven  churches 
are  all  to  be  taken  as  proper  names. 

'  Peter  also  (2  Ep.  2  :  15)  and  Jude  (v.  11)  compare  the  dissolute  Gnostics,  whom 
they  attack,  with  Balaam. 

'  '£l6u7M-QvTa  (payeiv.  This  inconsiderate  eating  of  meat  offered  to  idols  was  even 
later  considered  a  mark  of  the  antinomian  Gnostics.  Valentinus  and  his  disciples  en- 
gaged in  this  practice  to  escape  the  persecution  of  the  heathens. 

*  'Eyvuaav  rd,  (iddri  rov  aaravu,  2  :  24.  The  following  wf  leyovaLv,  refers  only  to 
iyvuaav  rd.  fSd^rj,  of  which  they  boasted,  and  not  to  tov  aaravd.  So  Bengel  also  ex- 
plains the  passage — "  The  false  teachers  said,  that  the  things  they  taught  were  deep 
things.  This  the  Lord  concedes,  but  with  the  qualification,  that  they  were  not  divine 
but  Satanic  depths ;  just  as  he  allows  the  Jews,  v.  9,  the  name  of  a  synagogue,  but 
calls  it  a  synagogue  of  Satan."  Hengstenberg,  ad  loc,  explains  the  passage  differ- 
ently. 


DOCTRINE.]  THE   NICOLAITANS.  673 

ing  from  intercourse  with  his  wife,  and  enjoining  severe  treatment  of  the 
flesh/  which  was  afterwards  taken  by  his  disciples  in  the  sense  of  anti- 
nomian  licentiousness.  If  the  latter  account  is  correct,  we  have  here  an 
example  of  the  affinity  between  unnatural  asceticism  and  unbridled  sen- 
suality, to  which  the  history  of  monasticism  furnishes  so  many  parallels. 
The  relation  of  the  Nicolaitans  to  Nicolas  may  have  been  precisely  the 
same  as  that  of  the  Simonians  to  Simon  Magus,  or  of  the  Cerinthians  to 
Cerinthus. 


A  review  of  this  whole  chapter  suggests  several  important  inferences, 
which,  however,  we  can  only  briefly  point  out. 

1.  It  is  an  utterly  groundless  assumption,  that  the  apostolic  church 
was  free  from  all  error  in  theory  or  practice,  and  fully  came  up  to  the 
glorious  ideal  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ.*-'  On  the  contrary,  no  little  to 
our  consolation  and  encouragement,  the  church  even  then  had  to  con- 
tend with  as  great  difficulties,  without  and  within,  as  in  any  succeeding 
period.  She  was,  in  the  full  sense  of  the  word,  militant ;  and  she  can 
accomplish  her  final  victory,  and  reach  her  perfect  unity,  universality, 
and  holiness,  only  through  a  long  and  unremitting  struggle  against  sin 
and  error  without  and  within. 

2.  It  is  only  in  view  of  the  fearful  power  of  the  corruption,  with 
which  Judaism  and  Heathenism  in  the  form  of  heresy,  and  thus  under 
color  of  the  Christian  name  and  of  Christian  ideas,  threatened  the  church, 
that  we  can  duly  appreciate  the  supernatural  energy  and  glory  of  this 
church  and  the  full  meaning  of  Christ's  promises  of  his  uninterrupted 
presence  and  protection. 

3.  These  early  theoretical  and  practical  distortions  of  the  Christian 
truth  likewise  teach  us,  that  the  written  inventory  of  them  by  infallible 
organs  of  the  Holy  Ghost  —  the  literature  of  the  Xew  Testament  —  was, 
and  still  is,  exceedingly  important,  nay,  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
preservation  of  pure  Christianity.  For  the  same  errors  in  various  forms 
and  modifications  continually  return. 

4.  The  controversy  of  the  apostles  with  these  heretics  was  free  from 
all  personalities  —  only  four,  Simon  Magus,  Hymeneus,  Alexander  and 

*  A«  Karaxp^a'&ai  ttJ  acpKi.     Comp.  Neander's  Kirchengesch.  II.  p.  781. 

'^  Conybeare  and  Howson,  1.  c.  I.  p.  488.  "  It  is  painful  to  be  compelled  to  acknow- 
ledge among  the  Christians  of  the  Apostolic  Age  the  existence  of  so  many  forms  of  error 
and  sin.  It  was  a  pleasing  dream  which  presented  the  primitive  church  as  a  society 
of  angels;  and  it  is  not  without  a  struggle,  that  we  bring  ourselves  to  open  our  eyes 
ai  d  behold  the  reality.  But  yet  it  is  a  higher  feeling  which  bids  us  thankfully  to  recog- 
nize the  truth,  that  'there  is  no  partiality  with  God,'  that  He  has  never  supernaturally 
coerced  any  generation  of  mankind  into  virtue,  nor  rendered  schism  and  heresy  impos- 
KilJe  in  any  age  of  the  church." 
43 


674  §  170.    TYPICAL  niPORT  [y-  book. 

Philetus,  being  mentioned  by  name  ;  —  teaching,  that  we  should  hate 
and  firmly  oppose  error,  as  sin,  but  love  errorists,  as  sinners,  and  seek  to 
reclaim  them. 

5.  The  apostolic  controversialists  do  not  waste  their  strength  on  the 
details  of  a  heretical  system,  but  with  wonderful  discernment  and  truly 
massive  strokes  lay  open  the  real  kernel,  the  deep  moral  root  of  the 
whole  ;   and  this  is  in  all  ages  the  same. 

6.  This  very  generalness  and  depth,  however,  makes  the  writings  in 
question  inexhaustibly  fruitful  and  applicable  to  all  times.  The  same 
Jewish  and  heathen  errors  perpetually  repeat  themselves  in  the  church 
under  a  thousand  different  forms,  but  from  the  armory  of  the  apostolic 
writings  the  church  may  always  draw  the  mightiest  weapons  for  oppos- 
ing them,  till  the  truth  celebrate  her  last  and  highest  triumph. 

§  1*10.    Typical  Import  of  the  Apostolic  Church. 

In  taking  leave  of  the  first  and  most  important  period  of  ecclesiastical 
history,  we  append  a  few  hints  respecting  the  typical  import  of  the  apos- 
tolic church  ;  not  as  pertaining  to  church  history  itself,  but  as  touching 
the  philosophy  of  it. 

It  has  been  suggested  in  various  quarters  by  very  distinguished 
scholars  with  more  or  less  distinctness,  that  the  three  leading  apostles, 
Peter,  Paul,  and  John,  are  to  be  taken  as  types  and  representatives  of 
so  many  ages  of  the  church,  viz.,  the  age  of  Catholicism,  the  age  of  Pro- 
testantism, and  that  of  the  ideal  chitrch  of  the  future.^  We  may  therefore  the 
more  freely  venture  to  express  in  our  own  way  a  similar  view,  which  has,  to 
us  at  least,  much  that  is  elevating  and  encouraging  in  midst  of  the  cou- 

'  This  opinion  was  first  put  forth  in  the  Middle  Ages  by  the  prophesying  monk) 
Joachinti  of  Flora,  and  has  been  substantially  favored  in  modern  times  by  eminent 
philosophers,  as  Steffens,  Schelling,  and  Von  Schaden,  and  more  or  less  by  learned  and 
pious  theologians,  as  Neander,  Ullmann,  Schmieder,  Lange,  Thiersch,  and  others. 
Com  p.  also  my  tract :  The  Principle  of  ProtcHantism,  translated  by  Dr.  Nevin,  1845,  p. 
174  sqq.  It  is  remarkable,  that  even  a  Roman  Catholic  divine,  as  I  have  just  found, 
approaches  this  truly  liberal  and  Protestant  view.  Professor  J,  Ant.  Bernh.  Lutterbeck, 
in  his  learned  work  Die  N.  Tcstanientlichcn  Lehrbcgriffe,  oder  Untcrsuchungen  i'tber  das 
ZeitaUer  der  Religionswende  (1852),  thus  speaks  of  the  relations  of  St.  Peter  to  St.  Paul 
(II.  166  sq.):  "While  in  the  normal  condition  the  pre-eminence  of  Peter  represents 
the  principle  of  order,  and  the  independence  of  Paul,  the  principle  of  freedom  in  the 
church,  we  may  conceive  of  abnormities  on  both  sides,  in  which  the  supposed  order  de- 
generates into  petrifaction  "  ( — is  this  a  conscious  or  an  unconscious  play  on  the  word 
Peter? — ),  '•  the  supposed  freedom  into  dissolution  and  evaporation  of  all  the  contents 
of  Christianity ;  where  the  former  leads  to  arbitrary  tyranny,  the  latter  to  rebellion 
and  revolution.  History  records  innumerable  instances  of  such  aberrations,  from  the 
collision  at  Antioch  (Gal.  2:11  sqq.)  down  to  the  present  time."  If  similar  views 
should  become  general  in  the  Roman  church,  the  final  reconciliation  of  Catholicism 
and  Protestantism  would  not  be  such  an  absolute  impossibility  as  it  now  appears  to  be. 


DOCTKINE.]  OF   THE    ArOSTOLIC    CHURCH.  675 

fusion  and  distraction  of  the  church  ;  though  for  some  reasons  we  cannot 
expect  it  to  meet  with  much  sympathy  at  the  present  time. 

We  start  from  the  general  position,  which  we  endeavored  more  fully 
to  establish  in  the  Introduction, — that  the  history  of  the  church,  in  its 
real  central  current  of  motion  and  life,  is  in  all  its  parts  reasonable  and 
worthy  of  God  ;  that  it  is  a  continuous  self-vindication  of  Christianity, 
an  unbroken  anthem  of  praise  to  eternal  Mnsdom  and  love  ;  that  even  in 
the  times  comparatively  darkest  the  Lord  has  literally  kept  his  precious 
promise  to  be  with  his  church  always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world. 
How,  otherwise,  could  that  church  be  described  by  the  inspired  apostle 
as  the  body  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  fullness  of  Him,  that  filleth  all  in  all  ? 

In  this  gradual  unfolding  of  the  new  creation,  of  the  theanthropic  life 
of  Jesus  Christ  —  in  this  great  epic  of  the  world's  Redeemer,  this  tri- 
umphal procession  of  the  Saviour  through  humanity  —  the  apostolic 
period,  "  the  century  of  miracles,"  occupies  a  position  altogether  peculiar. 

It  is  not  merely  one  period  among  others,  but  the  grounding  and  pre- 
formative  beginning,  the  model  church,  which  conditions  and  governs  all 
subsequent  developments  ;  whose  spirit  perpetually  breathes  new  life, 
presenting  to  every  age  its  particular  problem,  and  imparting  the  power 
to  solve  it.  Four  thousand  y€ars  were  requisite  to  prepare  the  way  for 
the  manifestation  of  the  Eternal  Life  in  human  flesh,  to  bring  up  to  the 
horizon  the  central  Sun  of  the  world's  history.  For  nearly  two  thousand 
years  that  Sun  has  shone  upon  humanity  to  an  ever-growing  extent,  call- 
ing forth  a  series  of  thoughts,  words,  deeds,  and  events,  almost  beyond 
comprehension.  But  everything,  which  has  occurred  or  is  yet  to  occur, 
in  the  church,  will  be  only  the  expansion  of  the  infinite  fullness,  which 
dwelt  from  the  first  in  Jesus  Christ.  The  church  will  outwardly  and  in- 
wardly advance,  as  heretofore  ;  but  every  step  will  be  conditioned  by  a 
deeper  penetration  into  the  apostolic  writings,  and  into  the  spirit  of  the 
Lord,  which  breathes  in  them.  In  the  apostolic  church  and  its  sacred 
records  are  drawn  the  outlines  of  the  whole  course  of  history.  There 
are  prefigured  all  future  developments  ;  and  that  in  a  far  higher  sense, 
than  the  one,  in  which  Judaism  was  a^hadow  of  good  things  to  come. 

This  is  precisely  what  we  mean  by  the  tr/pkal  import  of  the  apostolic 
church.  In  a  rapid,  superhuman  course  that  church  virtually  went 
through  the  entire  process,  which  subsequently  unfolds  itself  in  larger 
cycles  in  a  series  of  centuries.  It  contained  in  embryo  all  succeeding 
periods,  and  all  the  principal  phases  of  doctrine  and  the  various  danger- 
ous tendencies,  which  meet  us  in  later  times.  When  the  last  age  shall 
close  with  the  visible  return  of  (he  Lord,  we  shall  be  able  to  say  :  In 
the  apostolic  church  was  enveloped  tlie  church  of  all  subsequent  periods  ; 


670  §  170.       TYPICAL    IMPOKT  [v.  BOOK. 

church  history  is  developed  from  the  apostolic  church  :  the  apostolic 
church  was  a  prophecy  ;  church  history  is  its  fulfillment. 

In  the  specific  application  of  this  principle  we  must,  indeed,  use  great 
caution,  never  forgetting,  that  history  can  be  perfectly  understood  only 
at  the  end  of  the  process  of  its  development.  Only  when  we  look  back 
from  the  incarnation,  can  we  clearly  understand  ancient  history  in  its  in- 
most significance,  as  a  preparation — partly  negative,  partly  positive — 
for  the  appearance  of  Christ ;  a  voice  in  the  wilderness  :  "  Prepare  ye 
the  way  of  the  Lord."  So  shall  we  see  church  history  in  a  perfect  light 
only  when  we  stand  on  the  mount  of  Christ's  second  coming,  and  of  his 
triumphant  Zion,  and  look  back  upon  all  its  toilsome  path  of  conflict 
and  controversy  from  the  beginning  to  the  glorious  goal.  Yet  even  in 
partial  knowledge  there  is  great  spiritual  profit  and  delight. 

The  course  of  church  history  has  thus  far  evidently  lain  through  the 
colossal  counter-movements  of  Catholicism  and  Protestantism  ;  the  chro- 
nological turning  point  being  the  sixteenth  century.  In  these  respect- 
ively, we  think,  may  be  discerned  the  essential  features  of  the  Jewish 
and  Gentile  Christianity,  which  divided  the  apostolic  period.  And  thus 
it  is  by  no  means  a  mere  chance,  that  the  Roman  church,  which  has 
most  rigidly  carried  out  the  principle  of  Catholicism,  appeals  by  prefer- 
ence to  Peter  as  the  chief  of  the  apostles  and  rock  of  the  church,  and  to 
the  epistle  of  James  in  particular  as  the  ground  of  her  doctrine  of  justi- 
fication ;  while  the  reformers  as  a  body,  and  especially  Luther,  adhere 
closely  to  Paul,  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  and  draw  from  his  epistles 
to  the  Roman  and  the  Galatians  the  main  features  of  their  theology,  as 
well  as  the  best  weapons  of  their  opposition  to  papal  tyranny. 

Like  Jewish  Christianity,  Catholicism  views  the  Christian  religion,  in 
close  connection  with  the  Old  Testament,  chiefly  under  the  aspect  of 
legal  authority  and  of  objectivity.  Hence  it  is  strictly  conservative, 
making  great  account  of  consistency  with  the  past,  of  forms  and  works, 
of  outward,  visible  unity  and  conformity.  The  partial  justness  and  rela- 
tiye  necessity  of  this  view  cannot  be  denied.  And  it  takes  the  pre- 
cedence in  time,  because  the  law  is  a  schoolmaster  to  lead  to  Christ ; 
maternal  authority  is  the  preparation  for  the  freedom  and  independence 
of  manhood.  But  as  Jewish  Christianity  was  liable  to  misapprehend 
and  disregard  the  Christian  religion  in  the  other  correlative  aspect  of 
evangelical  freedom,  advocated  by  Paul,  and  to  paralyze  Christianity  by 
degrading  it  into  bondage  to  law — which  was  actually  done  in  the 
Judaizing  heresy  ;  so  Catholicism  contracted  a  like  infirmity,  and  sank 
in  manifold  respects  to  the  level  of  carnal  Judaism.  "The  Catholic 
church — especially  as  she  appears  since  her  union  with  the  Roman  im- 
perial power  and  the  reception  of  all  nations  into  her  bosom — what  is 


DOCTRINE.]  OF    THE    APOSTOLIC    CHURCH.  677 

she  but  at  once  a  sublime  re-establishment  of  the  Old  Testament  theo- 
cracy on  Christian  soil — ^divinely  permitted,  yet  not  on  that  account 
perpetually  authorized— and  an  attempt  to  anticipate  the  future  glorious 
kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  which  he  shall  reign  over  the  regenerate 
earth  and  sanctified  humanity  ?"  '  We  may  go  further,  and  ask  :  Has 
not  the  Catholic  church,  like  Peter,  often  denied  her  Lord  ?  Has  she 
not,  like  Peter  at  Antioch,  accommodated  herself  too  much  to  the  pre- 
judices of  the  weak  ?  As  her  patron  drew  the  sword  against  Malchus, 
has  she  not  likewise,  in  carnal  zeal  for  the  glory  of  her  Lord,  drawn  the 
sword  against  all  heretics  and  schismatics,  injurious  or  harmless  ;  forget- 
ting the  word  :  "  My  kingdom  is  not  of  this  world  ?"  and  :  "  All  they 
that  take  the  sword  shall  perish  with  the  sword."  Will  she  ever,  like 
Peter,  in  humble  consciousness  of  guilt,  go  out  and  weep  bitterly,  till 
she  find  forgiveness  at  the  foot  of  the  cross  ? 

Against  this  Judaistic  extreme,  the  tyranny,  outward  legahsm,  and 
self-righteousness  of  the  Roman  Catholic  system,  the  powerful  mind  of 
Paul,  after  long  preparation,  re-acted  in  the  Reformation  ;  as  formerly 
in  the  apostolic  council  at  Jerusalem,  in  the  scene  at  Antioch,  and  in  his 
masterly  epistles.  Besides  the  whole  legal  discipline  of  the  Middle  Age 
tended  mightily  towards  this  result  as  the  ripe  fruit  of  its  conflicts.  In 
like  manner  the  Mosaic  law  and  ceremonial  worship  pointed  to  the  new 
dispensation  of  the  spirit  ;  and  the  parental  training  looks  beyond  itself 
to  mature  age  and  self-government.  Protestantism,  in  its  purest  forms, 
conceives  Christianity  as  a  new  creation,  as  evangelical  freedom,  as 
divine  sonship,  as  a  direct  and  personal  relation  of  the  soul  to  Christ. 
So  far  as  it  agrees  in  this  with  the  Gentile  apostle,  it  is  a  great  advance 
in  the  history  of  the  church  ;  and  as  to  its  element  of  positive  truth  it 
can  never  perish.  But  on  the  other  hand,  it  has  in  the  main,  in  the 
course  of  its  development,  fallen  over  to  the  opposite  extreme  Of  a  licen- 
tious speculation  and  endless  sectarian  division.  In  its  zeal  to  purge 
the  sanctuary  it  has  demolished  many  a  useful  barrier,  done  manifold 
injustice  to  tradition  and  history,  and  in  the  heat  of  passionate  contro- 
versy incurred  the  guilt  of  ingratitude  to  the  Catholic  church,  which, 
say  what  we  will,  was  its  mother,  and  trained  its  heroes  for  reformers. 
Nay,  more.  A  remarkable  analogy  may  be  traced  between  the  old 
pseudo-Pauline  Gnosticism  and  the  fearful  power  of  modern  infidelity  ; 
especially  the  blasphemous,  destructional  systems  of  Pantheism  and 
Atheism.  These  systems  have  attained  their  most  mature,  scientific 
development  in  the  bosom  of  German  Protestantism,  and  appeal  to  the 
Reformation  for  their  right  to  protest  against  Christ  and  his  apostles,  as 
formerly  Marcion  and  the  Gnostics  appealed  to  Paul.     Who,  that  con- 

'  Thiersch  :    Versuc/i  zur  Hemtctlung^  etc.  p.  244. 


G7S         §  lYO.    TYPICAL  IMPOKT  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  CHUECn.      [v.  BOOK. 

siders  the  Holy  Scriptures  and  the  idea  of  the  one,  holy,  Catholic  apos- 
tolic church,  will  further  venture  to  justify  the  extreme  individualism, 
the  numberless  divisions,  and  conflicting  party  interests,  into  which  at 
present  even  the  best  positively  Christian  powers  of  Protestantism  seem 
to  be  almost  hopelessly  rent  ?  Who,  in  the  face  of  these  facts,  will  deny 
that  the  Protestantism  of  this  day  is  as  much  one-sided,  diseased,  and  in 
need  of  reformation,  as  was  the  Catholicism  of  the  sixteenth  century  ? 

This  reformation,  however,  we  look  for,  not  in  return  to  a  position 
already  transcended — for  history  can  never  go  backwards — but  in  the 
final  reconciliation  of  Catholicism  and  Protestantism,  the  blending  of 
the  truth  and  virtues  of  both,  without  their  corresponding  errors  and 
defects,  in  the  ideal  church  of  the  future, — forming,  not  a  mtv  church, 
but  the  final  perfect  product  of  that  of  the  present  and  the  past.  For 
the  type  of  this  third  age  we  have  John,  the  apostle  of  love  and  consum- 
mation, the  disciple,  who  according  to  the  mysterious  words,  John  21  : 
22,  tarries  till  the  Lord  returns.  And  that,  which  is  to  introduce  this 
age,  is  the  perfect  understanding  of  John's  conception  of  Christ,  the 
eternal  Word  manifest  in  the  flesh  ;  and  the  diffusion  of  his  spirit  of 
love,  that  surest  mark  of  genuine  disciplcship  (Juo.  13  :  35),  that  car- 
dinal virtue,  which  never  fails  (1  Cor.  13  :  8,  13).  The  question  of  the 
person  and  work  of  Christ  and  the  church  question  are  at  bottom  one. 
The  answer  to  the  latter  depends  on  that  given  to  the  former,  as  cer- 
tainly as  the  body  on  the  head,  which  rules,  and  the  soul,  which  animates 
it.  For  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  God-man,  the  centre  of  the  moral  universe, 
we  have  the  solution  of  every  enigma  of  history.  In  Him,  and  in  Him 
alone,  breaks  forth  the  fountain  of  truth  and  of  life  everlasting. 


FINIS. 


CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE 


Tears  after 
Chf-ist's  Birth. 

A.D 

30 

(1 

30-40 

u 

37 

" 

40 

" 

44 

u 

45-49 

u 

50 

« 

51 

« 

52-53 

M 

54 

u 

54—57 

u 

57 

M 

57-58 

u 

58           1 

{I 

53-60 

u 

60—61 

u 

61—63 

u 

63—64 

« 

64 

<l 

64—69 

u 

70 

w 

70-100 

Foundation  of  the  Christian  Ciiurch,  by  tlie  Outpouring  of 
the  Holy  Ghost. 

Spread  and  Persecution  of  Christianity  amongst  the  Jews. 
Stephen  the  tirst  Martyr,  (37).  The  Gospel  in  Samaria. 
Conversion  of  Cornelius.  Founding  of  the  Mixed  Congre- 
gation at  Antioch.  Barnabas.  Preparation  of  Gentile 
Missions. 

Conversion  of  Paul. 

Pauls  first  Journey  to  Jerusalem,  after  his  conversion.  So- 
journ at  Tarsus,  and  afterwards  at  Antioch,  (Acts  11 ;  26). 

Persecution  of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem.  Martyrdom  of 
James  the  Elder.  Peter's  Imprisonment  and  Deliverance. 
He  leaves  f'alestine.  (Hypothesis  of  his  first  visit  to 
Koine,  founded  on  Acts  12  ;  17 ';)  Taul's  second  Journey 
to  Jerusalem,  In  company  witli  Barnabas,  as  Delegate  of 
the  Congregation  at  Antioch,  to  relieve  the  Famine. 

Paul's  First  great  Missionary  Journey,  with  Barnabas  and 
^iark.  (Cyprus,  Antioch  in  lisidia,  Iconium,  Lystra, 
Derbe,  return  to  Antioch  in  Syria.) 

Apostolic  Council  at  Jerusalem.  Conflict  between  Jewish 
and  Gentile  Christianity.  Paul's  Third  Journey  to  Jeru- 
salem, with  Barnabas  and  Titus.  Settlement  of  the  diffi- 
culty ;  agreement  between  the  Jewish  nnd  Gentile  Apostles. 
Paul's  return  to  Antioch.  His  collision  with  Peter  and 
Barnabas,  and  temporary  separation  from  the  latter. 

Paul's  Second  Missionary  Journey,  from  Antioch  to  Asia 
Minor  (Cilicia,  Ljxaonia,  Galatia,  Troas),  and  Greece, 
(Philippi,  Thessalonica,  Beroja,  Athens  and  Corinth). 

Paul  at  Corinth  (a  year  and  a  half).  First  and  Second 
Epistles  to  the  Thessaloniaus. 

Paul's  Fourth  Journey  to  Jerusalem  (Spring).  Short  stay 
at  Antioch.     His  Third  Missionary  Tour  (Autumn). 

Patil  at  Ephesus  (three  years).  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  (58). 
Excursion  to  Macedonia,  (  orinth  and  i  rete  (not  mentioned 
in  the  Acts).  First  Epistle  to  Timothy  (?).  Eetnrn  to 
Ephesus.     First  Epistle  to  the  (Corinthians  (Spring,  57). 

Paul's  departure  from  Ephesus  (Summer)  to  Macedonia. 
Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians. 

Paul's    Third    sojourn     at  Corinth     (three     months).     His 

Epistle  to  the  Komans. 
Paul's  Fifth  and  Last  Journey  to  Jerusalem    (Spring),  where 
he  is  arrested  and  sent  to  Csesarea. 

Paul's  Captivity  at  Civsarea.  Testimony  before  Felix, 
Festusand  Agrippa  (The  Gospel  of  Luke  and  the  Acts 
Commenced  at  C.Bsarea,  and  concluded  at  Eome.) 

Panl's  Voyage  to  Rome  (Autumn).  Shipwreck  at  Malta. 
Arrival  atliome  (Spring,  Bl). 

Paul's  Capiivity  at  Rome.  Epistles  to  the  Colossians,  Ephe- 
sinns,  Phiiippians,  Philemon,  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy. 
(Hypothesis  of  a  Second  Eoman  Captivity,  and  Intervening 
Missionary  Journeys  to  the  East  and  to  Spain  ?) 

Peter's  visit  to  Eome.     His  First  and  Second  Epistles. 

Conflagration  at  Rome  (July).  Neronian  Persecution  of 
the  Christians.    Martyrdom  of  Paul  and  Peter. 

Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  (by  Paul  and  Luke  ?).  Martyrdom 
of  James  the  Just.     Epistle  of  Jude. 

Destruction  of  Jerusalem. 

John's  Labors  in  Asia  Minor,  His  Gospel  and  Epistles. 
Ilis  Exile  at  Patmos,  under  the  Domitian  Persecution  (95). 
The  Apocalypse.  Eeturn  to  Ephesus  (96),  and  Death 
(circa  100). 


Cotemporary  Roman 
Emperors. 


Tiberius,  A.D.  14—37. 
Caligula,    "      87—41 


Claudius,    "     41—54 


Neeo,      "  54—68 


ALPHABETICAL  INDEX, 


AcHAiA,  claurclies  of,  293. 

Acts  of  the  Apostles,  600  sqq. 

Agabiis,  the  prophet,  240,  303. 

Alzog,  61. 

Ananias,  490  sq. 

Andrew,  387. 

Angels  of  the  Apocalypse,  537  sqq. 

Anointing  with  oil,  585. 

Antioch,  church  of,  224  and  passim. 

Apocalypse  of  St.  John,  418  sqq.,  603 

sqq. 
ApoUos,  285  sq. 
Apostles'  Creed,  568,  615. 
Apostles,  their  personal  character  and 

piety,  437  sqq.,  their  office,  512  sqq. 
Apostolic  church,  its  general  character, 

187  sqq. 
Apostolic  theology,  614  sqq. 
Aquila,  273,  278. 
Aratus,  271. 
Aristotle,  150  sq. 
Arnold,  69. 
Athens,  Paul  at,  267  sqq. 

B 

Baptism,  565  sqq.,  of  infants,  571  sqq. 

Barnabas,  241  sqq.,  259. 

Baronius,  56. 

Bartholomew,  388. 

Basnage,  68. 

Baur,109sqq.    232,  251  sqq.    264  and 

passim. 
Bayle,  68. 

Beda  Venerabilis,  54. 
Berea,  266. 
Bishops,  522  sqq. 
Bossuet,  58.       ' 

c 

C^SAREA,  219,  303,  313. 
Calist,  67. 
Celibacy,  448  sqq. 
Cerinthus,  670. 
Charisms,  469  sqq. 
Charity,  483  sq. 


Clement  of  Eome  on  Paul's  captivity 

and  martyrdom,  314  sqq. 
Christian  name,  origin  of,  224  sq. 
Christ  Jesus,  character  of,  434  sqq. 
Christolooy  of  Paul,  324,  326  ;  of  the 

Gospels,    599  ;    of    Peter,  631.   of 

John,  646. 
Christ  party  at  Corinth,  287  sqq. 
Church,  general  idea  of,  7,  500  ;  devel- 
opment of,  9  ;  relation  to  the  world, 

13  ;  Paul's  view  of,  326. 
Church  History,  general  definition,  16; 

relation  to  other  theological  sciences, 

18  ;  branches  of,  19  ;  sources  of,  26  ; 

method  of  33  ;  ages  and  periods  of, 

36  ;  uses  of,  46; 
Civil    life,    influence    of    Christianity 

upon,  463. 
Colossian  errorists,  324,  657. 
Colossians,  epistle  to  the,  323  sqq. 
Communion,  the  holy,  581  sq. 
Confirmation,  rite  of,  584. 
Corinth,  congregation  of,  273  sqq  ,,  283 

sqq.,  parties,  285  sqq. 
Corinthians,   first  epistle  to  the,   284 

sqq.,  second  epistle,  293. 
Cornelius,  217  sqq. 
Council  of  Jerusalem,  245  sqq. 
Cramer,  75. 
Crete,  333. 
Cynic  philosophy,  149. 

D 

Deaconesses,  535  sqq. 
Deacons,  532  sqq. 
Development,  9,  80,  90  sq. 
Dionysius  Areopagita,  272. 
Discipline  of  the  Church,  485  sqq. 
Doctrine  History,  21. 
Domitian,  400  sqq. 
Dorner,  121. 

E 

Easter,  558. 
Ebionism,  653. 

Elders,  522  sqq.,  teaching  and  ruling 
elders,  529. 


682 


AXiPHABETICAL    INDEX. 


Election  of  churcli  officers,  500  sqq. 

Engelhardt,  89. 

Ephesians,  epistle  of  Paul  to  the,  324  ; 

of  John  in  the  Apocalypse,  429. 
Ephesus,  Paul  at,  278  sqq. 
Epicurean  philosophy,  148. 
Episcopacy,  541. 
Essenes,  175,  657. 
Eusebius,  52  and  passim. 
Evagrius,  53. 
Evangelical  catholic  historiography,  92 

sqq. 
Evangelists,  519  sqq. 

F 

Family,  influence  of  Christianity  upon 

the,  443  sqq. 
Felix,  313. 
Festivals,  557  sqq. 
Festus,  315. 
Flacius,  6G. 
Fleury,  58. 

a 

Galatia,  churches  of,  261,  282. 
Galatians,  epistles  to  the,  283. 
Gentile  Christianity,  618  sqq. 
Gfrorer,  89. 
Gibbon,  83  sqq. 

Giescler,  29,  82,  98,  and  passim. 
Gnosticism  and  Gnostics,  302,661,664. 
Gospels,  591  sqq. 

Greek  culture  and  literature  in  its  rela- 
tion to  Christianity,  143  sqq. 
Gregory  of  Tours,  54. 
Guericke,  88,  89. 

H 

Hagenbach,  107. 

Hase,  88,  89, 105. 

Haymo,  54. 

Heathenism,  139  sqq. 

Hebrews,  epistle  to  the,  641  sq. 

Hefele,  60. 

Hegel,  91,  108. 

Hellenistic  dialect,  608. 

Hellenists,  181. 

Henke,  82. 

Herder,  90. 

Heresy,  649. 

Herod  Agrippa  I.  171. 

Herod  Agrippa  II.  315. 

Herod  the  Great,  170  sq. 

History,  idea  of,  1 ;  factors  of,  2. 

Hottinger,  67, 

Hundeshagcn,  107. 

Hurter,  60. 

Hymns,  563  sq. 


Immersion,  568  sqq. 

Irviugite  view  on  the  perpetuity  of  the 
spiritual  gifts,  472,  and  of  the  apos- 
tolic offices. 

Isaiah,  169. 


James  the  Elder,  the  son  of  Zebedee, 
240. 

James  the  Just,  the  brother  of  the 
Lord,  254  sq.,  305,  377  sqq.  ;  his 
epistle,  382  sqq.,  his  doctrinal  system, 
625  sqq.  ;  relation  to  Paul,  627. 

James  the  Less,  the  son  of  Alpheus, 
389. 

Jarvis,  128. 

Jerusalem,  congregation  of,  208  sqq. 
240,  382  ;  destruction  of,  390,  sqq. 

Jewish  Christianity,  249  sqq.,  288, 
618  sqq. 

Jewish  religion,  139  sqq.,  164  sqq. 

Jews,  their  political  condition  at  the 
time  of  Christ,  170  ;  their  religious 
condition,  172. 

John  the  apostle  and  evangelist,  his  ed- 
ucation, 395  ;  his  apostolic  labors, 
398 ;  his  banishment  to  Patmos, 
400  ;  his  return  to  Ephesus,  404 ; 
his  death,  406  ;  his  character  and  po- 
sition in  the  apostolic  church,  407, 
440  ;  his  writings,  411  ;  his  Gospel, 
413  and  594 ;  his  Epistles,  416  ;  his 
Apocalypse,  418  and  603  ;  his  doc- 
trinal system,  644  ;  his  relation  to 
the  ideal  church,  678. 

John  the  Baptist,  the  representative  of 
the  law  and  the  prophecy,  169  ;  dis- 
ciples of  at  Ephesus,  279. 

Josephus,  392  sq.  and  passim. 

Judaizers,  654. 

Judas  Lebbaeus,  389. 

Jude,  epistle  of,  633. 

Justification  by  faith,  298,  Paul's  doc- 
trine of,  636,  sq. 


K 


Kaye,  131. 
Kurtz,  88,  107. 


Laodicea,  church  of,  429. 
Laurcntius  Valla,  55. 
Law  of  the  0.  T.,  166  sq. 
Leo,  Henry,  117  sq. 
Lindner,  88,  107. 
Linii'ard,  61. 


ALPHABETICAL   INDEX. 


683 


Luke,  Gospel  of,  593,  Acts,  600  sq., 

doctrinal  system,  640  sq. 
Lydia,  263. 

M 

Magdeburg  Centuries,  66. 

Marheineke,  116. 

Mark,  Gospel  of,  593,  632. 

Marriage,  448  sqq. 

Mary,  the  motlier  of  Christ,  169  sq., 

397. 
Matter,  125. 

Matthew,  389,  Gospel  of,  593,  632. 
Matthias,  389. 
Miletus,  Paul  at,  301. 
Milmau,  127. 
Milner,  71. 

Ministerial  office,  495  sqq 
Miracles,  482  sq. 
Mohler,  60. 
Mosheim,  74. 
Miinscher,  78. 

Natalis  Alexander,  58. 

Nathanael,  388. 

Neander,  29,  95  sqq.  and  passim. 

Neo-Platonism,  154. 

Nero,  345  sqq. 

Neviu,  133. 

Newman,  61,129. 

New  Testament,  literature  of  the,  589 

sqq. 
Nicolaitans,  671. 

O 

Old  Testament,  revelation  of,  164  sqq. 
Onesimus,  327. 
Ordination,  502,  585. 


Papacy,  374  sqq. 

Patmos,  401. 

Paul,  his  name,  origin  and  education 
226  sqq. ;  his  conversion,  230  ;  prep' 
aratiou  for  his  apostolic  labors,  236 
first    journey    to    Jerusalem,    237 
second  journey  to  Jerusalem,  240 
first    missionary    tour,    241  ;    third 
journey  to  Jerusalem,  245  ;  private 
conference   with   the  apostles,  249  ; 
public   council,   253  ;   collision  with 
Peter   and    Barnabas     at   Antioch, 
257  ;  second  missionary  tour,  260  ; 
founds  the  congregations  in  Phrygia 
and  Galatia,  261  ;  in  Philippi,  262 ; 
in  Thessalonica,  265  ;  in  Berea,  266; 


preaches  at  Athens,  267  ;  labors  at 
Corinth,  273  ;  writes  to  the  Thessa- 
lonians,  275  ;  fourth  journey  to  Jeru- 
salem and  Antioch,  276  ;  third  mis- 
sionary tour,  278  ;  labors  three  years 
at  Ephesus,  278  ;  writes  to  the  Gala- 
tians  and  to  the'  Corinthians,  282  ; 
revisits  Greece,  292  ;  writes  to  the 
Romans,  294 ;  fifth  and  last  journey 
lo  Jerusalem,  300  ;  farewell  address 
at  Miletus,  301  ;  his  arrest  at  Jeru- 
salem, 304 ;  his  defence  before  the 
Sanhedrim,  310 ;  his  captivity  at 
Cajsarea,  313 ;  before  Felix,  313 ; 
before  Festus  and  Agrippa,  315  ; 
journey  to  Rome  317  ;  shipwreck  at 
Malta,  318  ;  captivity  at  Rome,  319  ; 
writes  to  the  Colossians,  323  ;  to  the 
Ephesians,  324  ;  to  Philemon,  327  ; 
to  the  Philippians,  328  ;  hypothesis 
of  the  second  imprisonment,  328 ; 
the  pastoral  epistles,  332  ;  his  mar- 
tyrdom, 343  ;  his  moral  character, 
441  ;  his  style  of  writing,  611  ;  his 
doctrinal  system,  634  ;  his  relation  to 
Protestantism,  677. 

Pentecost,  birtliday  of  the  church,  191 
sqq.,  celebration  of,  558  sq. 

Pergamus,  church  of,  430. 

Persecution,  20  ;  of  Nero,  345  sqq.,  of 
Domitian,  400  sqq. 

Peter,  his  sermon  on  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost, 204  sqq. ;  his  activity,  impris- 
onment and  defence,  208  ;  confirms 
the  Samaritans,  215 ;  baptizes  Cor- 
nelius, 220  ;  is  imprisoned  again  under 
Herod  Agri^jpa,  but  miraculously 
delivered  and  leaves  Jerusalem,  240 ; 
attends  the  apostolic  council,  253  ; 
his  collision  with  Paul  at  Antioch, 
257 ;  his  personal  character,  226  ; 
his  general  position  in  church  history, 
350  ;  his  later  labors,  355  ;  his  first 
epistle,  356  ;  his  second  epistle,  3G0  ; 
his  residence  in  Rome,  362  ;  his  mar- 
tyrdom, 372  ;  his  doctrinal  system, 
629  ;  his  relation  to  Catholicism, 
374  and  676. 

PfafF,  75. 

Pharisees,  173,  654. 

Philadelphia,  church  of,  428  sq. 

Philemon,  327. 

Philip,  the  apostle,  387. 

Pnilip,  the  deacon  and  evangelist,  262 
sqq. 

Philippi,  congregation  of,  262  sqq. 

Philippians,  epistle  of  Paul  to  the,  327 
sq. 

Philo,  178  sqq. 


684 


ALPHAJ5ETICAL    INDEX. 


Philostorgius,  53. 

Planck,  76. 

Plato  and  Platonism,  150  sqq. 

Plutarch,  140,  152. 

Pragmatic  method,  73,  76,  79. 

Prayer,  561  sq. 

Presbyters,  522  sqq. 

Priesthood,  universal,  506  sqq. 

Priestley,  85. 

Primacy  of  Peter,  352  sqq.,  374  sqq. 

Priscilia,  273,  278. 

Prophets  and  Prophecy  of  the  0.  T. 

167  sqq.  ;  of  the  N.  T.  478  sq.,  518 

sq.,  603  sqq. 
Proselytes,  177. 
Protestant  historiography,  63 
Puseyism,  129. 

K 

Eanke,  107. 

Rationalistic  historiography,  78  sqq., 
109  sqq. 

Religion,  its  position  in  history,  5,  137. 

Rohrbacher,  59. 

Roman  Catholic  historiography,  55. 

Roman  congregation,  294  sqq. 

Romans,  epistle  of  Paul  to  the,  297 
sqq.  _ 

Rome,  its  universal  dominion,  a  prepa- 
ration for  Christianity,  155  sqq. 

Rothe,  119  sqq. 

s 

Sadditcees,  174. 

Sardis,  church  of,  429. 

Sarpi,  58. 

Saul,  see  Paul.    . 

Schenkel,  107. 

Schleiermacher,  94,  96. 

Schmidt,  82. 

Schrockh,  75. 

Schwegler,  109  sqq. 

Scriptores  Byzantini,  53. 

Scriptures,  the  reading  of,  561,  of  the 

N.  T.  589  sqq. 
Semler,  81. 
Sermon,  560. 
Seven   churches   of  Asia  Minor,   427 

sqq. 
Silas,  260.  , 

Simon  Magus,  215  370,  665. 
Simon  Zelotes,  389. 
Skeptic  philosophy,148. 


Slavery,  454  sqq. 

Smyrna,  church  of,  428. 

Socrates,  1  he  historian,  52. 

Socrates,  the  philosopher,  150. 

Sozomenus,  52. 

Spiritual  gifts,  469  sqq 

Spittler,  77. 

StejAen,  the  first  martyr,  211  sqq. 

Stoicism,  16  sqq. 

Strauss,  111. 

Sunday,  552  sqq. 

Supertitition,  183. 

Supper  of  the  Lord,  581  sq. 

Support  of  the  ministry,  503. 

T 

Tacitus  on  the  Neronian  persecution, 

346. 
Taylor,  Isaac,  129. 
Theodoret,  53. 
Theodoras,  53. 
Therapeutae,  181. 

Thessalonica,  congregation  of,  265  sq. 
Thessalonians,  Epistles  of  Paul  to.  the, 

275. 
Thiersch,  121  sqq.,  and  passim. 
Thomas,  387. 
Thyatira,  church  of,  430. 
Tillemont,  59. 
Timothy,   260,   521;   epistles  to,   332 

sqq. 
Titus,  249,  521 ;  epistle  to,  332  sqq. 
Tongues,  speaking  with,  and  gift   of, 

197  sqq.,  474  sqq. 
Troas,  262. 
Trophimus,  309. 


Ullmann,  107. 


Venema,  78. 


u 


w 


Waddington,  127. 

Walch  75. 

Wieseler,  'l93,  235,  245  sqq.,  258  and 

passim. 
Worship,  545  sqq. 


z 


Zeller,  109  sqq. 


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